BJA FY 11 Prison Rape Elimination Act: Demonstration Projects to Establish "Zero Tolerance" Cultures for Sexual Assault Program

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Based on the Department of Justice�s (DOJ) analysis of data compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), approximately 200,000 adult prisoners and jail inmates suffered some form of sexual abuse while incarcerated during 20081 (see BJS, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2008�09 (August 2010)). This suggests 4.4 percent of the prison population and 3.1 percent of the jail population within the United States suffered sexual abuse during that year. In some prisons, nearly 9 percent of the population reported abuse within that time; in some jails the corresponding rate approached 8 percent. In juvenile facilities, the numbers are similarly troubling. At least 17,100 adjudicated or committed youth (amounting to some 12 percent of the total population in juvenile detention facilities) reported having suffered sexual abuse within 12 months of arriving at their facility, with rates as high as 36 percent in specific facilities (see BJS, Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008�09 (January 2010), pages 1, 4).

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