Rape: Different Types Of Sexual Assault

Rape is considered a type of sexual assault, which is initiated by one or more people against another person without that persons consent. The act may have been forced, under threat, or with a person who is incapable to give a valid consent(1). The definition of rape has changed throughout history and is different in different parts of the world. According to the American Medical Association, sexual violence, and rape in particular, is considered the most under-reported violent crime(2). There have been significant changes to improve the treatment of sexual assault victims in the last two decades. The rate of reporting, prosecution and convictions for rape varies in different jurisdictions. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated
The definition of sexual abuse by the Federal Criminal Code is, causing another person to engage in a sexual activity by threatening or placing that person in fear, and engaging in a sexual act if that person is incapable of declining participation in or communicating unwillingness to engage in that sexual act. There is “no sexual penetration actually occurred but when the intentional touching of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person occurs."
Although there have been many improvements there are still areas that are lacking. It does not say anything about what the victim’s state of mind was at the time of the crime such as fear of death or serious injury. Also the types of unwanted sexual acts involved the types of force or the type of force used, and the ages of the victims and perpetrators. The National Crime Victimization Survey conducts statistics each year to measure reported and unreported crime of rape and other sexual assaults. Every six months, people who are 12 years old and older in around 50,000 randomly selected homes are interviewed about crimes that happened since the last interview(3). The NCVS gives information about the percentage of cases reported to police and characteristics of cases. It does not measure the rapes of people 12 and younger and it cannot measure rapes that occurred prior to the six month reference period. Also it does not get interviews from homeless