Costs of Sexual Violence in Utah
Recognizing sexual violence as a serious threat to public health with lifelong consequences for the safety and well-being of Utah citizens, the Utah Department of Health enlisted the assistance of the Utah Sexual Violence Council and the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA) to gather and compile data illustrating the economic burden of sexual violence to help guide sexual violence prevention and response activities. The resulting report revealed the startling finding that the costs resulting from sexual violence in the year 2011 totaled nearly $5 billion, almost $1,700 per Utah resident. The greatest cost was due to the pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life that victims experienced.
The data reveals dramatic differences in the resources that are allocated after a sexual assault takes place. In 2011, the Utah state government spent more than $92 million on people known to have perpetrated sexual violence while spending only $16.5 million on those who experienced sexual violence. Only $569,000 was spent on efforts to prevent sexual violence.
Although the cost of sexual violence presented here is an underestimation, information on these costs is crucial in educating policymakers on the importance of intervention and the savings that could result from investing in prevention. Increased awareness of the disparities in funding spent on victims versus perpetrators of sexual violence will assist policymakers in determining the most effective allocation of state resources... Click here to read more.
2006 Rape and Sexual Violence Research Report
This report is a compendium of research on issues related to rape, sexual assault, and sexual violence. While all efforts have been made to include research from as many sources as possible, it is inevitable that other valuable sources of research will contain information not included in this report.
Statistics cited in this report reflect the importance of including diverse information on these issues. Not all studies cited are scientifically-based or have been peer reviewed. However, statistics derived from those sources provide important and credible information on these issues.
For this reason, we have provided full reference information for each statistic.