American women face high risks of sexual offense. The FBI reported in October
2005 that during 2004, approximately 94,635 females nationwide were victims of
forcible rape, which means that 63.5 out of every 100,000 women suffered from
forcible rape. This figure also represents an increase of 0.8 percent from 2003.
Womenare sexually harassed while at work. In 2004 the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission received 13,136 charges of sexual harassment, with 84.9
percent of them filed by women.
According to an investigation by the Pentagon released on Dec. 23, 2005, up
to 6 percent of the women at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies said they
experienced sexual assault during the 2004-2005 school year, and about half or
more said they were sexually harassed. In the Reserve Forces and National Guard
units,60 percent of women and 27 percent of men were sexually assaulted or
harassed during their service. And 11 percent of women were raped.
The U.S. prisons saw a surging number of female prisoners who had received
bad treatment. A report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics on April 24,
2005 said by the end of June 30, 2004, the number of female prisoners reached
103,310, increasing by 2.9 percent from a year earlier. In 2004, female
prisoners in federal and state prisons accounted for seven percent of the total,
up 4 percent from 2003, or nearly twice the increase rate of male prisoners.
Nearly 50 percent of female prisoners said they were sexually assaulted. A total
of 8,210 allegations of sexual violence were reported in U.S. correctional
facilities during 2004,and the correctional authorities substantiated nearly
2,100 incidents of sexual violence, with women accounting for the majority of
victims.
American children's living conditions are worrisome. In terms of the child
poverty index, the United States ranked next to the last among 22 developed
nations in the world. Statistics released by U.S. Census Bureau on Aug. 30, 2005
showed children accounted for nearly one third of the 37 million poverty
population in the country. And 1.35 million U.S. children had experienced
homelessness.
Among the population aged under 18, those who lived in poverty accounted for
30 percent of the total in Washington D.C., 27 percent in Mississippi and
Louisiana, 26 percent in New Mexico, and 24 percent in West Virginia. In New
Orleans, 40 percent of children in urban areas lived in poverty.
American children's health has seen a decline, and death rates of infants and
juveniles are increasing. Nationally, 29 percent of children had no health
insurance at some point in the last 12 months, and many got neither checkups nor
vaccinations. The China Press based in New York City said in a report on May 5,
2005 that over the past 20 years researchers funded by the U.S. government had
tested anti-HIV/AIDS medicine on hundreds of children living in welfare homes
with no basic protection or supervision by any independent organization. This
practice brought great harm to the health of the children, and some of them died
during the treatment.
