Inscholarly literature andcriminology,gang rape, also calledserial gang rape,party rape,group rape, ormultiple perpetrator rape,[1] is therape of a single victim by two or more violators.[2] Gang rapes are forged on shared identity,religion,ethnic group, orrace.[3][4][5] There are multiple motives for serial gang rapes, such as for sexual entitlement,[6] asserting sexual prowess,[6] or punishment.[6][7][8][9]
Gang rapes often occurduring warfare,[10][11][12][13]ethnic cleansing, andgenocide.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(July 2020) |
TheHebrew Bible documents two narratives of gang rapes: the infamous account ofSodom(Genesis 19:4–11) and the story of theLevite Concubine in Gibeah,(Judges 20–21) which is presented as a doublet with mimicking literary structure to the former. Both instances result in the judgement ofGod through destruction and war respectively.
Gang rapes are typically perpetrated by two or more men, and tend to have somewhat different characteristics than rapes by individuals. For instance, gang rapists tend to be younger[14] and are more oftenrepeat offenders, and the gang is more likely to be under the influence ofdrugs oralcohol.
Gang rapes are more violent on average compared to its individual counterpart, with significantly more severe sexual and non-sexual injuries to the victim. The gang members also typicallydehumanize the victim more before and during the rape.[3][4][5] Gang rapes are almost alwayspremeditated in their intent, target victim(s),social proof, and psychological causes.[15][16][clarification needed] Social factors such ascivil wars,hate propaganda, and ethnic conflicts increase the rate of gang rape.[17][18]
Rape gang members often have a binding force such as the samerace, or place of residence thereby forming a close-knitpeer pressure group, encouraged by the behavior of their fellow criminals.[3][4][5] Gang rape can result from a group form ofcriminal spin, in which the group starts with less serious offenses which ultimately lead them to go well beyond their initial intention.
In a 2013 study based on 25-year crime data fromUS andEurope, between 10% and 20% of all rapes were gang rapes. Less than one in three gang rapes are reported, while less than 1 in 20 attempted but failed gang rapes are reported.[1]
A 2013Lancet report found that among the motives for rape were sexual entitlement and seeking of entertainment. Associated factors in the crime includedalcohol misuse,poverty,personal history of childhood victimization, need to proveheterosexual performance,dominance over women, and participation in gangs and related activities. As of September 2013[update], according to the report, most cases were not reported to law enforcement, and just 23% of single or multiple perpetrator rapes that were reported by the victims ended in prison sentence.[6] The 1886Mount Rennie rape case inSydney, Australia falls in this category.
Gang rapes duringcivil wars andethnic riots take added dimension of becoming a means of revenge, sending a message to the victims' community, inducing fear in opponents or creating a sense of solidarity among the rapists.[10][19] At least 20,000 women were raped or gang raped and afterwards killed by theImperial Japanese Army during theNanjing Massacre during theSecond Sino-Japanese War. Major ethnic conflicts and wars within the last 50 years have witnessed several campaigns of gang rapes.[20]Rapes by Soviet soldiers and theMahmudiyah rape and killings by fiveUnited States Army soldiers are examples of suchwar crimes.
TheKivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sawthousands of gang rapes every week, with each relief center reporting 10 or more daily victims of gang rape with battering of women.[11][21] TheRwandan genocide of 1994 witnessed numerous gang rapes by soldiers.[22] TheBosnian War during the 1990s saw a similar campaign of gang rapes.[12] In the 1990s, theKashmir region which was a battlefield between Muslim militant groups and Indian security forces also sawa number of gang rapes which were perpetrated by both sides of the conflict to instill fear in the population of the opposing side.[23] In the 2000s, civil war-torn countries such asSudan,Afghanistan andSyria reported high rates of gang rapes by government security forces, insurgents, andmilitias.[13][24][25][26] Similar incidents have been recorded inLibya,[27] andMali.[28]
During theRusso-Ukrainian War, especially after the start of thefull-scale Russian invasion,numerous cases of gang rapes of Ukrainian women and men, including children, by Russian soldiers were recorded.[29][30][31][32][33] During theOctober 7 attacks, it was alleged that Palestinian militantscommitted gang rapes against Israeli women. In the subsequentIsraeli invasion of the Gaza Strip,dozens of alleged cases of sexual assault, including gang rapes, byIsraeli security forces against Palestinian detainees of all ages—both male and female—were reported by the detainees.[34][35][36][37]
A 2013 Lancet report on rape and gang rape inBangladesh,China,Cambodia,Indonesia,Papua New Guinea, andSri Lanka found that the crime was committed for various motives, including as a means to inflict punishment on the victim.[6]
Traditionally, theCheyenne people ofNorth America used gang rape as punishment for female transgressions.[7] A similar practice existed among theMunduruku people ofSouth America.[8]
In theMpumalanga province ofSouth Africa, there are instances of gang rape as punishment.[9] InArgentina andPakistan,[38] gang rape has been reported to have been ordered as punishment.
Though having the same race or religion often acts as a binding force for creating a close-knit serial rape gangs,[3][4][5] studies reported that 30% of these shared-identity rape gangs specifically targeted people of another religion or race.[39]
A study found that gang rapes involved morealcohol anddrug use, night attacks and severesexual assault outcomes and less victim resistance and fewer weapons than individual rapes.[40] Another study found that groupsexual assaults were more violent and had greater resistance from the victim than individual sexual assaults and that victims of group sexual assaults were more likely to seek crisis and police services, to contemplatesuicide and seekpsychotherapy than those involved in individual assaults. The two groups were about the same in the amount ofdrug use and drinking during the assault.[41]
Porter and Alison have analyzed 739 gang rape cases fromUS andUK, and found over 20% of the gang rape victims died from injuries from the gang rape.[42] Gang rape is sometimes stereotyped in media as a crime of poor, minorities, or culture; however, gang rape incidence rates are high in wealthycollegecampuses, among non-minorities and every culture.[43]
Gang rape has been a historical and ongoing issue in Australia, with several high-profile cases receiving significant media and political attention over the years.
A 2013 Lancet study reports 1.9% of all rural men inBangladesh have committed multiple perpetrator rape (gang rape) of a woman who was not a partner, compared to 1.4% urban men. 35% of those who have committed gang rapes against women have also committed additional rapes wherethe victim was a man. The motives of rape included a combination of reasons. Two thirds of the gang rape perpetrators claimedentertainment as their motive, 30% claimed they participated in gang rape out of anger and to inflictpunishment on the victim, while 11% indicated the crime followedalcohol consumption.[6]
 | This section'sfactual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2015) |
In the state ofRio de Janeiro alone, over 6,000 rapes are reported every year (or about 37 per 100,000 people).[44] Nationwide, the rape rate varied between 26 and 32 per 100,000 women in 2009.[45] The arrest rates on rape complaints, was 4% in Rio.[44] About 19.6% of 2011 rapes were gang rapes.[46] In 2016, more than 30 men drugged and gang raped a 16-year-old girl and later posted photos and a video to boast about it online.[47][48]
Peer pressure and sexual aggression are among the cited reasons for the crime.[49][50] Since 1983,Canada does not track rape or gang rape statistics separately, but tracks and reports Sexual Assault Tier 3 which includes both rape and gang rape. The average Sexual Assault Tier 3 victim rate in Canada was 15 per 100,000 women, according to a 2013Statistics Canada article about violence against women.[51]
A Lancet study reports, in an online survey of 980 Chinese men, 2.2% of them admitted to having committed gang rape (multiple perpetrator rape) of a non-partner woman. About 36% of the perpetrators had raped more than one woman, 50% of those who had committed gang rape had raped both one partner as a single perpetrator as well as a non-partner during a gang rape, while 32% had gang raped a woman and raped a man. The study also found that 90% of the rapists were in the 15–29 age group at the time they perpetrated the first rape.[6]
In July 2013,Li Tianyi, the son of Chinese generalLi Shuangjiang, was charged with four other men to being part of a gang rape. This case raised significant public anger over seemingly privileged treatment of elite gang rape criminals.[52]
Over two dozen gang rapes were reported during civil protests inEgypt from January to March 2013; however, activists claim that many more gang rapes often go unreported because most women are too ashamed to go to the police or even tell their relatives.[53][54]
During July 2013 atTahrir Square, mobs assaulted and gang raped at least 46 women in 4 days.[55] A Dutch journalist was also gang-raped in Tahrir Square.[56][57] A similar gang rape and gang beating was reported by an American journalist in 2011. In a separate survey, over 90% of Egyptian women claimed to have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.[58]
Between 5000 and 7000 gang rapes are reported inFrance every year.[59]
Inbanlieues organised gang-rapes are referred to astournantes, or "pass-arounds".[60][61] One of the first people to bring public attention to the culture of gang rape wasSamira Bellil, who published a book calledDans l'enfer des tournantes ("In Gang Rape Hell").[60][61]
In October 2012, two girls inFontenay-sous-Bois on the outskirts ofParis reported experiencing daily gang rapes in the high-rise tower blocks, sometimes by scores of boys. One witness described 50 boys "queuing" to rape her.[62] 10 of the 14 defendants who were minors at the time of gang rape were acquitted, while the remaining 4 adults found guilty were given 0 to 12 months in prison. This case shocked the country.[62][63] In 2014, the case of a Canadian tourist allegedly gang raped by four police officers in Paris received international attention.[64][65]
In 2024, during theSummer Olympics, an Australian woman was raped on aParis street by five men. The 25-year-old woman with a partially torn dress took refuge in a kebab shop in thePigalle district after the incident.[66][67]
Several high-profile gang rape cases in Germany have become subjects of significant public and political controversy, primarily due to issues surrounding the perpetrators' migrant status, debates over lenient sentencing for minors, and discussions about German laws on hate speech.[68][69]
As with other countries,India does not collect separate data on gang rapes.[citation needed] Rapes are also suggested to beunderreported.[70][71]
Thegang rape of a 23-year-old student on a public bus, on 16 December 2012 has focused international attention on India's legal system, especially laws pertaining to the protection of women. It sparked large protests across the capital of India,Delhi.[72] Several other case ofchild gang rapes have been also reported, such as theKathua rape case.[73][74] The large scale protests resulted in amendments in rape laws in India by way ofCriminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 and formation of "The Nirbhaya Fund", designed to be used for schemes by different states to ensure women's safety and security at public places, a one-stop centre for their grievances, a helpline and other measures.[75] There have been reports of gang rape of tourists in India like the Jharkhand tourist rape case.[76][77]
During the instability of the heavily political and wartime era of theMaratha Confederacy in the 18th century, the soldiers of the large Maratha armies engaged in wartime sexual violence against women during their campaigns in all corners of India.[a] Upon the spotting of a beautiful woman, up to five or six soldiers would violate her. Women threw themselves to suicide to avoid such a fate and those who resisted had their breasts cut off.[78][79][80][81][82][83]
Reported cases of gang rape includeJakarta International School gang rape of a six-year-old,[84] gang rape of a Malaysian student inIndonesia,[85] and theAceh gang rape case where the victim was charged with adultery when she reported the crime.[86]
A Lancet study[6] ofJakarta andJayapura city onNew Guinea island, found gang rape prevalence rate to be 2% and 6.8% of all Indonesian men respectively who, at some point in their lifetime, have committed multiple perpetrator rape. About 52% of the perpetrators had raped more than one woman, 64% of those who had committed gang rape had raped both partner as single perpetrator as well as non-partner during a gang rape, while 12% had gang raped a woman and raped a man. The study also found that 90% of the rapists in Indonesia were in the 15–29 age group when they committed their first rape.[6]
.jpg)
Many incidents of gang rapes have been reported inIran. In several cases, the police officials have blamed the victim for not wearinghijab, and in one case arresting the victim and two activists, who were trying to bring attention to the gang rape.[87][88]
While official statistics on reported and pending gang rapes inIran are not published by the Iranian government, public hangings for gang rapes are routinely reported in Iranian newspapers.[89][90][91]
The1995 Okinawa rape incident involved the abduction and gang rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.[92] The crime, and the subsequent handling of the suspects, sparked massive protests and a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan.[93]
A 15-year-old schoolgirl inKetereh,Kelantan, was gang raped by more than 30 men.[94][95]Malaysia reported about 3,000 rape cases in 2012, a rape incidence rate of about 10.7 rapes per 100,000 people. About 52% of these victims were less than 16 years old.[94] Like other nations, Malaysia does not segregate rape and gang rape cases.
Nigeria reports thousands of gang rapes every year.[96][97] In 2011, theABSU gang rape, in which the gang videotaped their crime, drew widespread attention and protests inside Nigeria.[98] The prevalence of group rape has been proposed as a significant contributor to spread of sexual diseases andAIDS.[99]
The 2013 National Crime Data report forPakistan suggest a current rape rate of 8.4 women per 100,000 population, of which about 10% were gang rapes.[100]
In some cases, such asMukhtar Mai gang rape inMuzaffargarh, village elder's council (jirga) inPakistan have ordered that the girl in a family is gang-raped as a means of punishing her brother, and this punishment was then carried out in public with everyone watching.[101] In 2011,Pakistan's Supreme Court freed 5 men who committed the gang-rape because their action was on orders of the village council.[102][103] Other gang rape cases reported in 2013 include aBahawalpur gang rape,[104] aLahore gang rape,[105] aPeshawar gang rape,[106] and theKarachi gang rape of a girl withpolio,[107] among others.
In 2018, atrans woman fromPeshawar was kidnapped and raped by eleven men, who filmed the assault and shared it onsocial media.[108]
Land, Gold and Women is a documentary about the conditions of typical women in rural Pakistan.[109][110] It chronicles the traditional use of ritual gang rape as a method of social control. Central to the film are the stories of Mukhtar Mai, and Dr.Shazia Khalid.[109]
A Lancet study reports 14.1% of all men admitted to having committed gang rape (multiple perpetrator rape) of a non-partner woman sometime in their lifetime. 44% of these perpetrators had raped more than 1 woman over their lifetime.[6] InPapua New Guinea, 25% of the first rape was committed at a juvenile age less than 15, while in 70% of the cases the perpetrator's age was 15–29 at the time of first crime.
TheQatif rape case was a 2006 gang rape of a teenage girl by seven men. The case attracted international attention because the victim was initially ordered to receive 200 lashes but the ruling was overturned by the monarch after backlash.[111][112][113]
Gang rapes occur frequently inSouth Africa,[114] and in certain parts it is calledjackrolling.[115] South Africa reported over 64,000 rapes in 2012, or about 127.5 women per 100,000 population.[116] With one woman raped every 4 minutes, South Africa has world's highest rape incidence rate per 100,000 women. Between 10% and 33% of all rapes are gang rapes involving three or more people. About 25% of youth nearJohannesburg described gang rape as recreational and fun.[115][117]
In certain parts ofSouth Africa where boys are often involved in gang rapes, rape rates are higher.[115] 40% of reported rape cases are on children below the age of 12.[118] In February 2002, an eight-month-oldinfant was reportedly gang raped by four men. The infant has required extensive reconstructive surgery.[119] A significant contributing factor for the escalation inchild abuse is the widespread myth inHIV ravaged South Africa thathaving sex with a virgin will cure a man ofAIDS.[120]
Vogelman and Lewis report 44% of rapists in South Africa have engaged in gang rape.[121] The National Institute of Crime Rehabilitation of South Africa claims only 1 out of 20 rapes are reported in South Africa, suggesting 1,300 women are raped every day.[122] A 2010 nationwide survey reported that about 27% of all South African men above the age of 18 have raped a woman in their lifetime one or more times, while 8.9% of all adult men have participated in a gang rape.[123] The gang rape prevalence rate varied significantly in different provinces of South Africa; for example, inEastern Cape, 13.9% of men had gang raped a woman who was not a partner.[123]
In April 1999, a female AmericanUNICEF official visiting South Africa on business was gang raped during a robbery of the home where she was staying.[124] In February 2013, a 17-year-old girl was gang raped, mutilated and left to die in a town nearCape Town. This led to widespread protests.
TheMiryang gang rape was a series of gang rapes that occurred inMiryang, South Korea in 2004. As many as 120 male high school students gang raped female high-schoolers over the course of 11 months. The case caused a public outcry due to police mistreatment of the victims and the offenders' light punishments.[125][126]
Reported gang rape cases include gang rape of a British tourist inSpain where one of the rapists (described by the victim as Arabic) was a 70-year-old man,[127] and gang rape inHuelva of a 13-year-old girl with a mental disability.[128] TheLa Manada rape case in 2016 led to significant public outcry.[129]
The 2015 gang rape andmurder of S. Vithiya in northern Sri Lanka prompted widespread, angry protests across the country, particularly in the Tamil homeland and the city of Jaffna.[130]
In 2013,Forskning & Framsteg(FoF), a Swedish popular science magazine, published an article reporting that "The evidence suggests that gang rapes inSweden is increasing - despite the decline in violent crime in general."[131]FoF went on to report that, "The increase, which primarily occurred in the 2000s, may have to do with "rape with multiple perpetrators" from 2004, classified as "serious crime", which means that more obscure cases fall into this category."FoF further reports that "National Council's investigator, Klara Hradilova-Selin, said that "developments could at least partly be interpreted in terms of an actual increase."[131] Although there are a number of other important reasons why we are seeing more reports, such as, Klara Hradilova-Selin goes on to say, "more women dare to go the police" and an "increased alcohol consumption".[131] FinallyFoF goes on to report that in the 1990s "In the gang rape of three or more perpetrators 39 percent are foreign born."[131] The statistics for gang rapes were not investigated by Swedish authorities after 2006.[131]
On 21 January 2017, inUppsala,Sweden, a group of Arab Facebook users allegedlygang-raped an unconscious woman for several hours.[132][133][134] The crime was stopped when viewers of the Facebook live feed realized what was happening and phoned the police, who entered the apartment and interrupted the crime still in progress.[135][136]
In March 2018, newspaperExpressen investigated gang rape court cases from the two preceding years and found that there were 43 men having been convicted. Their average age was 21 and 13 were under the age of 18 when the crime was committed. Of the convicted, 40 out of the 43were either immigrants (born abroad) or born in Sweden to immigrant parents.[137] Another investigation by newspaperAftonbladet found that of 112 men and boys convicted for gang rape since July 2012, 82 were born outside Europe. The median age of the victims was 15, while 7 out of 10 perpetrators were between 15 and 20.[138]
In several cases in 2013, the courts of theUAE have sentenced the gang raped woman to prison under its laws. For example, a British woman, after she reported being gang raped by three men, was charged with the crime of drinkingalcohol in UAE; an Arab woman was sentenced to one year in prison for illicit sex after she complained of gang rape; an Australian woman was similarly sentenced to jail after she reported gang rape in the UAE, while aNorwegian woman was jailed for illicit sex when she reported rape by Arab men.[139] In another case, an 18-year Arab woman withdrew her complaint of gang rape inside a car by six men when the prosecution threatened her with a long jail term for consensual sex with multiple men.[140]
According toABC News,a French teenage boy was gang raped by three Dubai men. The authorities demanded that the tourist confess he is gay and that he asked for sex. The boy insisted he was raped and diplomatic pressure led to the arrest and conviction of the gang members.[141]
A number of gang rapes have taken place in theUnited Kingdom,[142] although the UK authorities had not separately collected data on gang rapes until the 2011Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre report onlocalised grooming entitled "Out of Mind, Out of Sight",[143] but which only deals with adolescent victims. However,Scotland Yard expressed concern in 2009 over the rise of 'gang sex attacks' in London, detailing an increase of 71 cases in 2003/2004 to 93 cases in 2008/2009.[144]
Media reports of gang rapes in the UK are often racially charged since late 2000.[145][146] This due to a particular pattern of repeated non-white perpetrated gang rapes in the metropolitan areas.[145] TheRochdale sex trafficking gang would later epitomise the phenomenon.[147] TheHome Office report of 2013 described these cases as '[showing] a particular model... of organised, serious exploitation and abuse that involves predominantly Pakistani-heritage men grooming and abusing predominantly white British girls.'[148] The report stresses that the Government does not believe 'localised grooming' is intrinsic of any culture, religion, and or race, despite acknowledging the phenomenon.
In March 2014, Crime Prevention MinisterNorman Baker described "ground breaking work" to identify women and girls who can get drawn into gangs. "Girls associated with gangs can face sexual violence and we have provided £1.2m for 13 Young People's Advocates to support those at risk," he said on the launch of a report by theCentre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think-tank established in 2002 byIain Duncan Smith, another Cabinet minister. Baker said the government had set up a network of more than 70 people with experience of dealing with gangs to work with 33 of the worst affected areas of the country, including 20 inLondon. In one case cited by the CSJ report, a schoolgirl was abducted and sexually assaulted by nine males because she criticised a gang member. The report found that girls as young as eight were being used to carry drugs while female gang members in their teens were being pressured to have sex with boys as young as 10 to initiate males into gangs. A 2014 report by theOffice of the Children's Commissioner suggested that almost 2,500 children had been known to be victims of child sexual exploitation by gangs and groups.[149]
In July 2018Home SecretarySajid Javid ordered research into the particular characteristics of grooming gangs.[150] However, as of March 2020 this report has not been released with theHome Office claiming it is ‘not in public interest’ to release the findings.[151]
The US reports about 85,000 rapes a year, or an average of 27.3 rapes per 100,000 population.[152] There is a rape in the US every 6.2 minutes.[153] As with other countries, the US does not collect separate data on gang rapes; Vogelman and Lewis estimate 25% of allrapes in the US are gang rapes.[122] Another source indicates 21.8% of American rapes are gang rapes.[154]ARoger Williams University study estimates from survey of crime data that 16% of all male rapists in the US participated in a gang rape crime.[155]
A 15-year-old girl inChicago was gang raped on Facebook live in 2017 while watched by over 40 people.[156] On a separate occasion, two teenage girls, one aged 15, the other aged 16, inLa Crosse, Wisconsin, were gang raped by at least 11 men.[157]
Some examples of gang rapes reported in local media in 2013 include theCleveland, Texas gang rape,[158]Richmond gang rape,[159]Vanderbilt University gang rape,[160]New Orleans gang rape,[161] St Paul gang rape,[162]Miami gang rape/murder,[163] among others.
horrors perpetrated by the Marathas on women and children which included gang rape.
'Tis reported that no fewer than 10 or a Dozen of 'em will rape a beautiful Woman, that they cut off the Cullions [testicles] of Men & embugger Children of both sexes thereafter selling them into slavery
Repeated Maratha invasion of Bengal from the 1740s causing mass migration of people, ... in the beginning the Marathas raped and violated women, but later, the villagers took to guerrilla tactics to resist them
they indulged in the unspeakable practice of gang-rape
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
