Last update - 00:00 28/11/2006
Two-thirds of calls to rape crisis centers are from minors
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
Some 65 percent, or almost two-thirds, of calls to rape crisis centers involve sexual assaults or molestation of children and teenagers under 18 years of age, according to a report by the Knesset Research and Information Center on sexual offenses in 1996-2006.
The report was prepared at the request of Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman MK Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), as background for a debate on the statute of limitations for sex crimes.
The report found that some 32 percent of complaints to rape crisis centers involve sexual offenses against children under 12 years old. Most of the victims who call the centers were assaulted when they were minors.
The report noted that sexual assault victims frequently suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Dealing with this disorder is difficult, and treatment could be required for many years after the assault.
Most police investigations and indictments for sexual offenses over the last decade (56 percent) have involved cases of forcible indecent acts. Rape using force or threats is also common - some 17 percent of cases. The rarest offenses are sexual harassment and indecent acts without the use of force (4 to 5 percent).
About half of the complaints submitted to ELI, the Israel Association for Child Protection, over the past five years have involved incestuous sexual offenses.
The report was compiled from figures submitted by the police, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, ELI and the Courts Administration.