IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 289 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to raising 

awareness and encouraging prevention of sexual assault in the United 

States and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault 

Awareness and Prevention Month. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Mr. MORAN of Virginia (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mrs. 

CAPPS, Ms. DELAURO, and Mr. MICHAUD) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with 

respect to raising awareness and encouraging prevention 

of sexual assault in the United States and supporting 

the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. 

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

United States every two-and-a-half 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; 


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•HRES 289 IH 

Whereas children and young adults are most at risk, 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 attack to law enforcement 

agencies; 

Whereas two-thirds 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 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; 

Whereas the rate of sexual assaults has decreased by half in 

the last decade; and 


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Whereas April is recognized as ‘‘National Sexual Assault 

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

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) it is the sense of the House of Representa3 tives 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; 


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1 (D) public safety, law enforcement, and 

2 health professionals should be recognized and 

3 applauded for their hard work and innovative 

4 strategies to increase the percentage of sexual 

5 assault cases that result in the prosecution and 

6 incarceration of the offenders; 

7 (2) the House of Representatives strongly rec8 ommends national and community organizations, 

9 businesses in the private sector, colleges and univer10 sities, and the media to promote, through National 

11 Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, 

12 awareness of sexual violence and strategies to de13 crease the incidence of sexual assault; and 

14 (3) the House of Representatives supports the 

15 goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Aware16 ness and Prevention Month. 

Æ 


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