On Monday afternoon, a 14-year-old girl in northwest Oklahoma City stepped outside her front door to retrieve a package. When she did, a man rushed her, forcing his way into the home, punching her, and raping her. Police are now looking for a suspect, described as a 6 foot tall black man weighing about 215 pounds. The girl told police the man had brown eyes and short black hair with a beard about 4 inches long. He was wearing an orange t-shirt and shorts, a silver chain with a cross pendant, and diamond stud earrings. Police have released a sketch of the suspect and are asking anyone with information to call (405) 235-7300.

A random, violent attack by a stranger is a horrific act against a young girl. While many people think of a forcible assault by a stranger when they hear the word "rape," the truth is that acts of stranger rape are relatively rare in comparison to rape by someone the victim knows.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) defines "strangers" and "nonstrangers" in determining whether a crime was committed by a person known to the victim:

  • "Stranger" is a classification of the victim's relationship to the offender for crimes involving direct contact between the two. Incidents are classified as involving strangers if the victim identifies the offender as a stranger, did not see or recognize the offender, or knew the offender only by sight.
  • "Non-stranger" is a classification of a crime victim's relationship to the offender. An offender who is either related to, well known to, or casually acquainted with the victim is a nonstranger. For crimes with more than one offender, if any of the offenders are nonstrangers, then the group of offenders as a whole is classified as nonstranger.

The BJS points out that most crimes are committed by someone a person knows rather than by a stranger:

  • In 2010, strangers committed about 38% of nonfatal violent crimes, including rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.
  • From 1993 to 2008, among homicides reported to the FBI for which the victim-offender relationship was known, between 21% and 27% of homicides were committed by strangers and between 73% and 79% were committed by offenders known to the victims.

The above statistics encompass all violent crimes perpetrated by strangers and nonstrangers, and are not specific to rape. Statistics vary widely regarding the incidence of rape in the United States, discrepancies which may be attributed to estimations because of the number of rapes that go unreported each year. However, by many estimates, while 62% of nonfatal violent crimes are committed by someone the victim knows, 82% of sexual assaults are committed by a nonstranger. These statistics from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) show how likely the rapist is to be someone not only known to the victim, but close to her or him as well:

  • 4/5 of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim. 
  • 47% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance. 
  •  25% are an intimate. 
  •  5% are a relative.

Whether rape is committed by a stranger, an acquaintance, or someone close to the victim, it is a crime that brings harsh consequences in its wake, including the possibility of life in prison and lifetime sex offender registration for those serving less than a life sentence.