Sexual Violence in Private Residences: Whose, How and Why?

The purpose of this project was to a provide a better understanding of where sexual violence in private residences occurred and how the victims and offenders involved in sexual violence came to be at those places. These findings combined to paint a quite different picture than some might expect. Rather than being a situation where force is used to take victims to a location, or the victims' homes are invaded by force, the circumstances surrounding how sexual violence victims and offenders come to be at the offense location seem to be much more subtle. Victimization where victims and offenders shared a residence accounted for a substantial portion of sexual violence reported in private residences, rendering questions as to how the offender gained entry or why the victim was there, moot under those circumstances. In cases where the offense location was not a mutual residence, victims most often went to the site voluntarily and offenders most frequently gained entry with permission rather than through force or deception.