[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 222 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 222
Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual
Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 18, 2021
Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mr. Grassley, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr.
Blumenthal, Ms. Smith, Mr. Padilla, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Leahy, Mr.
Menendez, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Tillis, Mr.
Durbin, and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted the following resolution; which
was considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual
Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
Whereas the Senate is committed to the awareness, prevention, and deterrence of
sexual violence affecting individuals in the United States;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred
to in this preamble as the ``CDC''), 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men
experience sexual or physical violence and stalking by an intimate
partner;
Whereas, according to the 2019 Child Maltreatment Report of the Department of
Health and Human Services, child protection service agencies throughout
the United States substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate
that, 60,927 children under 18 years of age were victims of sexual abuse
that year;
Whereas children and young adults are at significant risk of experiencing sexual
assault, as up to 69 percent of sexual assault victims are under 34
years of age;
Whereas sexual violence is a burden for many individuals who serve in the Armed
Forces, and the Department of Defense estimates that approximately
20,500 members of the Armed Forces, including approximately 13,000 women
and 7,500 men, experienced some form of contact or penetrative sexual
assault during 2018;
Whereas, due to the unprecedented challenges presented by the Coronavirus
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including mandatory stay-at-home
orders, the needs of sexual assault victims have become even more
complex and challenging;
Whereas, according to a March 2020 survey by the National Alliance to End Sexual
Violence, 62 percent of rape crisis centers have a waiting list for
counseling services, 35 percent lack a therapist on staff, and 40
percent of programs have an increased demand for services since the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas the American Journal of Emergency Medicine reported a 10 to 30 percent
increase in reports of family violence since the beginning of the COVID-
19 pandemic;
Whereas sexual assault does not discriminate on any basis and can affect any
individual in the United States;
Whereas sexual violence may take many forms, including acquaintance, stranger,
spousal, and gang rape, incest, child sexual abuse, elder sexual abuse,
sexual abuse and exploitation of disabled persons and members of the
LGBTQ community, commercial sex trafficking, sexual harassment, and
stalking;
Whereas studies have suggested that the rate at which American Indians and
Alaska Natives experience sexual violence is significantly higher than
for other populations in the United States;
Whereas, according to a 2010 CDC survey, approximately 1 in 8 lesbian women (13
percent or 214,000), nearly half of all bisexual women (46 percent or
1,500,000), and 1 in 6 heterosexual women (17 percent or 19,000,000)
have been raped in their lifetime;
Whereas, according to the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, in addition
to the immediate physical and emotional costs, sexual assault has
numerous adverse consequences, which can include post-traumatic stress
disorder, substance abuse, major depression, homelessness, eating
disorders, and suicide;
Whereas, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey, an average of
only 34 percent of rapes or sexual assaults in the United States were
reported to law enforcement agencies;
Whereas many sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement agencies, and
many States have restrictive criminal statutes of limitations, which
enable many perpetrators to evade punishment for their crimes;
Whereas advances in deoxyribonucleic acid (commonly known as ``DNA'') technology
have enabled law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute the
perpetrators in tens of thousands of previously unsolved sexual assault
cases;
Whereas incarceration of sexual assault perpetrators can prevent perpetrators
from committing additional crimes;
Whereas national, State, territorial, and Tribal coalitions, community-based
rape crisis centers, and other organizations across the United States
are committed to--
(1) eliminating sexual violence through prevention and education; and
(2) increasing public awareness of sexual violence and the prevalence
of sexual violence;
Whereas important partnerships have been formed among criminal and juvenile
justice agencies, health professionals, public health workers,
educators, first responders, and victim service providers;
Whereas thousands of volunteers and staff at rape crisis centers, State
coalitions against sexual assault, and nonprofit organizations across
the United States play an important 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 victim service programs of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National
Network (commonly known and referred to in this preamble as ``RAINN''),
including the National Sexual Assault Hotline--
G (A) by telephone at 800-656-HOPE; and
G (B) online at https://hotline.rainn.org; and
(2) more than 1,500 sexual assault service providers across the United
States;
Whereas the victim service programs of RAINN, including the National Sexual
Assault Hotline, helped a total of 60,437 victims receive help in May
and June of 2020, up 18 percent from the same time period in 2019;
Whereas the Department of Defense provides the Safe Helpline, Safe HelpRoom, and
Safe Helpline mobile application, each of which provide support and help
to members of the Department of Defense community--
(1) by telephone at 877-995-5247; and
(2) online at https://SafeHelpline.org;
Whereas individual and collective efforts reflect the dream of the people of the
United States--
(1) for individuals and organizations to actively work to prevent all
forms of sexual violence; and
(2) for no victim of sexual assault to be unserved or feel that there
is no path to justice; and
Whereas April 2021 is recognized as ``National Sexual Assault Awareness and
Prevention Month'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) it is the sense of the Senate that--
(A) National Sexual Assault Awareness and
Prevention Month provides a special opportunity to--
(i) educate the people of the United States
about sexual violence; and
(ii) encourage--
(I) the prevention of sexual
assault;
(II) improvement in the treatment
of survivors of sexual assault; and
(III) the prosecution of
perpetrators of sexual assault;
(B) it is appropriate to properly acknowledge
survivors of sexual assault and to commend the
volunteers and professionals who assist those survivors
in their efforts to heal;
(C) national and community organizations and
private sector supporters should be recognized and
applauded for their work in--
(i) promoting awareness about sexual
assault;
(ii) providing information and treatment to
survivors of sexual assault; and
(iii) increasing the number of successful
prosecutions of perpetrators of sexual assault;
and
(D) public safety, law enforcement, and health
professionals should be recognized and applauded for
their hard work and innovative strategies to ensure
perpetrators of sexual assault are held accountable;
and
(2) the Senate supports the goals and ideals of National
Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
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