Sexual assault is the forgotten violent crime.
Other studies find that only 10 percent of rapes are reported and a small percent of those are successfully prosecuted. Additional data from the National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center shows that 12.1 million American women report having been forcibly raped at least once. In a majority of these cases, the perpetrator was known to the victim. In fact, in the 1993 report, the percentage of those known to the victim was 74.2 percent. While rape is fully the responsibility of the perpetrator, the following guidelines are intended to reduce the possibility of confusion, increase one's personal safety and reduce the risk of being accused of rape.