Sexual Violence History and Background
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Sensitive Content Warning: This program page contains information about sexual violence and rape.
The California Department of Public Health does not provide direct services for victims of sexual violence (SV). If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are being abused, need resources, and support, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).
Visit our Find Help page for more information.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program after Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994.[1] The Program’s first goals were to define sexual violence (SV) and collect data on SV.[2] The CDC RPE Program operates in all 50 states including California.[1] The Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (IVPB) began violence prevention work in 1994 with California’s Women’s Health Initiative. Strategies and programming focused on individual level awareness and focus on victim services.[2] The focus of CDC programs evolved from targeting victims to engaging bystanders and perpetrators to prevent SV.[2] In 2001, CDC priorities transitioned from implementing primary prevention approaches to rape prevention. SV was later refrained from being a criminal justice issue to becoming a public health issue in the early 2000s.[2] In 2002, federal law changes transferred CDC’s RPE Program funds from being distributed through a block grant to being administered by a categorical grant from the CDC to promote primary prevention.
Congressional Appropriations: Annual Congressional Appropriations determine the level of funding for the RPE Program. In 2013, the CDC reorganized funding mechanisms for state RPE Programs. CDC provides a minimum baseline amount of $7 million to each state called the Rape Set Aside portion, which is a part of CDC’s Preventive Health and Human Services Block Grant.[3] In addition, CDC distributes the remaining funds to states for RPE based on state population. Congress reauthorized the RPE Program again in 2022.[1]
National Data Collection: The National Violence Against Women Survey was administered by the National Institute of Justice and the Division of Violence Prevention.[2] The data collection raised public awareness and a greater need for prevention.[2] The CDC Injury Center continued to collect data before establishing ongoing surveillance with the
National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) in 2010.[2]
National Research: Funding for research and program evaluation increased over time. Also, staff increased over this time and were able to produce approximately 5 peer-reviewed articles per year between 2000-2010.[2]
Figure 1. Historical timeline of RPE development.
For more information, please contact
rapeprevention@cdph.ca.gov.
References:
[1] Sexual Violence Prevention. (2025, May 28) Program: Rape Prevention and Education Program. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
https://www.cdc.gov/sexual-violence/programs/index.html
[2] DeGue, S., Simon, T. R., Basile, K. C., Yee, S. L., Lang, K., & Spivak, H. (2012). Moving forward by looking back: reflecting on a decade of CDC’s work in sexual violence prevention, 2000-2010. Journal of women’s health (2002), 21(12), 1211–1218.
https://doiorg.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1089/jwh.2012.3973 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3698623/