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The 1998 and 2000 British Crime Surveys included computerised self-completion questionnaires designed to provide the most accurate ever estimates of the extent and nature of sexual victimisation in England and Wales. Questions were asked of both men and women aged 16 to 59, however these findings reflect the victimisation of women only.

Title: Rape and sexual assault of women: findings from the British Crime Survey Home Office Research Findings 159
Author: Andy Myhill and Jonathon Allen
Number of pages: 6
Date published: July 2002

Estimates from the self-completion modules suggest sexual victimisation is a widespread problem in England and Wales. Young women under the age of 25 reflect higher risks than older women, and results also suggest that the traditional perception of rape as perpetrated by strangers in public places is a false one. This has important implications for policy and practice.

These findings suggest that a large proportion of rape and sexual victimisation occurs in domestic settings. It is also apparent that sexual attacks by partners are more likely to result in physical injury and repeated attacks, than attacks by any other perpetrator.

Some of the key points include:

• 0.9% of women said they had been subject to some form of sexual victimisation (including rape) in this period.

• 0.4% of women aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales said they had been raped in the year preceding the 2000 BCS – an estimated 61,000 victims.

• 18% of incidents of sexual victimisation reported to the survey came to the attention of the police. 32% of women who reported rape were 'very satisfied' with the way the police handled the matter, 22% were 'very dissatisfied'.

• Age is the biggest risk factor for experiencing sexual victimisation; women aged 16 to 24 were more likely to say they had been sexually victimised in the last year than older women.

• Women are most likely to be sexually attacked by men they know in some way, most often partners (32%) or acquaintances (22%). Current partners (at the time of the attack) were responsible for 45% of rapes reported to the survey. Strangers were responsible for only 8% of rapes reported to the survey.

• Less than two-thirds (60%) of female rape victims were prepared to self-classify their experience as 'rape' and less than three-quarters (70%) of women who self-classified themselves as having been the victim of 'attempted rape' also self-classified this incident as a crime.

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Rape and sexual assault of women: findings from the British Crime
Survey PDF 89 Kb