It turns out there is a significant discrepancy between local and national criminal definitions of what constitutes “Forcible Rape” and the FBI crime statistic definition of rape. Since 1927 (yes that is not a typo) the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Summary Reporting System (SRS) has defined forcible rape as “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will”. This meant forcing penile/vaginal penetration (yes, that is what “Carnal knowledge of a female” means) against the will of a female partner was the only form of rape tabulated by the FBI yearly crime report. This has resulted in decades of lower national rape statistics. Why? Because if the rape was any sexual act other than penile/vaginal intercourse, no matter how violent and non-consensual, until now it was not included in FBI rape statistics. Although expanded criminal definitions of rape and definitions for statistical tabulation have been increasingly congruent in other places, the FBI (the foremost source of national crime information on rape and source for determining federal grants and Congressional health care policy initiatives) was for a period of 85 years increasingly inaccurately tabulating the prevalence of rape. Thus, a person could be imprisoned by the state or Federal courts for non-consensually forcing an object into the anus of a man and the FBI not tabularize this criminal conviction as rape.
The new FBI statistical definition is: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim” (downloaded January 7, 2012 at http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/author/trusso/)
My sexual health training with drug and alcohol treatment professionals promotes ”consent” as the most basic sexual health boundary for every person in recovery. The 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report definition now recognizes rape when a victim is incapacitated and unable to consent to sex because of their ingestion of drugs or alcohol. It is now even more essential for drug and alcohol treatment professionals to integrate forcible rape linked with substance use as basic elements of a comprehensive drug and alcohol assessment and treatment. How many male clients (and most likely a smaller number of women) in our nations drug and alcohol treatment programs have forcibly raped an incapacitated man or women after the victim ingested drugs or alcohol?
As I train drug and alcohol treatment professionals around the country, I am told about the low confidence, lack of training, and at times unwillingness of treatment programs to discuss forced non-consensual sex (rape) unless it is the story of the victim. The perpetrators’ story often remains unseen.
Several years ago a man disclosed to me that he had been to three different treatment programs over seven years and relapsed within a year after each treatment. Demoralized, he came to my office to be assessed for “sexual addiction”. Part of my assessment with every new client interview is their history of non-consensual sex. Addiction treatment alumni are well prepared to have me ask about sexual abuse (survivor of non-consensual sex). What new clients are unprepared for is my interest in their committing non-consensual sex.
This particular client disclosed he and his dealer had raped several women when he was drunk in the years leading up to his first treatment. In all three well-respected inpatient drug and alcohol treatment programs he had never disclosed this to anyone. When asked why, he said, “no one ever asked”. He concluded it was not appropriate to discuss and if discovered the program would report his crimes to the police. His relief upon his disclosure with me was palpable. He improved his sexual health by bringing a long held sex/drug-linked secret into the open. His recovery now had better sexual health statistics. Eventually his hope for maintaining recovery increased.
Much like the FBI, the frequency and numbers of recovering men and women who have forcibly raped an incapacitated drug and alcohol intoxicated victim must no longer remain as hidden within drug and alcohol treatment programs. Perhaps a new source of sex/drug-linked research and funding may now become available by collecting data on drug and alcohol linked forcible rape? I hypothesize that bringing this non-consensual sex/drug-linked data into the open will improve treatment outcomes, decrease risk of chronic relapse and improve sexual health of both recovering rape victims and perpetrators.
Have you ever wondered if a client you are working with has raped? Do you feel unprepared or unwilling to talk about this component of consent in sexual relations as part of counseling sex/drug-linked behavior?
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