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Sexual Violence Services and Prevention

Sexual assaults are acts of violence where sex is used as a weapon. Assaults are motivated primarily out of anger and/or a need to feel powerful by controlling, dominating, or humiliating the victim. Victims/Survivors of sexual assaults are forced, coerced, and/or manipulated to participate in unwanted sexual activity. Victims/survivors do not cause their assaults and are not to blame, offenders are responsible for the assaults.


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Sexual Assault Fact Sheet

This informative Sexual Assault Fact Sheet explains many topics including what sexual assault is, how many women are victims of sexual assault, sexual assault in New Mexico, where to go for help, and more.


New Mexico Statistics

  • The number of reported criminal sexual penetration crimes has increased each year from 1,337 in 2006 to 1,408 in 2009.
  • The vast majority of rapes against both women and men remain unreported to police or sexual violence support organizations. In 2009, only 1 in 9.5 adult rapes came to the attention of law enforcement.
  • Victims of sexual violence are overwhelmingly female (86 percent rape victims and 78 percent victims of non-penetration sex crimes).
  • Almost one-third (31%) of rape victims and 29 percent of victims of non-penetration sex crimes are victimized before age twelve. Another 30 percent of rape victims and 32 percent of victims of non-penetration crimes are victimized before age eighteen.
  • More than half (57%) of sexual assault victims were victims of a prior sexual assault.
  • Almost two-thirds (60%) of prior assault victims were victimized by age twelve and 85 percent of these were victims of on-going sexual abuse.
  • More than half of survivors and two-thirds of offenders had a history of domestic violence.

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