Final answer:
The statement ‘Sexual offenses are always accurately reported’ is false, as many go unreported due to various reasons, making crime statistics less comprehensive than they appear.The correct option is A.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that is not true regarding sexual offense statistics is A. Sexual offenses are always accurately reported. This is because many sexual offenses go unreported due to factors such as victims' fear, shame, or distrust of the police. Studies, such as the ones by Carlson, Harris, and Holden (1999), reveal that abuse can occur for an extended period before being reported.
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) indicates that victims are reluctant to report abuse for various reasons, and it has been estimated that more than half of nonfatal intimate partner violence (IPV) goes unreported. Furthermore, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) acknowledges the limitation of not accounting for unreported crimes.
Therefore, option D. Statistics provide a comprehensive understanding of all sexual offenses is also incorrect since many incidents remain unreported and statistics can only account for crimes that have been documented by law enforcement or through victim self-report surveys like the NCVS.
Reporting rates of sexual offenses also vary across different cultures as indicated by option C, which is consistent with the variable nature of reporting found in different regions and social contexts.