ABSTRACT
Sexual assault by strangers, sometimes referred to by sociologists as predator rape, is one of the most insidious crimes committed by men. Although members of either sex may and do perpetrate sex crimes in domestic and acquaintance cases, the commission of stranger rape and stranger sexual assault is almost exclusively the domain of men. During my tenure as the Commanding Officer of the Manhattan Special Victims Squad, I directed the investigation of over 7000 cases, and I can recall only one incident of a stranger attack that involved a female perpetrator. In that case, the victim was raped and mutilated by a gang of four individuals, one of whom was female. Although she did not actually rape the victim, as an accomplice she was just as guilty as her male companions. In domestic and sometimes in acquaintance situations, sexual assault by female perpetrators is more common, albeit still rare. These cases usually involve children under the perpetrators’ care and occur in the privacy of their homes. It is not uncommon for male companions to also be involved in the assaults.
