According to a
study by the National Crime Justice Service (NCJRS),
founded by the DOJ, College campuses host large
concentrations of young women who are at greater risk for rape
and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general
population or in a comparable age group. Based on their
findings, Bonnie Fisher and her colleagues estimate that the
women at a college that has 10,000 female students could
experience more than 350 rapes a year-a finding with serious
policy implications for college administrators.
Fisher also
found that many women do not characterize their sexual
victimizations as a crime for a number of reasons (such as
embarrassment, not
clearly understanding the legal definition of rape, or not
wanting to define someone they know who victimized them as a
rapist) or because they blame themselves for their sexual
assault. The study reinforces the importance of many
organizations’ efforts to improve education and knowledge about
sexual assault.
