Rape and sexual assault are issues that have dominated the headlines recently. The response to those stories – whether they are about Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Cosby, or #MeToo – reveals a divide among Americans on what to do when someone says they’ve been assaulted.
As a society, we are still struggling to understand how rape and sexual assault affect victims and how to seek justice for these crimes.
It’s an issue that hits close to home for a significant number of Americans.
“Based on the statistics and the numbers that we do have, close to 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men are victims of some form of sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner,” says Megan Thomas, with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
She notes that this number is just an estimate, because many victims of sexual violence – an estimated 63% – don’t report.
In Illinois, 4,765 rapes were reported to police in 2016.