June is national safety month, and the financial website Wallet Hub released the results of a study that looked at the safest states in the nation. Utah ranks number six overall, but in some ways, it did not do so well.
Wallet Hub’s spokesperson, Jill Gonzalez said researchers did the study by looking at records from governmental sources like the FBI, the Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said while they looked at violence and crime rates, that was only part of the study.
“We really painted a complete picture and sought out every kind of safety," Gonzalez said. "So workplace safety, emergency preparedness for natural disasters, home and community stability, road safety, and even financial security and safety.”
While Utah ranked within the top 10 states in financial safety, road safety, workplace safety and natural disasters, it was 37th in home and community safety.
Gonzalez said the researchers determined that ranking by looking at the number of police officers per 100,000 people and comparing this to crimes in Utah. She said while Utah is the sixth safest state in homicide, it is 31st in theft and 42nd in rape, meaning there are more known sexual assaults than the average state.
Holly Mullen, executive director of Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City, said most victims experience their first sexual assault before the age of 18 and the offender is usually older.
She said one possible reason for such a high number of assaults is the state has a lot of children.
“Child sexual assault is a big problem here because children are very vulnerable and perpetrators purposely look for very vulnerable victims,” Mullen said.
Mullen said another possible reason may have to do with the tight-knit LDS culture in Utah. She said close communities try handling cases of sexual assault and child abuse without involvement by police.
"Child sexual assault is a big problem here because children are very vulnerable and perpetrators purposely look for very vulnerable victims."
"Now I will say in complete fairness most religions, including the LDS church, have gotten much better about that over the past several years," Mullen said. "There was a time when a lot of that was handled just within a local ward house, and they didn't bring in police or anything like that."
Mullen said a lot of cases go unreported, and the fact that Utah has a high number that is known may be a positive sign that victims are speaking out.
More information about the study, including where other states ranked, can be found here.