This article reports the key descriptive findings from a study examining the characteristics of all sexual assaults reported to the Anchorage Police Department from 2000 through 2003.
This article reports on a study examining the characteristics of all sexual assaults reported to the Anchorage Police Department from 2000 through 2003. Key descriptive findings include: victims tended to be young and female, with Native women victims in more than 45 percent of reported sexual assaults; in more than 62 percent of the assaults, the assailant was not a stranger to the victim and the most common non-stranger relationships included friends and acquaintances; a majority of the assaults occurred indoors, with 45 percent taking place at the residence of one or both of those involved; 65 percent of victims had used alcohol prior to the assault and 74 percent of suspects also had used alcohol; while assaults occurred all over the Municipality of Anchorage, they occurred most frequently in Spenard, Fairview, and Downtown. The article provides six tables with numerical breakdowns of statistics, one map, and two line-graphs.