Indiana Tops Nation For Sex Assaults Of High School-Age Girls

Via Shakesville a report on sexual violence against high-school age girls from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts Indiana at the high the highest percentage of crimes at 17.3 percent of girls in grades 9 through 12 have been raped. I’m trying to find a link to the original report from the CDCP. But here is a CBS news story on it. Shakesville also points out the correlating information that Indiana leads the nation on abortion restrictions, so those young women who become pregnant as a result of rape will have a difficult time dealing with the aftermath.

UPDATE: I didn’t find the info under sexual violence on the CDC site, but I did find it under data sources on this page on Youth Violence. There is a PDF file on that page called Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2009 that contains a summary of statistics on page 6, and a table of more detailed statistics broken down by state on page 50 that matches the information in this story. If you’re concerned about the date of 2009, note that this survey was completed then, but there was subsequent analysis, and the report on the survey itself was more recently published.

Indiana Tops Nation For Sex Assaults Of High School-Age Girls « CBS Chicago.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (CBS) — In Indiana, girls have a higher chance of becoming the victim of sexual assault than almost any other place in the country.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Michele Fiore reports, 10.5 percent of all American high school-age girls have been forced into sexual intercourse, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the rate vastly exceeds the national average in Indiana, where 17.3 percent of girls in grades 9 through 12 have been raped.

Kinsey Institute Director for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction Julie Heiman told the Bloomington, Ind., Herald-Times that she was “shocked” at the statistics.

The Herald-Times also pointed out that researching the issue is a challenge, given that up to 50 percent of sexual assaults against women are never reported, and Indiana is one of three states – along with Mississippi and New Mexico – where law enforcement is not required to report sexual violence to the FBI.

Researchers also emphasized that 80 percent or more of rape and sexual assault involves people who know each other, not strangers, the newspaper reported.

Following the release of the CDC report, Indiana University researchers are now calling for more sex education and assault prevention efforts.

The Indy Star has a report on the same study, with some additional quotes. Still no link to the original study.

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