III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 77 

Supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and 

Prevention Month 2008. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 21, 2008 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. SPECTER) submitted the following concurrent 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault 

Awareness and Prevention Month 2008. 

Whereas, on average, a person is sexually assaulted in the 

United States every 21⁄2 minutes; 

Whereas the Department of Justice reports that 191,670 

people in the United States were sexually assaulted in 

2005; 

Whereas 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have been victims 

of rape or attempted rape; 

Whereas the Department of Defense received 2,688 reports 

of sexual assault involving members of the Armed Forces 

in fiscal year 2007; 

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•SCON 77 IS 

Whereas children and young adults are most at risk of sexual 

assault, as 44 percent of sexual assault victims are under 

the age of 18, and 80 percent are under the age of 30; 

Whereas sexual assault affects women, men, and children of 

all racial, social, religious, age, ethnic, and economic 

groups in the United States; 

Whereas only 41 percent of sexual assault victims pursue 

prosecution by reporting their attacks to law enforcement 

agencies; 

Whereas 2⁄3 of sexual crimes are committed by persons who 

are not strangers to the victims; 

Whereas sexual assault survivors suffer emotional scars long 

after the physical scars have healed; 

Whereas prevention education programs carried out by rape 

crisis and women’s health centers have the potential to 

reduce the prevalence of sexual assault in their communities; 

Whereas, because of recent advances in DNA technology, law 

enforcement agencies now have the potential to identify 

the rapists in tens of thousands of unsolved rape cases; 

Whereas aggressive prosecution can incarcerate rapists and 

therefore prevent them from committing further crimes; 

Whereas free, confidential help is available to all survivors of 

sexual assault through the National Sexual Assault Hotline, more than 1,000 rape crisis centers across the 

United States, and other organizations that provide services to assist survivors of sexual assault; and 

Whereas April is recognized as ‘‘National Sexual Assault 

Awareness and Prevention Month’’: Now, therefore, be it 

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•SCON 77 IS 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That— 

3 (1) it is the sense of Congress that— 

4 (A) National Sexual Assault Awareness 

5 and Prevention Month provides a special oppor6 tunity to educate the people of the United 

7 States about sexual violence and to encourage 

8 the prevention of sexual assault, the improved 

9 treatment of its survivors, and the prosecution 

10 of its perpetrators; 

11 (B) it is appropriate to properly acknowl12 edge the more than 20,000,000 men and 

13 women who have survived sexual assault in the 

14 United States and salute the efforts of sur15 vivors, volunteers, and professionals who com16 bat sexual assault; 

17 (C) national and community organizations 

18 and private sector supporters should be recog19 nized and applauded for their work in pro20 moting awareness about sexual assault, pro21 viding information and treatment to its sur22 vivors, and increasing the number of successful 

23 prosecutions of its perpetrators; and 

24 (D) public safety, law enforcement, and 

25 health professionals should be recognized and 

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•SCON 77 IS 

1 applauded for their hard work and innovative 

2 strategies to increase the percentage of sexual 

3 assault cases that result in the prosecution and 

4 incarceration of the offenders; 

5 (2) Congress strongly recommends that national 

6 and community organizations, businesses in the pri7 vate sector, colleges and universities, and the media 

8 promote, through National Sexual Assault Aware9 ness and Prevention Month, awareness of sexual vio10 lence and strategies to decrease the incidence of sex11 ual assault; and 

12 (3) Congress supports the goals and ideals of 

13 National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention 

14 Month 2008. 

Æ 

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