Nova Scotia’s First Sexual Violence Strategy

If you live in Nova Scotia please take the time to <a href=”http://novascotia.ca/coms/svs/your-feedback/” target=”_blank”>fill out this form</a> and share your thoughts, ideas, and feedback. Your feedback is anonymous.

Sexual violence is a serious health, social and public safety issue in Nova Scotia. We know that incidents of sexual violence are under-reported in our province. In April 2014, work began to develop Nova Scotia’s first provincial sexual violence strategy.

A provincial strategy will help us coordinate services to better respond to the needs of victims and survivors. We want you to be a part of our work in developing a plan of action. All Nova Scotians should expect to live safely and to have services available to them when they need them. This strategy will help us accomplish this.

<a href=”http://www.sexassault.ca/statistics.htm” target=”_blank”>Sexual Assault Statistics in Canada</a>

A Numerical Representation of the Truth:

<ul>
<li>Of every 100 incidents of sexual assault, only 6 are reported to the police</li>
<li>1 – 2% of “date rape” sexual assaults are reported to the police</li>
<li>1 in 4 North American women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime</li>
<li>11% of women have physical injury resulting for sexual assault</li>
<li>Only 2 – 4% of all sexual assaults reported are false reports</li>
<li>60% of sexual abuse/assault victims are under the age of 17</li>
<li>over 80% of sex crime victims are women</li>
<li>80% of sexual assault incidents occur in the home</li>
<li>17% of girls under 16 have experienced some form of incest</li>
<li>83% of disabled women will be sexual assaulted during their lifetime</li>
<li>15% of sexual assault victims are boys under 16</li>
<li>half of all sexual offenders are married or in long term relationships</li>
<li>57% of aboriginal women have been sexually abused</li>
<li>1/5th of all sexual assaults involve a weapon of some sort</li>
<li>80% of assailants are friends and family of the victim</li></ul>

The above noted statistics have been taken from various studies across Canada. While the numbers can never been 100% accurate, a few key generalizations can made:

<ul>
<li>sexual assault is far more common than most would suspect</li>
<li>relatively few incidents of sexual assault are reported to the police</li>
<li>young and otherwise vulnerable women are most likely to be sexually abused</li>
<li>most sexual assaults are committed by someone close to the victim, not a stranger</li> </ul>