By the Numbers:
A Statistical Portrait of Sex Offenses

Continued from page one

Perception: Rapists and child molesters are usually strangers.

Facts: The majority of sexual assaults are committed by people familiar to the victims: family members, friends or other acquaintances.

Sex crimes in Vermont and New Hampshire were 10 times more likely to be committed by a member of the victim's own family than by a stranger in 2004, the most recent year for which figures were available.

"I think we would all like to demonize the sex offender," said Max Schlueter, director of the Vermont Crime Information Center. "It becomes difficult to do that when the sex offender is a member of your family."

Friends and acquaintances make up an even bigger group of abusers, the data show. In general, abusers were strangers to their victims in only 2 percent to 3 percent of all cases reported to police in New Hampshire and Vermont in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Many sex crimes experts believe that sexual abuse in rural areas is more likely to be committed by people with a relationship to the victim, simply because people tend to have more close connections with each other in small communities, said Susan Lewis, a researcher and spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center based in Pennsylvania. In rural areas, she said, "you are very much likely to be sexually assaulted by someone you know — which means you are much less likely to report (the assault)."

Nationally, the Department of Justice estimates that between 30 percent and 40 percent of sex crimes are reported to law enforcement officials. Other surveys of victims suggest that percentage could be as low as 10 percent.

Page three: Are most sex offenders adults?