The FBI says the number of reported rapes in the U.S. has reached a 20-year low.
There is some speculation that the decline may have to do with DNA evidence that is sending rapists to prison and victims who are more willing than they may have been in the past to cooperate with prosecutors.
USA Today has provided some insight:
" 'We have seen reform in how police work with victims, gather evidence and investigate rape; we've seen increased awareness of the crime, and we've seen better prosecution,' says Michael Males, senior researcher for the Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice in San Francisco. 'Hospitals now have rape kits that they didn't have 40 years ago' which make it easier to collect an attacker's DNA and other evidence of a crime.
"Rape prosecutions have improved dramatically over the past two decades because of advances in DNA testing to pinpoint a rapist rather than forcing prosecutors to rely solely on a victim's identification of her attacker, says Kim Gandy, past president of the National Organization for Women and a former prosecutor.
"Gandy recalls prosecutors' reluctance in the 1970s and early 1980s to take rape cases to trial because 'no district attorney wants to have a low conviction rate on rape.'
"In 1994, the federal Violence Against Women Act provided $1.6 billion to bolster rape prosecutions."
This is not the first time the number has declined in recent years.
The Washington Post wrote
a related story back in 2006.
Here are some additional resources that the Department of Justice listed on its Web site. Click on the links to find out more about:
