Every Two and a Half Minutes

Submitted by darceyw on Sun, 2005-09-25 22:53.

Every two and a half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.

How’d we come up with that number?

Here’s the math. There are 525,600 minutes in a non-leap year (365 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes = 525,600). That makes 31,536,000 seconds per year (525,600 minutes x 60 seconds = 31,536,000).

According to the US Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey — the country’s largest and most reliable crime study — there were an average of 200,780 sexual assaults each year in 2004-2005 (the most recent data available).

So: 31,536,000 divided by 200,780 comes out to one sexual assault every 157 seconds, or about one every two and a half minutes.

Sexual assault vs. rape
One more thing we should point out: Notice that we said one “sexual assault,” not one “rape.” What’s the difference? Sexual assault is a broader category that the Justice Department uses to classify rape, attempted rape, and other violent felonies that fall short of rape (which it defines as “forced vaginal, anal or oral penetration”).

Of the estimated 200,780 annual violent sex crimes, 64,080 were completed rapes. So, if you want a figure that covers only rape and excludes attempted rape and sexual assault, divide 31,536,000 by 64,080. That comes out to one rape every 492 seconds or so, or about one rape every 8 minutes.

Information from www.RAINN.org