A report from state law enforcement found that the number of reported sex crimes in Alaska increased by nearly 20 percent in 2018 compared to 2017.
Alaska ranks first in the rate of sexual assault in the U.S., about four times the national average.
The Department of Public Safety released the annual report Wednesday, showing a 19.5 percent increase in felony-level sex offenses and a 23.5 percent increase in the number of reported victims.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that are that many more incidents from 2017 to 2018, however. Some of it could be an increase in people reporting sex offenses.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough is included in statistics for Southcentral Alaska, which does not include Anchorage but does include the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Valdez and Cordova areas.
Felony sex offenses reported in Southcentral increased at a higher rate than the rest of the state but Southcentral ranked behind Anchorage and Western Alaska for per-capita incidents reported. The most common victim age in Southcentral was 16, while the most common suspect age was 15.
Statewide, the report notes that more than 55 percent of reported victims were juveniles. The most common age of female victims was 15 and the common age of male victims was 4. Eighty-eight percent of victims were female.
Alaska Native females were reported to have the highest victimization rate of any gender or racial group at just under 44 percent of all reported victims.
Juvenile victims under the age of 11 most often reported being assaulted by a parent. In all age groups, less than 7 percent of victims identified being assaulted by a stranger.
The full report can be found on the Department of Public Safety website.
