Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of "National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month".

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 358 Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month’’. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2021 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. FOSTER, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mrs. DIN- GELL, Ms. CRAIG, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. SIRES, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. COSTA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. SWALWELL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CARSON, Ms. KUSTER, and Mr. EMMER) submitted the following res- olution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month’’. Whereas the House of Representatives is committed to the awareness, prevention, and deterrence of sexual violence affecting Americans; Whereas according to academic research, an individual is sex- ually assaulted every 68 seconds in the United States, but for every 1,000 rapes committed, on average only— (1) 310 rapes are reported to law enforcement; (2) 49 reported rape cases lead to an arrest; (3) 28 rape cases lead to a felony conviction; and VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Apr 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR358.IH HR358 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 358 IH (4) 25 convicted rapists are sentenced to some form of incarceration; Whereas on average, in the last 5 years 463,632 Americans aged 12 and over experienced sexual violence, according to the Department of Justice; Whereas nearly 1 in 5 women, or 21.3 percent, and 1 in 38 men, or 2.6 percent, surveyed in the United States in 2015 experienced a rape or attempted rape at some time in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention; Whereas sexual violence is a burden for many individuals who serve in the United States Armed Forces, and the De- partment of Defense estimates that in 2018, approxi- mately 20,500 servicemembers experienced some form of sexual assault; Whereas children and young adults are at significant risk of sexual assault, as up to 44 percent of sexual assault vic- tims are under 18 years of age, and the majority of sex- ual assault victims are under 30 years of age; Whereas according to the Child Maltreatment Survey of 2019, child protective services agencies substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate, that 60,927 children under 18 years of age were victims of sexual abuse; Whereas sexual assault affects women, men, and children of all racial, social, religious, age, ethnic, national origin, and socioeconomic groups in the United States; Whereas sexual violence may take many forms, including ac- quaintance, stranger, spousal, and gang rape, incest, child sexual abuse, elder sexual abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation of disabled persons and members of the VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Apr 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR358.IH HR358 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 358 IH LGBTQ communities, commercial sex trafficking, sexual harassment, and stalking; Whereas according to a 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, approximately 1 in 8 lesbian women (13 percent), nearly half of bisexual women (46 percent), and 1 in 6 heterosexual women (17 percent) have been raped in their lifetimes, and this translates to an estimated 214,000 lesbian women, 1,500,000 bisexual women, and 19,000,000 heterosexual women; Whereas in addition to the immediate physical and emotional costs of sexual assault, sexual assault has numerous ad- verse consequences, which can include post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, major depression, home- lessness, eating disorders, and suicide, according to the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence; Whereas many sexual assaults are not reported to law en- forcement agencies, and many States have restrictive criminal statutes of limitations, which enable many rap- ists to evade prosecution for their crimes; Whereas approximately 68 percent of sexual crimes are com- mitted by individuals who are known to the victim; Whereas sexual assault survivors suffer emotional scars long after the physical scars have healed; Whereas DNA technology has enabled perpetrators to be identified and prosecuted in many rape cases; Whereas national, State, territorial, and Tribal coalitions, community-based rape crisis centers, and other organiza- tions across the United States are committed to— (1) serving survivors of sexual violence; (2) eliminating sexual violence through prevention and education; and VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Apr 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR358.IH HR358 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 358 IH (3) increasing public awareness of sexual violence and the prevalence of sexual violence; Whereas according to the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, at least 62 percent of rape crisis centers have a waiting list for counseling services and rely on Federal, State, and local funding sources to provide services to survivors and prevention activities in their communities; Whereas student survivors in K–12 and postsecondary edu- cation need access to accommodations and support, and schools have a responsibility to respond to and prevent sexual violence; Whereas important partnerships have been formed among criminal and juvenile justice agencies, health profes- sionals, public health workers, educators, first respond- ers, and victim service providers; Whereas thousands of volunteers and staff at rape crisis cen- ters, State coalitions against sexual assault, and non- profit organizations across the United States play an im- portant role in making crisis hotlines and other services available to survivors of sexual assault; Whereas free, confidential help is available to all victims and survivors of sexual assault through— (1) the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s (RAINN) victim service programs, including the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800–656–HOPE and on- line.rainn.org), which helped a total of 60,437 people in May and June of 2020 alone, up 18 percent from the same period in 2019; and (2) more than 1,000 sexual assault service providers across the United States; VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Apr 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR358.IH HR358 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 358 IH Whereas the Department of Defense Safe Helpline, Safe HelpRoom, and Safe Helpline mobile app each provide support and help to members of the Department of De- fense community— (1) by telephone at 877–995–5247; and (2) online at SafeHelpline.org; Whereas individual and collective efforts reflect the dream of the people of the United States— (1) that individuals and organizations actively work to prevent all forms of sexual violence; and (2) for no sexual assault victim to be unserved or feel that there is no path to justice; Whereas in the last year the powerful stories of sexual as- sault survivors have brought attention to the importance of addressing sexual violence to the forefront of our soci- ety; and Whereas April 2021 is recognized as ‘‘National Sexual As- sault Awareness and Prevention Month’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That— 1 (1) it is the sense of the House of Representa- 2 tives that— 3 (A) ‘‘National Sexual Assault Awareness 4 and Prevention Month’’ provides a special op- 5 portunity to educate the people of the United 6 States about sexual violence and to encourage 7 sexual assault prevention programs, to improve 8 the treatment of and services to survivors of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Apr 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR358.IH HR358 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 358 IH sexual assault, and to increase the prosecution 1 of perpetrators; 2 (B) it is appropriate to properly acknowl- 3 edge survivors of sexual assault and to com- 4 mend the volunteers and professionals who as- 5 sist those survivors in their efforts to heal; 6 (C) national and community organizations 7 and private sector supporters should be recog- 8 nized and applauded for their work in pro- 9 moting awareness about sexual assault, pro- 10 viding information and treatment to survivors 11 of sexual assault, and increasing the number of 12 successful prosecutions of perpetrators of sexual 13 assault; and 14 (D) public safety, law enforcement, and 15 health professionals should be recognized and 16 applauded for their hard work and innovative 17 strategies to ensure perpetrators of sexual as- 18 sault are held accountable; and 19 (2) the House of Representatives supports the 20 goals and ideals of ‘‘National Sexual Assault Aware- 21 ness and Prevention Month’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Apr 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR358.IH HR358 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS