Investigating Sexual Assault Rates Using a Holistic Approach

The rates of sexual assault in the United States of America (USA) remain high with 282,043 incidents in females in 2021 alone. We wanted to determine the socio-economic and political factors associated with rates of rape. We examined data from 1990 to 2021 and noted crucial political, socio-economic and other noteworthy events that occurred during this time period. Our dataset includes data from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Association of American Universities (AUU), and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). A statistical analysis showed a link between unemployment, the year, the annual change in unemployment, crucial geopolitical events, and educational levels with the rates of rape in the United States. A significant link was found between education level, unemployment, and poverty on sexual assault rates; however, there was a lack of evidence for a link between the year and annual change in unemployment on sexual assault rates.