NCJ Number
124399
Journal
Journal of the Forensic Science Society Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: (March/April 1990) Pages: 71-88
Date Published
1990
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study presents the numbers and types of all sexual offenses examined at the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory (London, England) for 1978-86.
Abstract
A total of 6,213 cases were received over the 9 years. Two-thirds of the offenses were classified as rape, just under 25 percent as indecent assault of females, and the rest as buggery (mainly of males but including a few females) and indecent assault of males. The majority of sexual assaults occurred during August and were mainly intraracial and between adults of 18 to 30 years of age. Most victims were under 30 years old; assailants tended to be slightly older. The study conducted a detailed analysis of the offenses against females encoded on the Sexual Assault Index. All of these assaults were committed by adult males, mostly strangers to the victims. Almost half the assaults occurred indoors, where victims were more likely to be bound and blindfolded, compared with one-third committed outdoors and one-sixth in vehicles. Approximately one-fifth of the crimes were committed by two or more men; in one-third of the cases, offenders carried weapons. Vaginal intercourse was the predominant sexual act; oral intercourse occurred in one-sixth of the cases and anal intercourse in one-twelfth of the offenses. 7 tables, 3 figures, 41 references.