Time of Day of Sexual Assault Statistics

• The temporal pattern for the sexual assaults of very young victims, children under age 6, was quite different. For these young victims, the temporal distribution appears to be a combination of two separate distributions. The primary temporal pattern for these crimes has a peak in the 3 p.m. hour. This is also the hour other research has found to be the period when juveniles are most likely to be the victims of violent crime in general (Snyder and Sickmund, 1999). The secondary temporal pattern for the sexual assaults of very young children shows the hours of 8 a.m., noon , and 6 p.m. (traditional meal times) to be periods when the number of sexual assaults of very young victims spike. The temperal patterns of sexual assault of youth ages 6 through 11, and juveniles ages 12 through 17, appear to be a combination of patterns of the very young, and the adult victims. These temporal distribution combine the after-school and mealtime hours patterns of very young victims and the temporal patterns of sexual assault for adults.
- Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement,
7/00,NCJ 182990, U.S. Department of Justice