Breakdown of Statistics on Sexual Assault Cases
Ministry of Home AffairsSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns requests by Ms Raeesah Khan and Ms He Ting Ru for statistical breakdowns of sexual assault cases, including reporting rates, relationship types, and victim demographics. Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam reported that from 2017 to 2019, 6,988 reports resulted in 1,368 prosecutions and 931 convictions, with the most common perpetrator-victim relationships being strangers and friends. The Minister detailed that 2,798 victims were under age 16 and 390 were foreign domestic workers, while convicted offender data from 2005 to 2019 showed 1,364 individuals were repeat sexual offenders. He also noted that there were 619 cases between colleagues and 599 between relatives, while 1,078 convicted offenders had prior records for non-sexual offences. Finally, the Minister clarified that the government does not track the use of drugs, alcohol, or psychiatric diagnoses in relation to those convicted of sexual assault.
Transcript
7 Ms Raeesah Khan asked the Minister for Home Affairs from May 2019 to date, what is the number of sexual assault cases, broken down by those that were (i) reported to the authorities (ii) prosecuted and (iii) resulted in convictions.
8 Ms Raeesah Khan asked the Minister for Home Affairs in each of the past three years, how many sexual assault cases occurred in relationships such as that between (i) teacher and student (including at private education institutes and tuition) (ii) colleagues as well as between supervisor and subordinate (iii) professional and client (iv) relatives (including non-biological relatives) (v) friends (vi) strangers (where the only interaction was that instance of sexual assault) and (vii) others.
9 Ms Raeesah Khan asked the Minister for Home Affairs from 2000 to 2020, of those convicted of sexual assault, what proportion of cases involved (i) repeat offenders where the previous offence was also sexual (ii) repeat offenders regardless of type of offences (iii) perpetrators who have been diagnosed with psychiatric conditions and (iv) the use drugs or alcohol.
10 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what is the current breakdown of victims of sexual assault by age; and (b) what is the proportion of sexual assault victims who are foreign domestic workers.
Mr K Shanmugam: Ms Raeesah Khan and Ms He Ting Ru asked about statistics related to sexual assault cases.
From 2017 to 2019, there were 6,988 reports of sexual assault, including rape, sexual assault by penetration, outrage of modesty, and sexual offences involving children and vulnerable victims. Of these cases, 1,368 were prosecuted, resulting in 931 convictions till date.
Of these 6,988 cases, 109 were between teacher and student, with "teacher" including private tutor, coach, and related roles. 619 were between colleagues, including supervisor and subordinate. 47 were between professional and client. 599 were between relatives, including non-biological relatives. 2,243 were between friends, 2,957 were between strangers, and 414 were between persons of other types of relationship, such as neighbours.
Of these cases, 2,798 victims were below 16 years of age, 1,000 victims were between 16 and 20 years old, and 3,685 victims were aged 21 years and older. The number of victims does not tally with the number of cases as a case could involve more than one victim, or a victim could be involved in more than one case.
390 victims were employed as foreign domestic workers.
Ms Khan also asked for some aspects of the profile of sexual assault offenders from 2000 to 2020. We have data from 2005 to 2019. During this period, 4,606 offenders were convicted for sexual assault offences. Of these, 1,364 were previously convicted for sexual assault offences and another 1,078 were previously convicted for other offences.
We do not track the use of alcohol, drugs, or the prevalence and diagnosis of psychiatric conditions, in relation to sexual assault offenders.