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sexual assault data?
Thu, 2009-08-13 19:07
#1
sexual assault data?
Thu, 2009-08-13 19:20
#2
Didn't want to derail the Sexual Assualt Conference thread -- do any of you who attended that conference, or anyone else who works in this field, happen to know where or from whom I could get reliable data re: incidence of sexual assault in various circumstances?
This is for my Guelph urinals human rights / Charter complaint. Police here have said that closed-door public washroom facilities lead to security problems, so the city is installing open urinals instead. I assume that police are really concerned about prostitution, not security, but I would like to confirm whether there is a real problem with washrooms or port-a-potties re sexual assault. I am also interested in finding out about the incidence of assault and other crime on the street after last call, and what kinds of factors either exacerbate or mitigate this risk, particularly for women.
Fri, 2009-08-14 10:38
#3
Maysie
Hi triciamarie. I don't know of any sexual assault stats that are kept for the factors you mentioned. The official stats across the country, and broken up by region, can be found from Stats Canada.
Sometimes local rape crisis centres may keep stats, and there's an organization in Ontario called the Ontario Coalition Of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) that might have some data for you. Give them a call if the website doesn't pan out.
Of courses official stats skew very low compared to actual incidence rates, but I'm sure you know that already. Good luck with everything and please let us know how it goes.
[drift]
I realize that we will often say that the official data is always lower than actual incidents, and I wanted to take this opportunity to explain why, as people might be wondering but don't want to ask. Groups of women are sometimes asked if they've ever been sexually assaulted, or physically assaulted. In a group of 100 women, around 60 to 70 will say yes for each of these questions. When asked, of those who were assaulted, who called the police, the hands drop to about 6 or 7, or, 10% of the women who were actually assaulted. Of course, of those 6 or 7 less than 1 of them will actually see their attacker, or abuser if it's longer term abuse, jailed. It's more like less than .01%. Very depressing.
These questions have been asked time and time again, to many many different groups of women and in North America, for the past 3 decades. The informal, not documented, not provable results are about the same every time. Very depressing.
[/drift]
Fri, 2009-08-14 17:10
#4
Thanks very much for those suggestions Maysie, and for the context as well. One advantage of the administrative justice system is that the rules of evidence are applied more loosely than in the courts, so we could certainly ask a hearing panel to have regard for that kind of information even if it's not strictly probative. I will ask OCRCC if they can direct me to some studies.
Fri, 2009-08-14 18:15
#5
remind
"10% of the women who were actually assaulted."
I have asked literally 1000's of women in my life if they were sexually asaulted/raped. Only 1 stated "no". However, her demeanor indicated otherwise, and she refuses to have anything to do with her father and hasn't for years. As such, I suspect her abuse came at the hands of her father.