The National Police Agency's crime statistics for 2009 show that 8,090 cases of rape and indecent sexual assault were reported to police that year.
A survey by the Justice Ministry shows that out of 1,021 people who were released from prison in 2000 after serving prison terms for serious crimes, 322 committed the same crimes within 10 years. The recidivism rate for rape was 38.5 percent, the second highest following the rate of 39.1 percent for robbery. An NPA survey also shows that out of 740 people who were released from prison in the past five years after serving prison terms for sexual crimes against children, 105 again became the targets of investigation for sexual crimes.
Attention should be paid to the fact that not all sexual crimes are reported to the police. A recent survey hints that only about 13 percent of sexual crime victims report to the police, translating into some 60,000 sexual crimes in 2009. Forty-four organizations belonging to the National Network for Victim Support report that out of some 20,000 cases about which people contacted them for help in fiscal 2009, some 3,900 or 19 percent were sex offenses.
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