Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration initiated against one or more individuals without the consent of those individuals. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or against a person who is incapable of valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault. The rate of reporting, prosecuting and convicting for rape varies considerably in different jurisdictions. Internationally, the incidence of rapes recorded by the police during 2010 varied between 0.2 in Azerbaijan per 100,000 people and 92.9 per 100,000 people in Botswana with 6.3 per 100,000 people in Lithuania as the median. According to the American Medical Association, sexual violence, and rape in particular, is considered the most underreported violent crime. Rape by strangers is usually less common than rape by persons the victim knows, and several studies argue that male-on-male and female-on-female prison rapes are common and may be the least reported forms of rape.