Due to problems with underreporting, sexual violence is one of the most difficult crimes to capture. The United States Department of Justice estimates that during the year 2003, 1 person over the age of 12 per every 1,000 experienced a rape or sexual assault. Other agencies estimate that as many as one in five women and one in 10 men will experience sexual violence at some point in their life.

Sexual assault is of particular concern for young people. The 2003 RIYRBS indicates that 5.7% of male high school students and 6.9% of female high school students were physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to. These numbers are alarmingly high.

Rape Prevention & Education

For more than fifteen years, the Rhode Island Department of Health has been partnering with Day One to provide rape prevention education in Rhode Island Schools. Learn more about Day One’s plans to reduce sexual violence in Rhode Island at www.dayoneri.org. See Day One’s 8 point plan to reduce the incidence of sexual violence in Rhode Island at www.dayoneri.org.

Currently in its third year of funding, the Your Voice. Your View. Media Contest and Educational Workshops is a good example of the type of public health prevention programming provided by Day One. The media contest addresses several levels of the ecological model to create social norms and behavior change that promote the prevention of sexual violence. Teens from high schools across the state participate in the media contest and educational workshops and develop radio and television messages to encourage their peers to get involved in preventing sexual violence. Winning ads portray adolescent boys intervening in situations where their peers are behaving in sexually inappropriate ways with girls. The ads are aired on radio and television through the month of April. For more information on Your Voice. Your View. go to: http://www.dayoneri.org/yourvoice-yourview.htm