Family Justice Center

Domestic Violence Facts*

National:

General

An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. ¹
As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy.²
The majority (73%) of family violence victims are female. ¹
Females were 84% of spousal abuse victims and 86% of abuse victims at the hands of a boyfriend.
Historically, females have been most often victimized by someone they knew. ¹
Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk for intimate partner violence. ¹
3 out of 4 Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence.²

1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have experiences an attempted or completed rape.
Nearly 7.8 million women have been raped by an intimate partner at some point in their lives.
1 in 12 women and 1 in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime.
81% of women stalked by a current or former intimate partner are also physically assaulted by that partner; 31% are also sexually assaulted by that partner.

Almost 1/3 of female homicide victims that are reported in police records are killed by an intimate partner. ¹
On the average, more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. ²
94% of offenders in murder-suicides were male. ²
76% of femicide victims had been stalked by the person who killed them. ¹
75% of murder-suicides occurred in the home. ²
Less than 1/5 of victims reporting an injury from intimate partner violence sought medical treatment following injury. ¹
Intimate partner violence results in more than 18.5 million mental health care visits each year. ¹

1 in 11 adolescents reports being a victim of physical dating violence. ³
1 in 5 female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. ²
1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by his/her partner. ²
Dating violence occurs more frequently among black students (13.9%) than among Hispanic (9.3%) or white (7 %) students. ³
Victims of dating violence are not only at increased risk for injury, they are also more likely to engage in binge drinking, suicide attempts, physical fights, and currently sexual activity. ³
Dating violence is associated with unhealthy sexual behaviors that can lead to unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV infections. ³

In 2006, U.S. state and local child protective services (CPS) investigated 3.6 million reports of children being abused or neglected. ³
CPS classified more than 900,000 (12.1 per 1,000) of these children as victims. Nearly three quarters of them had not history of prior victimization.
Sixty-four percent of the children were classified as victims of child neglect; 7 % as victims of emotional abuse; 9 % as victims of sexual abuse; and 16 % as victims of physical abuse.
A non-CPS study reported that 14% of U.S. children experienced some form of child maltreatment: 8 % were victims of sexual abuse; 22 % were victims of child neglect; 48 % were victims of physical abuse; and 75 % were victims of emotional abuse. ³
Overall girls (52%) were at slightly higher risk than boys (48%) for all forms of child maltreatment. ³
In 2006, some children had higher rates of victimization ³ :
African-American (19.8 per 1,000 children)
American Indian or Alaska Native (15.9 per 1,000)
Multiracial (15.4 per 1,000)
In 2006, more than 1,500 children ages 0-17 died from abuse and neglect (rate 2.04 per 100,000 children). ³
Witnessing violence between one's parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.¹
Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults. ¹
30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household. ¹

Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace.
Of the approximately 1.7 million incidents of workplace violence that occur in the US every year, 18,700 are committed by an intimate partner: a current or former spouse, lover, partner, or boyfriend/girlfriend.
96% experience problems at work due to abuse
74% are harassed while at work by their abuser
56% are late to work
28% leave work early
54% miss entire days of work
Intimate partner violence victims lose nearly 8.0 million days of paid work each year - the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity.

68% of senior executives surveyed agreed that their company's financial performance would benefit from addressing the issue of domestic violence among its employees.
94% of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security risk.
78% of Human Resource Directors identify domestic violence as a substantial employee problem.
56% of corporate leaders are personally aware of specific employees who are affected by domestic violence.
60% of senior executives said that domestic violence has a harmful effect on their company's productivity.

186,868 Family Violence incidents
120 women killed by their intimate partner
12,356 adults received shelter from their abusive relationships
16,968 children received shelter
74 % of all Texans have either themselves; a family member and/or a friend have experienced some form of domestic violence.
47% of all Texans report having personally experienced at least one form of domestic violence, severe, verbal and/or forced isolation from friends and family at some point in their lifetime.
75 % of all Texans report that they would be likely to call the police if they were to experience some form of domestic violence. Yet only 20% indicated that they actually did call the police when they or a family member experienced domestic violence.
73% of all Texans believe that domestic violence is a serious in Texas .
84% percent of all Texans report that they believe they can personally do something about domestic violence.

• Domestic violence is one of the most chronically underreported crimes.

*Statistical information was obtained in October 2008 from the following:

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence “Domestic Violence Facts” at http://www.ncadv.org/files/domesticviolencefacts.pdf
National Domestic Violence Hotline “Abuse in America ” at
http://www.ndvh.org/educate/abuse_in_america.html
Center for Disease Control and Prevention at
http://www.cdc.gov/injury
American Institute on Domestic Violence at
http://www.aidv-usa.com/Statistics.htm
Texas Council on Family Violence “Abuse in Texas ” at
http://www.tcfv.org/resources/abuse-in-texas/