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The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA; Public Law 108-79) requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to carry out a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape for each calendar year. BJS’s review must include, but is not limited to, the identification of the common characteristics of both victims and perpetrators of prison rape; and prisons and prison systems with a high incidence of prison rape. Analysis must—
PREA applies to all correctional facilities, including prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, military and Indian country facilities, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. Due to the sensitive nature of violent victimization and potential reluctance to report sexual assault, estimates of the prevalence of such acts do not rely on a single measure. Thus, BJS developed the National Prison Rape Statistics Program (NPRSP), a series designed to collect multiple measures on the incidence and prevalence of sexual assault. No data collection existed that could be used to fully respond to the requirements in PREA. BJS, with the aid of correctional practitioners, researchers, and special interest groups, developed, tested, and revised each collection prior to full national implementation. For these reasons, the data collections have been rolled out consecutively rather than concurrently, and each collection is in a different stage of implementation.
NPRSP includes four separate data collection efforts: the Survey of Sexual Victimization(SSV), the National Inmate Survey (NIS), the National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), and the National Former Prisoner Survey (NFPS). Each of these collections is an independent effort and, while not directly comparable, provides various measures of the prevalence and characteristics of sexual assault in correctional facilities. Incidents reported to or observed by correctional or medical officials collected in the SSV administrative records survey may be an underrepresentation of actual incidents. Allegations made anonymously by inmates and youth in the NIS, NSYC, and NFPS may be an overrepresentation of actual incidents, although it is possible this overreporting is offset by some victims who, despite the protocols enacted to assure confidentiality and encourage reporting, remain fearful of retribution or ridicule and fail to report sexual victimization. By using more than one method and measure, the data collections can together provide a deeper understanding of sexual victimization in correctional facilities. For additional information, see the corrections data collections.
Data Collections & Surveys |
Publications & Products |
PREA Data Collection Activities, 2016 Describes the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) activities to collect data and report on the incidence and effects of sexual victimization in correctional facilities, as required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) (P.L. 108-79). | |
PDF (424K) | ASCII file (19K)
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
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Facility-level and Individual-level Correlates of Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities, 2012 This report examines facility impact on youth sexual victimization and also takes into account critical youth-level predictors. | |
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Survey of Sexual Violence in Juvenile Correctional Facilities, 2007-2012 - Statistical Tables Presents jurisdiction- and facility-level counts of allegations and substantiated incidents of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contact, staff sexual misconduct, and staff sexual harassment reported by juvenile correctional authorities from 2007 to 2012. | |
Press Release | PDF (2M) | ASCII file (25K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 70K)
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
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Sexual Victimization Reported by Juvenile Correctional Authorities, 2007-12 Presents national estimates of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contacts, staff sexual misconduct, and staff sexual harassment reported by correctional authorities in state juvenile correctional systems and local and private juvenile correctional facilities from 2007 to 2012. | |
Press Release | Summary (PDF 244K) | PDF (5.8M) | ASCII file (54K) | Comma-delimited format (Zip format 70K)
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
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Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011–12 NEARLY 20 PERCENT OF PRISON AND JAIL INMATES SPENT TIME IN SEGREGATION OR SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN 201112 | |
Press Release
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Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011-12 Presents data on the use of restrictive housing in U.S. prisons and jails, based on inmate self-reports of time spent in disciplinary or administrative segregation or solitary confinement. | |
Press Release | Summary (PDF 253K) | PDF (745K) | ASCII file (60K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 22K)
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PREA Data Collection Activities, 2015 The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA; P.L. 108-79) requires the Attorney General to submit to Congress, not later than June 30 of each year, a report on the activities of BJS for the preceding calendar year. | |
PDF (348K) | ASCII file (17K)
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
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Bureau of Justice Statistics receives policy impact award WASHINGTON - The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and its data collection agents will receive the 2014 Policy Impact Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) for their innovative and salient efforts to measure sexual victimization in correctional facilities under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, 2003 (PREA). | |
Press Release | PDF
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
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PREA Data Collection Activities, 2014 The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-79) requires the Attorney General to submit to Congress, not later than June 30 of each year, a report on the activities of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) for the preceding calendar year. | |
PDF (439K) | ASCII file (17K)
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
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Survey of Sexual Violence in Adult Correctional Facilities, 2009–11 - Statistical Tables Presents jurisdiction- and facility-level counts of allegations and substantiated incidents of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contacts, staff sexual misconduct, and staff sexual harassment reported by correctional authorities in adult prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities in 2009, 2010, and 2011. | |
Press Release | PDF (720K) | ASCII file (21K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 34K)
Part of the PREA Publications Series |
Terms & Definitions |
Sexual victimization as reported by adult correctional authorities | Inmate-on-inmate or youth-on-youth sexual victimization
involves sexual
contact with a victim without his or her consent or with a victim who cannot consent
or refuse.
Nonconsensual sexual acts are the most serious victimizations, and include-
Abusive sexual contacts are less serious victimizations, and include-
Staff-on-inmate or staff-on-youth sexual victimization
includes both
consensual and nonconsensual
acts perpetrated on an inmate by staff. Staff includes an employee, volunteer,
contractor, official visitor, or other agency representative. Family, friends, and
other visitors are excluded.
Staff sexual harassment includes repeated verbal statements or comments of a sexual nature to an inmate by staff. Such statements include-
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Sexual victimization as reported by youth in juvenile facilities | Sexual victimization includes any forced sexual activity with another youth (nonconsensual sexual acts and other sexual contacts) and all sexual activity with facility staff. Nonconsensual sexual acts includes any forced sexual acts with another youth and all sexual acts with facility staff involving contact with the penis and the vagina or anus; contact between the mouth and the penis, vagina, or anus; penetration of the anal or vaginal opening of another person by a hand, finger, or other object; and rubbing of another person's penis or vagina by a hand. Other sexual contacts only includes kissing on the lips or another part of the body, looking at private body parts, being shown something sexual, such as pictures or a movie, and engaging in some other sexual act that did not involve touching. Staff sexual misconduct includes all sexual activity with facility staff, including contact with the penis and the vagina or anus; contact between the mouth and the penis, vagina, or anus; penetration of the anal or vaginal opening of another person by a hand, finger, or other object; rubbing of another person's penis or vagina by a hand; kissing on the lips or another part of the body; looking at private body parts; being shown something sexual, such as pictures or a movie; and engaging in some other sexual act that did not involve touching. Staff sexual misconduct excluding touching includes sexual activity with facility staff involving contact with the penis and the vagina or anus; contact between the mouth and the penis, vagina, or anus; penetration of the anal or vaginal opening of another person by a hand, finger, or other object; and rubbing of another person's penis or vagina by a hand. Forced sexual activity includes sexual activity between youth and facility staff as a result of physical force or threat of physical force; force or pressure of some other type (e.g., threatening with harm, threatening to get the youth in trouble, pressuring the youth, or forcing or pressuring in some other way); and in return for money, favors, protection, or other special treatment. |
Sexual victimization as self-reported by inmates in adult correctional facilities | Sexual victimization includes all types of sexual activity, e.g., oral, anal, or vaginal penetration; hand jobs; touching of the inmate's buttocks, thighs, penis, breasts, or vagina in a sexual way; abusive sexual contacts; and both willing and unwilling sexual activity with staff. Nonconsensual sexual acts includes unwanted contacts with another inmate or any contacts with staff that involved oral, anal, vaginal penetration, hand jobs, and other sexual acts. Abusive sexual contacts only includes unwanted contacts with another inmate or any contacts with staff that involved touching of the inmate's buttocks, thigh, penis, breasts, or vagina in a sexual way. Unwilling activity includes incidents of unwanted sexual contacts with another inmate or staff. Willing activity includes incidents of willing sexual contacts with staff. These contacts are characterized by the reporting inmates as willing; however, all sexual contacts between inmates and staff are legally nonconsensual. Staff sexual misconduct includes all incidents of willing and unwilling sexual contact with facility staff and all incidents of sexual activity that involved oral, anal, vaginal penetration, hand jobs, blow jobs, and other sexual acts with facility staff. |