$122,461. That’s enough to pay for a college degree, to buy a house (depending on where you live), and to travel the world and enjoy life for awhile. It’s also the average lifetime economic burden for a survivor of rape, according to a 2017 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, rape is the costliest crime for victims in the United States. It costs survivors an estimated total of $127 billion annually, not including child sexual abuse, which is estimated to cost families a total of $71 billion a year.
The costs for survivors of rape is divided into four categories:

  • Short and long-term physical and mental health treatment
  • Lost work productivity
  • Criminal justice
  • Property loss or damage

The study was careful to note that these categories only took into account the “attributable impaired health, lost productivity, and criminal justice costs from a societal perspective,” but did not cover a “monetized version of [the] victim’s pain and suffering.”
Taking into account the physical and mental impact of rape on a survivor, the CDC stands apart from previous studies, as it factored long-term recovery into its calculations.
This is crucial, as rape is unique among crimes in that it is an amalgamation of things that are individually horrific and together impact the survivor in devastating, long-term ways.
“It’s kind of a perfect storm,” Seth J. Gillihan told USA Today for their report for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. “If you’re trying to design a traumatic experience that would really stick with a person, it’s hard to think of a worse one than sexual violence. It’s the most potent traumatic event in terms of leading to PTSD and long-term disruptions. It has all the ingredients.”
The lack of control, young age of many victims, and social stigma all contribute to the negative and lasting consequences of rape. Rape is an interpersonal crime and most often committed by someone the victim already knows. It is betrayal at its most intimate.
“It’s one of the most traumatic things that can happen to somebody,” says Scott Berkowitz, president of RAINN, “and most people will recover from that but the speed at which they do … vary from person to person.”
There are two things that are crucial for a survivor of rape to understand as early on as possible: It is not their fault and there is help.
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) ensures that survivors of sexual assault cannot be charged upfront for medical forensic exams (commonly referred to as rape kits). The cost of a rape kit is covered by the government and state crime victim compensation programs funded primarily by penalties paid by convicted offenders.
However, VAWA does not require that pregnancy tests, HIV tests, and other STD tests be covered, so the cost of ensuring a survivor receives proper treatment without racking up a sizable bill is left up to the victim’s insurance. If they are uninsured, the state’s Crime Victim Compensation (CVC) helps cover the cost. CVC programs, while incredibly beneficial, do have limits on amounts survivors can reimburse, and the process of submitting a claim is usually complex.
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