Date Rape Crime Statistics - Essay Example

The fact that the parties knew each other or that the woman willingly accompanied the man are not legal defenses to a charge of rape, although one Pennsylvania decision ruled that there had to be some actual physical resistance." The term 'rape' is a broader domain that involves a variety of sexual assaults. These can be classified on the basis of the level of acquaintance between the rapist and the victim, on the basis of number of rapists, on the basis of the consent of the victim, age of victim etc.

It is different from other types of rape like stranger rape, spousal rape or statutory rape. Date Rape is the sexual assault by someone, whom the victim knows; whereas, as it is obvious from name, the stranger rape is committed by the person whom victim never knew before. It is interesting to note that, contrary to what is commonly believed, date rapes are more common than the stranger one. Spousal rape is the act of rape by the spouse. The legal status of this kind of rape is disputed in many constitutions.

Statutory rape refers to rape when the consent of victim exists, thus no force or threat is applied, but the age of the victim is less than the Age of Consent, the age when one is allowed to give his/her consents for the sexual assault. The use of these drugs, especially that of alcohol is most c. Rohypnol is one common example of Benzodiazepines. It causes amnesia to a varying level.Gamma-hydroxybutyrateIt has an affect very similar to alcohol.Other drugsKetamine is a dissociative anaesthetic, and MDMA (Ecstasy) is an empathogenic phenylethylamine.

Chloral hydrate has a sedative/hypnotic effect similar to that of benzodiazepines. (Francis, 1996)The use of these drugs, especially that of alcohol is most common. Moreover, use of these drugs in the date rape is yet popular, since the rapist can easily let the victim have the drug without the victim's awareness, on account of his acquaintance with the victim.(Hodgson and Kelly, 2007)The Victim Offender Relationship:Unlike the popular belief, the ratio of date rape is far greater than that of stranger rape.

In Canada, the acquaintance rape accounts for approximately 64% in 2004. (Criminal Victimization in Canada survey, 2004), while the same accounted for 67 % in United States of America. (Criminal Victimization in United States of America survey, 2004) Approximately 28% of victims are raped by husbands or boyfriends, 35% by acquaintances, and 5% by other relatives. (Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994)However, these statistics are yet far below the reality on account of different reasons.

First of all, there is a common hesitance to report the event. In the United States in 2004, only 35.8 percent of rape/sexual assault crimes were reported to the police, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. U.S. Justice Department statistics are even lower, with only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes being reported to law enforcement officials. Furthermore, the definition of various