U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

◆ Most (95%) statutory rape victims

were female.

◆ Regardless of victim gender, almost 3 of

every 5 victims of statutory rape were

age 14 or 15, with relatively equal proportions in each of these ages. 

◆ More than 99% of the offenders of

female statutory rape victims were

male.

◆ Of all offenders of male statutory rape

victims, 94% were female.

◆ Of all offenders of female statutory

rape victims, 18% were younger than

age 18.

◆ Of all offenders of male statutory rape

victims, 70% were age 21 and older,

while 45% of offenders of female statutory rape victims were 21 and older.

◆ The median age difference between

female offenders and their male statutory rape victims was 9 years. The

median age difference between male

offenders and their female statutory

rape victims was 6 years.

◆ Three of every 10 statutory rape

offenders were boyfriends or girlfriends and 6 in 10 were acquaintances.

◆ An arrest occurred in 42% of statutory

rape incidents with the probability of

arrest declining as victim age

increased.

Statutory Rape Known to 

Law Enforcement

At the national level, the incidence of

statutory rape is relatively unknown.

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) maintains national data on

forcible rape and other sex offenses but

does not isolate statutory rape crimes

in its annual Crime in the United States

(CIUS) report. In contrast to the CIUS

report, the FBI's National Incident-Based

Reporting System (NIBRS) captures

a broad range of information on statutory

rape incidents reported to participating

law enforcement agencies throughout the

country. What NIBRS can teach us about

the victims and offenders in statutory

rape incidents can assist investigators

and decisionmakers in their policy

development and program designs.

The findings that follow are based on

an analysis of the NIBRS master files

containing reports from law enforcement

agencies in 21 states for the years 1996

through 2000 (see box on page 2). An

analysis of these data characterize victim

and offender attributes (e.g., age, gender,

relationship) and law enforcement’s

response to the incident. 

Highlights of the findings include:

◆ In 2000, there was 1 statutory rape for

every 3 forcible rapes involving a 

juvenile victim reported to law 

enforcement.

J. Robert Flores, Administrator August 2005

Access OJJDP publications online at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ojjdp

Office of Justice Programs • Partnerships for Safer Communities • www.ojp.usdoj.gov

A Message From OJJDP

According to the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 27% of youth

ages 14–17 were sexually active during the survey year. Although the age

of consent varies by state, all states

prohibit sex with a minor. This Bulletin

defines statutory rape as nonforcible

sexual intercourse with or between

people who are younger than the

age of consent.

Statutory Rape Known to Law Enforcement summarizes an analysis of

data from the FBI’s National IncidentBased Reporting System (NIBRS).

Although national data are not available, NIBRS includes data on reported statutory rape crimes from 21

states. This Bulletin provides the first

large-scale look at the patterns of

and response to statutory rape.

For example, the analysis found

that the median age difference

between victims and offenders is

great (between 6 and 9 years,

depending on gender). It also found

that as the age of a victim increased,

the probability of arrest decreased,

and that some reported incidents

were not cleared by arrest due to

lack of victim cooperation.

This analysis demonstrates how

incident-based crime data can be

used to better understand the profiles of victims and offenders and

the justice system response. Law

enforcement officials, advocates, and

program planners can use available

local analyses to develop strategies

and educational materials to help

reduce instances of this crime in

their communities.

Karyl Troup-Leasure and Howard N. Snyder
2

What is statutory 

rape?

Statutory rape is a general term used to

describe an offense that takes place when

an individual (regardless of age) has consensual sexual relations with an individual

not old enough to legally consent to the

behavior. Stated another way, statutory

rape is sexual relations between individuals that would be legal if not for their

ages. In accordance with the FBI definition, this Bulletin characterizes statutory

rape as nonforcible sexual intercourse

with a person who is younger than the

statutory age of consent.

Each state has laws that prohibit sex with

a minor. The offender may be an adult or

a juvenile. The age of consent varies from

state to state as well as the label of and

the punishment for the crime. In addition

to individual ages, some state laws specifically address sexual contact with a minor

by a person who is a defined number of

years older than the minor or by a person

of authority, such as an athletic coach or

teacher.

Statutory rape literature has focused primarily on female victims. Recent high profile cases of educator sexual misconduct

involving female teachers and their teenage male victims bring into question the

commonly held statutory rape offender/

victim stereotype in which predatory

older men prey on young female victims.

Statutory rape incidents recorded in

NIBRS present both of these patterns

along with other characteristics of male

and female offenders and victims across

age ranges and represent only those incidents that have been reported as crimes. 

For every 1 statutory

rape there were 3

forcible rapes of

juvenile victims

For every statutory rape victim identified

in the NIBRS data, there were approximately 3 juvenile victims of forcible rape.

While some attributes of statutory and

forcible rape were similar, some were

very different.

The vast majority of victims had only one

offender (90% of statutory rape victims

and 89% of forcible rape victims). Law

enforcement coded the location of the

crime as a residence in 85% of statutory

rape incidents and 83% of forcible rape

incidents. The residence could have been

that of the victim, the offender, or another

individual. The other statutory rapes

occurred (from most frequent to least frequent) in hotels/motels, in fields/woods,

on streets/highways, in parking lots, and

in schools. 

Statutory rapes and forcible rapes differ in

that a substantial proportion (about twothirds) of forcible rapes involve the use of

a weapon (e.g., firearm, fist), and in onefifth of forcible rapes, law enforcement

reported that the victim was physically

injured. Weapon use and bodily injury

were not attributes of statutory rapes.

3 of every 10 statutory

rape offenders were

boyfriends or girlfriends

NIBRS classifies the relationship between

the statutory rape victim and the offender

as a boyfriend or a girlfriend in 29% of

statutory rapes. Another 62% were classified as acquaintances. A small percentage of offenders (2%) were strangers to

the victim and 7% were coded as family

members. 

In comparison, 11% of the offenders in

forcible rapes of juvenile victims were classified as a boyfriend or a girlfriend and 62%

were classified as acquaintances. Family

members were more involved in forcible

than statutory rapes, with 22% of the

offenders in the forcible rapes of juvenile

victims being a family member. As with

statutory rape, a relatively small proportion (5%) of the offenders in the forcible

rapes of juveniles were strangers to the

victim.

NIBRS data provide insight into statutory rape

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) administered by

the Federal Bureau of Investigation

(FBI) collects a wide range of data on

a variety of crimes. NIBRS includes

information on victims, offenders, and

incident circumstances. Local law

enforcement personnel collect information on crimes that come to their

attention and submit these data for

inclusion in NIBRS. For a crime to be

included, the incident need only be

reported; it does not have to be

cleared or result in an arrest.

Since the FBI implemented NIBRS in

1988, voluntary state and local

agency participation has grown

steadily. Nevertheless, the NIBRS

master files are limited by the number of contributing law enforcement

agencies and therefore may not

be nationally representative. Even

though geographic coverage is limited,

NIBRS data warrant systematic study

to clarify the nature of statutory rape

among victims and their offenders.

This Bulletin includes data reported

for the years 1996–2000 from agencies in 21 participating states:

Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, the

District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa,

Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts,

Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota,

Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota,

Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont,

Virginia, and West Virginia. The

incidents included for analysis were

those for which the most serious

offense was forcible rape or statutory

rape. The unit of count is the victim.

The total number of victim records

analyzed was 28,098. Of these victim

records, 27% involved statutory rape.

The analyses presented here include

incidents with male and female victims ages 7–17 and male and female

offenders age 7 and older. Statutory

rape victims and offenders younger

than age 7 were considered data

entry errors and were excluded.

Records with victims older than age

17 were also thought to be data

errors (or possibly persons with disabilities) and were also excluded.

Thus, the 1996–2000 NIBRS master

files provide details for incidents

involving 7,557 statutory rape victims

ages 7–17.

A comparison of counts

in UCR and NIBRS can

provide a rough annual

estimate of statutory rapes

The FBI’s Crime in the United States

2000 report estimates there were

90,186 forcible rapes known to law

enforcement. Law enforcement agencies in the 2000 NIBRS sample

reported 13,862 forcible rapes that

are consistent with the UCR definition of forcible rape. Therefore, the

agencies in NIBRS had 15% of all

the forcible rapes in the United

States in 2000. Assuming that they

also had 15% of all the statutory

rapes, the 2,414 statutory rapes in

the 2000 NIBRS sample would imply

there were about 15,700 statutory

rapes reported to all law enforcement agencies in the United States

in 2000.
3

Male and female victims

had similar age profiles

Males accounted for 5% of statutory rape

victims between ages 7 and 17. Even

though the numbers of such incidents are

relatively small, they warrant systematic

study to clarify the nature of statutory

rape among all victims.

Regardless of victim gender, almost 3 of

every 5 victims of statutory rape were age

14 or 15, with relatively equal proportions

in each of these age groups. 

Victim

Victim Age Female Male

7–11 4% 5%

12 7 4

13 17 11

14 31 27

15 28 29

16 8 15

17 4 8

Total 100 100

Note: Totals may not equal 100% because of

rounding.

In comparison, 2 of every 5 juvenile victims of forcible rape were ages 14 and 15.

In fact, the peak ages for all victims (i.e.,

juvenile and adult victims) of forcible

rape were also ages 14 and 15. 

Male victims had older

offenders than did

female victims

The age profile of offenders varied with the

gender of the victims. Offenders of male

victims tended to be older than those of

female victims: 18% of the offenders of

female victims were juveniles, compared

with 12% of the offenders of male victims.

Of the offenders of female victims, 45%

were age 21 and older, compared with 70%

of the offenders of male victims. In fact,

45% of the offenders of male victims were

older than age 24, compared with 25% of

the offenders of female victims.

Victim

Offender Age Female Male

7–11 <1% 1%

12–14 2 4

15–17 16 7

18–20 36 18

21–24 21 25

25–34 16 33

35 and older 8 12

Total 100 100

Note: Totals may not equal 100% because of

rounding.

The vast majority of statutory rapes involved victims

and offenders of opposite sexes

Few male victims of statutory rape were victimized by male offenders (6%). Male

offenders were involved in almost all statutory rape incidents with female victims

(more than 99%).

The younger the female victim, the more likely her male

offender was a juvenile 

Opposite-Sex Female Victim Age Male Victim Age

Offender Age 7–13 14 15 16 17 7–17 7–17*

Younger than 18 32% 16% 13% 2% 1% 18% 8%

18–20 30 43 38 28 22 36 19

21–24 14 21 24 28 29 21 26

25 and older 24 20 25 42 48 25 47

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

◆ One-third (32%) of male offenders of female victims younger than age 14 were

juveniles.

◆ About 5 of every 6 male offenders of 14-year-old females were at least age 18.

◆ Rarely were the male offenders of 16- and 17-year-old female victims themselves juveniles (i.e., younger than age 18).

◆ For 16-year-old female victims, 7 out of 10 of their male offenders were age 21 or

older.

7 out of every 8 male statutory rape offenders of female

victims were more than 2 years older than their victims,

regardless of victim age

Opposite-Sex 

Offender Female Victim Age Male Victim Age

Offender Age 7–13 14 15 16 17 7–17 7–17*

Same age or younger 1% 1% 1% 0% 1% 1% 1%

1–2 years older 5 6 12 11 13 8 3

3–5 years older 32 43 38 28 29 37 19

6–9 years older 32 27 24 23 19 27 30

10 or more years older 30 23 25 38 38 27 46

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

◆ For female victims younger than age 14, 30% of their male offenders were at

least 10 years older than the victims.

◆ At least half of the male offenders of female victims were 6 or more years older

than their victims.

◆ More than 75% of female offenders of male victims were at least 6 years older

than their victims.

◆ Compared with female offenders of male victims, male offenders of female victims tended to be closer in age to that of their victims. On average, male offenders of female statutory rape victims were about 6 years older than their victims,

while female offenders of male victims were about 9 years older.

* There were too few male victims to obtain reliable percentages by male victim age.

Note: Totals may not equal 100% because of rounding.

Data source: Federal Bureau of Investigation. National Incident-Based Reporting System Master Files for the years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 [machine-readable data files].
Bulletin NCJ 208803

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

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POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/OJJDP

PERMIT NO. G–91

classified as boyfriend or girlfriend, 37%

were arrested, compared with 44% of

acquaintances, 47% of family members,

and 47% of strangers.

Juvenile offenders in statutory rape incidents were less likely to be arrested than

were adult offenders. 

Percentage of Incidents

Offender Age Involving Arrest

12–14 28%

15–17 37

18–20 42

21–24 45

25–34 44

35 and older 46

About one-third (36%) of all statutory

rapes were cleared by the arrest of an

adult and 6% were cleared by the arrest

of a juvenile. In the NIBRS data, 44% of

statutory rapes were not cleared by law

Age influences the 

probability of arrest

Overall, an arrest occurred in 42% of

statutory rape incidents (compared with

an arrest rate of 35% in forcible rape incidents). In general, as the age of a statutory rape victim increased, the probability

of arrest in the incident decreased. 

Percentage of Incidents

Victim Age Involving Arrest

7–11 40%

12 50

13 46

14 42

15 42

16 35

17 30

The probability of arrest was related to

the victim-offender relationship. Persons

coded as boyfriends and girlfriends were

the least likely to be arrested. Of offenders

*NCJ~208803*

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention is a component of the Office of

Justice Programs, which also includes the

Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of

Justice Statistics, the National Institute of

Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

enforcement. The remaining incidents

were cleared when the victim refused to

cooperate or when prosecution was

declined.

Data source

Federal Bureau of Investigation. National

Incident-Based Reporting System Master

Files for the years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,

and 2000 [machine-readable data files].

Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of 

Investigation.

This Bulletin was prepared under cooperative

agreement number 1999–JN–FX–K002 from the

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.

Points of view or opinions expressed in this

document are those of the authors and do not

necessarily represent the official position or

policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department of

Justice.

Acknowledgments

This Bulletin was written by Karyl Troup-Leasure, Research Associate, and Howard

N. Snyder, Director of Systems Research at the National Center for Juvenile Justice, with funds that OJJDP provided to support the National Juvenile Justice Data

Analysis Project. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance that the FBI's

Criminal Justice Information Services Division provided.