ABSTRACT
Research has shown that approximately half of all sexual assaults are stranger sexual offences. For example, Mulvihill et al. (1969) reported that 53 per cent of rapes reported in the US were committed by a stranger to the victim. In the UK, Lloyd and Walmsey (1989) reported that stranger rapes accounted for 49 per cent of recorded rapes in 1973, and 40 per cent of recorded rapes in 1985. While not confirmed, this decrease in the proportion of stranger rapes is thought to be due to an increase in the reporting of acquaintance and so called date-rape offences. In contrast, however, in Eastern Europe, Kocsis (1982) reported that while 55 per cent of victims were known to the offender, a further 40 per cent of victims had come into contact with the offender prior to the assault, resulting in only a small minority of offences being defined as stranger rapes.
