Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/852

 PUBLIC LAW 108–38—JUNE 26, 2003

117 STAT. 833

Public Law 108–38 108th Congress Joint Resolution Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to raising awareness and encouraging prevention of sexual assault in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

June 26, 2003 [S.J. Res. 8]

Whereas, on average, another person is sexually assaulted in the United States every two minutes; Whereas, the Department of Justice reports that 248,000 people in the United States were sexually assaulted in 2001; Whereas, 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have been victims of rape or attempted rape; Whereas, children and young adults are most at risk, as 44 percent of sexual assault victims are under the age of 18, and 80 percent are under the age of 30; Whereas, sexual assault affects women, men, and children of all racial, social, religious, age, ethnic, and economic groups in the United States; Whereas, less than 40 percent of sexual assault victims pursue prosecution by reporting their attack to law enforcement agencies; Whereas, two-thirds of sexual crimes are committed by persons who are not strangers to the victims; Whereas, the rate of sexual assaults has decreased by half in the last decade; Whereas, because of recent advances in DNA technology, law enforcement agencies have the potential to identify the rapists in tens of thousands of unsolved rape cases; Whereas, aggressive prosecution can incarcerate rapists and therefore prevent them from committing further crimes; Whereas, sexual assault victims suffer emotional scars long after the physical scars have healed; and Whereas, free, confidential help is available to all victims of sexual assault through the National Sexual Assault Hotline, more than 1,000 rape crisis centers across the United States, and other organizations that provide services to assist victims of sexual assault: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That— (1) it is the sense of Congress that— (A) National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month provides a special opportunity to educate the people of the United States about sexual violence and to encourage both the prevention of sexual assault and the prosecution of its perpetrators; (B) it is appropriate to salute the more than 20,000,000 victims who have survived sexual assault in the United

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