Washington-The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA; P.L. 108–79) requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to carry out, for each calendar year, a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape. PREA further specifies, “The review and analysis…shall be based on a random sample, or other scientifically appropriate sample, of not less than 10 percent of all Federal, State, and county prisons, and a representative sample of municipal prisons.”
The act requires the Attorney General to submit, no later than June 30 of each year a report that lists institutions in the sample and ranks them according to the incidence of prison rape. To implement PREA requirements, BJS developed a data collection strategy that used multiple measures and modes. The components of this strategy are described below.
For more information about data collections related to PREA
The Survey of Sexual Victimisation (SSV), conducted annually by BJS since 2004, is an establishment survey of adult correctional and juvenile justice facilities in the United States. The SSV gathers information on allegations and substantiated incidents of sexual victimization reported to authorities that occur within each calendar year. BJS uses uniform definitions to classify each recorded sexual victimization by the type of act and whether the perpetrator was another prisoner or jail inmate, a youth in the facility, or facility staff.
BJS administers the SSV to a sample of at least 10% of all facilities covered under PREA. The survey is administered to all federal and state prisons; all private jails; all facilities operated by the U.S. military and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and representative samples of public jail jurisdictions, private prisons, and jails holding adults in Indian country. In addition, the survey is administered to all state juvenile systems, all juvenile facilities in Indian country, and a representative sample of locally and privately operated juvenile facilities.
Data collection for the 2023 reference year was initiated in fall 2024 and completed in spring 2025. As in previous collections, administrators completed the forms via PDF or a web-based interface. The response rates for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, state prison systems, and state juvenile justice systems were 100%, while 92% of sampled local jails, 93% of juvenile justice facilities, and 97% of other adult correctional facilities responded to the survey. The overall response rate to the 2023 data collection was 93%, down from the 94% response rate in 2022. Data collection for the 2024 reference year began in fall 2025.
During 2025, BJS prepared two reports for publication based on SSV data: Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities, 2021–22 – Statistical Tables and Sexual Victimization Reported by Juvenile Justice Authorities, 2019–2022 – Statistical Tables. These reports will include annual estimates on the total numbers and rates of sexual victimization allegations and substantiated incidents reported by authorities, as well as estimates of the characteristics of substantiated incidents. Both reports are planned for release in early 2026.
The National Inmate Survey (NIS) gathers data on sexual victimization in adult prison and local jail facilities as reported by state prisoners and local jail inmates. BJS uses these data to generate statistics on the incidence of prison rape, identify facilities with high and low incidence rates, and identify common characteristics of victims, perpetrators, and facilities. BJS administers