Did You Know … ?

… domestic violence affects a large percentage of our community

• On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States — more than 12 million women and men over the course of a year. (View Source)
• Nearly 3 in 10 women (29%) and 1 in 10 men (10%) in the US have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by a partner and report a related impact on their functioning. (View Source)
• 28% of high school and college students surveyed said that they had experienced violence in a dating relationship. (Levy, Barry (1991). Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger, Seattle, WA, Seal Press)
• 43% of teenage girls (age 14-17) report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. (Children Now/Kaiser Permanente poll, December 1995)
• In 55% of the cases where men are assaulting their partners, they are also assaulting their children. The battered mother may be suffering from physical and psychological injuries to the point that she cannot meet the needs of her children appropriately. (Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles, Physical Violence in American Families, 1990.)
• A woman is beaten every 15 seconds. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Report to the nation on Crime and Justice. The Data.Washington DC Office of Justice Program, US Dept. of Justice. Oct 1983)
• Females ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 generally experienced the highest rates of intimate partner violence. Furthermore, from 1994 to 2010, about 4 in 5 victims of intimate partner violence were female (View Source)
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between ages 15 and 44 in the United States - more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation,1991)
• Nearly, 15% of women (14.8%) and 4% of men have been injured as a result of intimate partner violence that included rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. (View Source)
• Most female victims of intimate partner violence were previously victimized by the same offender, including 77% of females ages 18 to 24, 76% of females ages 25 to 34, and 81% of females ages 35 to 49. (View Source)
• Battered women are more likely to suffer miscarriages and to give birth to babies with low birth weights. (Surgeon General, United States, 1992)
• 63% of the young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide have killed their mother’s abuser. (March of Dimes, 1992)

… battering is not just a “momentary loss of temper“

• The Surgeon General of the United States reports that 1 out of 5 women battered by their partners have been victimized over and over again by the same person.
• The American Medical Association defines domestic violence as an ongoing, debilitating experience of physical, psychological, and/or sexual abuse.
• Battering is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through violence and other forms of abuse. The batterer uses acts of violence and a series of behaviors, including intimidation, threats, psychological abuse, isolation, etc. to coerce and to control the other person. The violence may not happen often, but it remains as a hidden (and constant) terrorizing factor. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1990)
• “One in five women victimized by their spouses or ex-spouses report they had been victimized over and over again by the same person.” (The Basics of Batterer Treatment, Common Purpose, Inc., Jamaica Plain, MA)
• If violence occurs once in a dating relationship, it is likely to occur again. (Levy, Barry (1991). Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger, Seattle, WA, Seal Press)

… domestic violence frequently produces serious injuries

• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury for women age 15 to 44. More women are injured from domestic violence than rapes, muggings and auto crashes combined.
• Michigan State Police statistics show that a Michigan woman is killed by a partner or former partner every 5 days.
• In 1996, approximately 1,800 murders were attributed to intimates. The victim was female in almost 75% of the cases. (U.S. Department of Justice, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriend, March 1998)
• 20% of female homicide victims are between 15-24 years old. (Levy, Barry (1993). In Love and Danger, Seattle, WA, Seal Press)

… leaving an abusive relationship is not “easy”

• A study by the United States Department of Justice states that the most dangerous time for a woman who is being battered is when she leaves.
• In Michigan, 75% of the women who are killed by their partners are murdered after the relationship is over or as it ends.
• Women who leave their batterers are at a 75% greater risk of being killed by the batterer than those who stay. (Barbara Hart, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1988)
• Nationally, 50% of all homeless women and children are on the streets because of violence in the home. (Senator Joseph Biden, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Violence Against Women: Victims of the System, 1991)
• There are nearly three times as many animal shelters in the United States as there are shelters for battered women and their children. (Senate Judiciary Hearings, Violence Against Women Act, 1990)
• Rape remains the most underreported violent crime in America. Only 16%, or approximately one of every six rapes, are ever reported to the police. Of the reported rapes, one quarter were reported to police more than 24 hours after the rape occurred. (National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, “Rape in America: A Report to the Nation”, 1992)

… most battered women leave violent relationships

• Many battered women do leave their abusers permanently and succeed in building a life free of violence. Almost all battered women leave at least once.

… domestic violence knows no boundaries

• People of all socio-economic classes, races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and sexual orientations can be victims of domestic violence. Many statistics have been gathered from lower-class families, but only because lower-class women are more likely to request assistance from agencies, so their problems are more visible. Many upper-class victims fear making their battering public because of social embarrassment and fear that it may harm their husband’s careers. (Schulman, MA. “A Survey of Spousal Violence Against Women in Kentucky.” Washington, DC. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979)
• Women of all cultures, races, occupations, income levels, and ages are battered - by husbands, boyfriends, lovers and partners. (Surgeon General Antonia Novello, as quoted in Domestic Violence: Battered Women, publication of the Reference Department of the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA)
• “Approximately one-third of the men counseled (for battering) at Emerge are professional men who are well respected in their jobs and their communities. These have included doctors, psychologists, lawyers, ministers, and business executives.” (For Shelter and Beyond, Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women Service Groups, Boston, MA 1990)
• Violence is the reason stated for divorce in 22% of middle-class marriages. (EAP Digest November/December 1991)

… married women are not the only victims of domestic violence

• People who are dating, separated, living together, divorced, have a child in common and/or are married, can be abused. Domestic violence can occur in any of these relationships.
• Approximately 80% of sexual assaults against women are perpetrated by assailants known to the victim (friends, acquaintances, intimates, and family members). Acquaintance rape is particularly common among adolescent victims. (American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Adolescence. Sexual Assault and the Adolescent. Pediatrics. 1994)
• Male victims represent 5% of reported sexual assaults. (Heise, L.L. Reproductive freedom and violence against women: where are the intersections? J Law Med Ethics. 1993.)
• 28% of high school and college students surveyed said that they had experienced violence in a dating relationship. (Levy, Barry (1991). Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger, Seattle, WA, Seal Press)
• If violence occurs once in a dating relationship, it is likely to occur again. (id.)
• Young people tend to interpret the violence of their partner as signifying love. (id.) Adolescents, especially adolescent girls, are at a greater risk for sexual assault then any other age group.
• Adolescents who are sexually assaulted are at a greater risk for sexual assault as an adult. Of the women who reported being raped at some time in their lives, 22% were under 12 years old and 32% were 12 to 17 years old when they were first raped. (Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey, National Institute of Justice, 1998)
• Young people tend to interpret the violence of their partner as signifying love. (Levy, Barry (1991). Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger, Seattle, WA, Seal Press)
• Many teens do not identify forcible sex as sexual assault. In one study over 50% of high school boys and 42% of high school girls believed that there are times when it is “acceptable for a male to hold a female down and physically force her to engage in intercourse.” (National Crime Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. Rape in America: A Report to the Nation. Arlington, VA; 1992:1-16)

… women are not “just as violent as men”

• In 95% of domestic assaults, the man is the perpetrator of the violence. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice. The Data. Washington, DC. Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, October 1983)
• Male violence against women does much more damage than female violence against men; women are more likely to be injured than men (Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles, Physical Violence in American Families, 1990)