ABSTRACT
The extent of forcible rape in the nation is only estimated. In 2008, the FBI reported about 89,000 rapes of females, but the National Crime Victimization Survey ( Rand, 2009 ) estimates that there were more than 200,000 of females age 12 and older. This suggests that not all incidents were reported to the police. Many victims fail to report because they are embarrassed, blame themselves, feel the police will not act, anticipate that they, as the victim, will be blamed for the crime, or know their rapist and fear retaliation (their assaulters were fathers, brothers, uncles, friends, or neighbors).
