The Prevalence, Context, and Reporting of Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault on University Campuses

This project will collect data from samples of undergraduate men and women using a Web-based survey on the prevalence, context, and reporting of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) at the Universities of Arizona and North Carolina. The project will distinguish between two forms of DFSA, defined, for purposes of this research, as sexual assault occurring after a victim (1) has been given a substance without her knowledge or (2) has knowingly ingested a substance (voluntarily or through coercion) that incapacitated her or made it difficult for her to refuse sexual activity. The project will examine perpetration of drug facilitated sexual assault as well as victimization.

The project's goals are to educate potential victims, as well as past and potential perpetrators, about DFSA; to inform the development of campus sexual assault prevention programs and of criminal justice responses to sexual assault; to reduce the incidence of DFSA; and to develop a methodology (including a Web-based survey) that is useful to other universities.

ca/ncf