About Us

Get Help

Get Involved

Research

Programs

News

Announcements

	Research

»	Measuring Scope

»	Participatory Action Research

»	Best Care Research

»	Communications Research

»	Research to Practice

»	Evaluations

»	Factsheets

»	Library

Sexual Violence is a Public Health Issue

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) define sexual violence as "a public health problem." But it is more than a public health problem - it's a public health crisis. Victims of sexual violence suffer debilitating immediate and long-term physical, psychological and social effects, and when they are left untreated, or are poorly treated, victims face the risk of disease, disability and even death. Sexual violence is also a silent epidemic: Approximately 84% of rapes are not reported. The majority of victims do not talk about what happened to them because they are overwhelmed by feelings of fear, self-blame and social disgrace, and therefore do not seek the help necessary to heal. [Read more.]

Factsheets: New York City Statistics: 2004

One way to measure the incidence of sexual violence and needs of survivors is to look at their utilization of resources. Rape crisis centers and other programs provide a variety of direct services to those who have been victims of sexual assault/abuse. The New York State Department of Health and the New York City Police Department provided the following statistics.

Note: These services can include the counseling and referrals of a telephone hotline, individual and group counseling, advocacy and referrals.

The following numbers indicate how many survivors of sexual assault/abuse received services from programs across the five boroughs from 2003 to 2004.

Number of Calls for Sexual Assault including crisis intervention and referrals: 5,146
Number of new cases from 2003-2004: 3,239
Number of Adults Receiving Services for Rape/Sexual Assault: 1,057
Number of Children Receiving Services for Rape/Sexual Assault/Sexual Abuse: 1,382

In addition to direct services, many programs conduct community outreach in the form of educational workshops and presentations for schools, community groups, and in other public forums.

In 2003-2004, over 451 educational presentations were conducted attended by more than 11,000 people.
- School age students: 6,883
- College students: 1,118
- Adults: 3,142
In 2003-2004, 244 professional trainings were given, attended by 5,410 professionals who deal with survivors of sexual assault.
There were 168 Community Sponsored Events from 2003-2004.
In 2003-2004, more than 2,000 people attended 360 group services sessions.

These professionals included medical personnel, social workers, mental health, legal and criminal justice system professionals and law enforcement officers.

New York City Police Department Statistics (all boroughs)

There were 1,740 rapes reported to the NYPD in 2004.