Did you know that...

• Every 7.5 seconds a woman is battered by an intimate partner.

• Battering is the single major cause of injury to women in the U.S.

• Over one-third of female homicide victims are killed by their partners.

• Only 1 out of 10 assaults are reported to law enforcement.

• Children suffer when they live in a home where violence occurs.

• Battering occurs among people of all backgrounds and income levels.

Five Characteristics of Domestic Violence...

• Domestic violence is a learned behavior.

• Domestic violence typically involves repetitive behavior encompassing different types of abuse.

• The batterer, not substance abuse, the victim or the relationship, causes domestic violence.

• Danger to the victim and children is likely to increase at the time of separation.

• The victim's behavior is often a way of ensuring survival.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

• Ten percent (521,740) of violent crimes in 2003 were committed by the victim's intimate partner.  Women (19 percent) were victimized by intimate partners at a greater rate than men (3 percent).
• Nine percent of murder victims in 2003 were killed by their spouse or intimate partner.  Seventy-nine percent of those victims were female.
• Women who have experienced any type of personal violence complained of a greater number of chronic physical symptoms than those who were not abused, even though the last episode of violence occurred an average of 14 to 30 years earlier. The risk of suffering from six or more chronic physical symptoms increased with the number of forms of violence experienced.
• Sixteen percent of rejected firearms applications were denied because of prior domestic violence misdemeanor convictions or prior restraining orders against the applicant.
• For 7 percent of adults on probation in 2003, domestic violence was the most serious offense of which they had been convicted.
• Domestic violence victims made up 25 percent of all adult victims who received victim compensation in 2003. Thirty-five percent of all assault claims were paid to domestic violence victims.

SAME-SEX DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

• In 2003, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, or transgender people (LGBT) experienced 6,523 incidents of domestic violence.  Six of these incidents resulted in murder.
• Forty-four percent of the victims of LGBT domestic violence were men, 36 percent women, and 2 percent transgender. Gender identity was not recorded for 9 percent of the victims.
• For cases where the age of the victim was recorded, 58 percent were over the age of 30, while 42 percent of the victims of LGBT domestic violence were under 30.
• Forty-four percent of the victims were white, almost a quarter were Latino, 15 percent were black, 6 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5 percent were multiracial.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE

• In 2001, 248,000 people were raped/sexually assaulted in the United States. This represents an 8.3 percent drop over a year.89 According to victims, only 39 percent of all rape/sexual assault was reported to law enforcement agencies during 2001.
• Law enforcement agencies across the country received 90,491 reports of forcible rape in 2001, an increase of 0.3 percent since 2000. Of these, 44.3 percent were cleared.
• In 2001, 91 percent of victims of rape/sexual assault were female.
• All victims of completed rape are regarded as being injured. In addition to the rape, 38 percent of female rape victims sustained an injury.
• Only 32 percent of injured completed rape victims were treated for their injuries. For those who were treated, treatment ranged from receiving care at the scene to being admitted to a hospital.
• Approximately 2 percent of all female murder victims in 2001 were raped prior to being killed.
• In a study of recent female rape victims, a total of 73 percent were extremely fearful either at the time of the rape or afterwards about contracting HIV due to rape.
• A nationally representative sample of emergency departments' treatment of rape victims found that only one-third of the victims received some type of STD (sexually transmitted diseases) screening. Of those, 35 percent received STD medication, which translates into a toal of 13 percent of those who were both screened and received STD medication.
• About 386,000 convicted sex offenders were registered in 49 states and the District of Columbia as of February 2001, compared to 277,000 registered in April 1998.
• A large, multi-site study of persons suffering from severe mental illness (SMI) found that 20 percent of the women reported a sexual assault in the previous 12 months, and 80 percent reported either physical or sexual assault in adulthood.

• In 2003, 640 Americans over the age of 65 were murdered.
• Almost 69,000 elderly Americans (age 65 or older) were victims of non-fatal violent crime in 2003.
• Adult Protective Services substantiated 166,019 reports of elder maltreatment in 2000.
• Twenty percent of elder maltreatment substantiated by Adult Protective Services involved physical abuse, 13 percent involved caregiver neglect, 10 percent involved financial exploitation, 8 percent involved emotional/verbal abuse, and less than 1 percent involved sexual abuse.
• Of all victims reporting telemarketing fraud to the National Fraud Information Center in 2003, 34 percent were seniors (age 60 or older).
• Almost 4 million elderly people (age 65 or older) were victims of consumer fraud, making up 11 percent of total victims of fraud.

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

• Homicides accounted for 11 percent (608) of all fatal injuries that took place at work in 2002.
• An average of 1.7 million violent victimizations are committed annually against persons at work or on duty.
• The majority of workplace violent crimes are aggravated and simple assaults. Rape, sexual assault, robbery, and homicide account for 6 percent of all incidents.
• About 1 percent of all workplace victimizations were committed by an intimate of the victim.

 Stats from: www.ncvc.org