Federal Definition of Rape Must Be Changed

September 30, 2011 -

Every year, thousands of sexual assaults are not counted as such in the federal government’s Uniform Crime Report because the FBI’s definition of rape – "the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will" – is antiquated and far too narrow.  Under the FBI’s description, men cannot be victims, statutory rape is not rape, forced oral or anal sex and forced penetration with an object do not count, and drug-facilitated rape is not rape.

Accurate data are essential to every aspect of addressing rape and sexual assault: prevention, victim services, concerns of underserved populations, media reporting, public education and the justice system’s response.  Studies published by FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (which uses the FBI’s data in its reports) enjoy particular legitimacy with the media and the public.  It is imperative that federal statistics reflect the reality of the crime.

Legal Momentum’s National Judicial Education Program (NJEP) has long advocated that federal government agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, revise their definitions of rape.  As NJEP wrote in a 2010 Sexual Assault Report article about recent BJS reports, the Bureau’s flawed methodology "sharply underestimate(s) the number of rape victims among persons with disabilities and women in the general population."

NJEP Project Attorney Claudia Bayliff recently attended a sexual violence roundtable sponsored by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and the National Institutes of Justice (NIJ) to discuss exactly this issue.  OVW and NIJ invited government officials, top researchers in the field, and practitioners on the ground to examine the existing research on sexual assault and the criminal justice response, identify gaps important to reform, and determine how best to address these gaps.  One of the major concerns discussed at the meeting was the flawed methodology used by the federal government to collect sexual assault statistics.

This advocacy has had an impact.  A recent New York Times article reported that Greg Scarbro, the FBI’s unit chief for the Uniformed Crime Report, "said that the agency agreed that the definition should be revised and that an F.B.I. subcommittee would take up the issue at a meeting on Oct. 18."

Legal Momentum applauds the FBI for taking a stand on this issue.  We hope that a revised definition of rape results in more accurate statistics so that we can better understand and address this crime.