Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)
Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her
will. Assaults and attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force
are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other
sex offenses are excluded.
- The UCR Program counts one offense for each female victim of a forcible
rape, attempted forcible rape, or assault with intent to rape, regardless
of the victim’s age. A rape by force involving a female victim and
a familial offender is counted as a forcible rape not an act of incest.
The Program collects only arrest statistics concerning all other crimes
of a sexual nature. The offense of statutory rape, in which no force
is used but the female victim is under the age of consent, is included
in the arrest total for the sex offenses category. Sexual attacks on
males are counted as aggravated assaults or sex offenses, depending
on the circumstances and the extent of any injuries.
- For this overview only, the FBI deviated from standard procedure
and manually calculated the 2007 rate of females raped based on the
national female population provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- In 2007, the estimated number of forcible rapes (90,427) decreased
2.5 percent from the 2006 estimate.
- The 2007 estimated number of forcible rapes decreased 3.7 percent
from the 2003 estimate and declined 2.9 percent from the 1998 estimate.
(See Tables 1 and 1A.)
- The rate of forcible rapes in 2007 was estimated at 59.1 offenses
per 100,000 female inhabitants, a 3.0-percent decrease when compared
with the 2006 estimated rate of 60.9.
- Based on data reported to the UCR Program in 2007, rapes by force
comprised 92.2 percent of reported rape offenses, and assaults to rape
attempts accounted for 7.8 percent of reported rapes. (Based on Table
Expanded forcible rape data
Expanded offense data are the details of the various offenses that the
Program collects beyond the count of how many crimes law enforcement
agencies report. These details may include the type of weapons used in
a crime, type or value of items stolen, and so forth. In addition, expanded
data include trends (for example, 2-year comparisons) and rates per 100,000
Expanded information regarding forcible rape is available in the following
Trends (2-year): Tables 12, 13, 14,
Rates (per 100,000 inhabitants): Tables 16, 17, 18,