Column: Awareness able to combat sexual assault
Two minutes. In the United States, someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, sexual assault includes "rape, attempted rape and other violent felonies that fall short of rape." Want a figure that includes only rape? Eight minutes. In the United States, someone is raped every eight minutes. RAINN defines rape as "forced vaginal, oral or anal penetration." These statistics include women as well as men - one in six American women and one in 33 American men are survivors of attempted or completed rape.How are these figures so huge? It is predicted that 6 out of 10 rapes are never reported to the police. According to RAINN, even if a rape is reported, there is only a 50.8 percent chance of an arrest. If an arrest is made, there is only an 80 percent chance the rapist will be prosecuted. If he or she is prosecuted, there is only a 58 percent chance of conviction. Finally, if that conviction happens to be a felony conviction, there is a 69 percent chance the rapist will serve jail time. What does all this mean? Only six percent of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. The rest walk free.