Sexual Assault in Canada - ARCHIVED

Since only a small proportion of sexual offences are formally documented, the prevalence of sexual assault in Canada has been difficult to quantify. Using data from the 1999 and 2004 General Social Surveys (GSS) on victimization and police-reported data derived from the aggregate Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR) and the incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR2), the prevalence and nature of sexual assault in Canada is examined. Specifically, this report examines rates of sexual victimization; characteristics of victims and offenders; rates of police reporting; reasons for not reporting to police; the emotional effects of sexual victimization; as well as fear of crime and the use of precautionary measures by victims of sexual assault.