Date Rape and the Bible: Part 5

Allen Webster

Topic(s): Moral Issues, Sin

Links to this entire series:

• Date Rape and the Bible: Part 1
• Date Rape and the Bible: Part 2
• Date Rape and the Bible: Part 3
• Date Rape and the Bible: Part 4
• Date Rape and the Bible : Part 5

The highest incidence of acquaintance rape occurs in grade 12 and during the freshman year of college. Of the 25 percent of college women surveyed who reported having had unwanted sexual intercourse, 84 percent knew their assailant, 57 percent of the episodes occurred on dates, and 41 percent of the women stated that they were virgins at the time of the assault.

Since Mary Koss, a researcher at the University of Arizona, pioneered the study of date rape on college campuses in the mid-eighties, the term “date rape” has entered the main-stream media. Statistics are now kept by law enforcement agencies.

According to the FBI, there were 93,934 forcible rapes re-ported to law enforcement in 2005.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, among female victims of rape and sexual assault, 70 percent of the crimes were committed by intimates, other relatives, friends, or acquaintances.

Therefore, an initial estimate of date/acquaintance rape in America for the year 2005 would be 65,754.

These numbers are thought to be grossly underestimated. The National Victim Center estimates that almost 700,000 women are raped each year, and that 61 percent of the victims are under the age of 18. The reason for this variation in numbers is that many women do not report rape because they are embarrassed, because they do not want to define someone who assaulted them as a rapist, or because they do not know the legal definition of rape. Some women even blame themselves. The FBI estimates that only 37 percent of all rapes are reported to the police. The U.S. Justice Department’s estimate is even lower—only 26 percent. When narrowed only to “date rapes,” an alarmingly nine out of ten go unreported. Thus a more ac-curate number of date rapes in America in a year would be 250,000.

The federal government takes it seriously.

The Drug-Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act was passed by congress in 1996 [(Act), 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(7)]. It provides criminal penalties of up to 20 years imprisonment for any person who distributes a controlled substance, such as Rohypnol, to a person with the intent to commit a crime of violence, including rape.

The state takes rape seriously.

In Alabama (which would be similar in other states), the Statutory Rape Penalties (§ 13A-6-61; § 13A-6-62) are as follows:

• First-degree rape for someone age 16 or older to have sexual intercourse with someone under age 12. Life in prison or between 10 and 99 years.
• Second-degree rape for someone age 16 or older to have sexual intercourse with someone between age 12 and 16, when the actor is at least two years older. Two to 20 years in prison.

The fines levied for felonies in Alabama include (§ 13A-5-11). A sentence to pay a fine for a felony shall be for a definite amount, fixed by the court, within the following limitations:

• For a Class A felony, not more than $20,000. Sentences for felonies shall be for a definite term of imprisonment, which imprisonment includes hard labor, within the following limitations: (1) For a Class A felony, for life or not more than 99 years or less than 10 years.

Counselors take rape seriously.

Rape can have serious, long-term consequences. Eighty-two percent of the victims said that the experience had permanently changed them. Victims of date rape are 11 times more likely to be clinically depressed, and 6 times more likely to experience social phobia than are non-victims. Psychological problems are still evident in cases as long as 15 years after the assault. Thirty percent of the women identified as rape victims contemplated suicide after the incident. Byron R. White wrote: “Short of homicide, rape is the ultimate violation of self.”

God takes rape seriously.

Rapists who go to the judgment unforgiven will spend an eternity separated from God in a place called hell (Matthew 25:46; Luke 16:19–31; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10). Of course, God will forgive any sin, including rape (cf. Acts 2:36–38; 1 Corinthians 6:11).

A wise person will take the threat seriously.

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 27:12). Solomon warned his son of the woman who wanted to commit sex sin with him. The genders could be changed and the truth still be intact: “He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life” (Proverbs 7:22–23).