Domestic violence is the single largest cause
of injury to women between the ages of 15 and
44 in the United States, more than muggings, car
accidents, and rapes combined. Each year between
2 million and 4 million women are battered, and
2,000 of these battered women will die of their
injuries. Violence against men by women is also
a problem, according to the August 2000 Annals
of Emergency Medicine. In a study of an inner
city hospital, men reported slightly more physical
violence than women (20 percent of men and 19
percent of women), although women reported significantly
more past and present nonphysical violence than
men.
Violence against women is an urgent public health
problem with devastating consequences for women,
children, and families. According to the U. S.
Department of Justice, an intimate person - a
husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend
- commits 29 percent of all violence against women
by a single offender.
Nearly 18 percent of women surveyed, or 17.7
million American women, have been raped or been
a victim of attempted rape during their lifetime,
according to a collaborative study on violence
jointly funded by the Department of Health and
Human Services and the Department of Justice.
Retrieved from http://www.acep.org/1,391,0.html
on November 15, 2004.
DV Fact Sheets
What is domestic violence?
Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior that
includes the use or threat of violence and
intimidation for the purpose of gaining power
and control over another person. Violence is
characterized by:
| Physical
Abuse |
Sexual
Abuse |
Economic
Abuse |
Isolation |
Emotional
Abuse |
Control |
Verbal
Abuse |
|
Prevalence
» Nearly one-third of
American women report being raped and/or physically
assaulted by a
current or former boyfriend at some point in their
lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey.
(The Commonwealth Fund, “Health Concerns
Across a Women’s Lifespan: 1998 Survey of
Women’s Health,” May 1999)
» An estimated 4.5 million
physical assaults are committed against U.S. women
by intimate
partners annually.(U.S. Department of Justice,
“Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate
Partner Violence: Findings from the NationalViolence
Against Women Survey,” July 2000)
» Approximately half
(51.2 percent) of the women raped by an intimate
and two-thirds (65.5 percent) of the women physically
assaulted by an intimate said they were victimized
multiple
times by the same partner.(U.S. Department of
Justice, “Extent, Nature, and Consequences
of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the
NationalViolence Against Women Survey,”
July 2000)
Who are the victims?
» Eight-five percent
of domestic violence victims are women.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, Factbook: Violence
By Intimates, 1998, NCJ-167237)
» Violence against women
is present in every country, cutting across boundaries
of culture, class,
education, income, ethnicity, and age.
(United Nations Children’s Fund, “Domestic
Violence Against Women and Girls,” Innocenti
Digest, No. 6, May 2000)
» Women of all socio-economic
groups experience abuse. However, women in poverty
face
particular hardships and challenges when they
try to leave abusive relationships because they
lack the resources they need to support themselves
and their children.
(Family Violence Prevention Fund, “Speaking
Up,” Vol. 8, Issue 6, 1998)
» In almost nine out
of ten incidents of domestic elder abuse and neglect,
the perpetrator is a
family member.(1998 National Elder Abuse Incidence
Study)
» Domestic violence among
gay and lesbian couples occurs in approximately
25-30 percent of
relationships — the same statistical frequency
as in heterosexual relationships. However, women
are nearly three times more likely to report being
victimized by a male partner than by a female
partner and men are nearly twice as likely to
report being victimized by a male partner than
by
a female partner. These findings suggest that
men primarily perpetrate violence, whether
against male or female partners.
(Barnes, “It’s Just a Quarrel”,
American Bar Association Journal, February 1998,
p. 25)
(US Department of Justice, Extent, Nature, and
Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings
from the National ViolenceAgainst Women Survey,
July 2000)
» Approximately one in
five female high school students reports being
physically and/or sexually
abused by a dating partner.
(Silverman, Raj, Lorelei, Mucci, and Hathaway,
“Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls
and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight
Control, Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality,”
Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol.
286, No. 5,
Effects on Children
» Slightly more than
half of female victims of intimate partner violence
live in households with
children under age 12.
(U.S. Department of Justice, “Violence by
Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current
or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, andGirlfriends,”
March 1998)
» Each year, thousands
of American children witness intimate partner
violence within their
families. Witnessing violence is a risk factor
for long-term physical and mental health
problems, including alcohol and substance abuse,
being a victim of abuse, and perpetrating
intimate partner violence.(Felitti, et al. 1998)
» For incidents known
to police, 3 percent of spouse and intimate partner
assaults also include a
child abuse victim, while 13 percent of child
abuse victimizations include a spouse or other
intimate partner assault.
(Finkelhor and Ormrod, “Child Abuse Reported
to the Police,” The Office of Juvenile Justice
and DelinquencyPrevention, May 2001)
Impact of Domestic Violence
» On average, more than
three women are murdered by their husbands or
boyfriends in this
country everyday.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report,
“Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim
1993-99,” October 2001)
» 70 percent of all known
domestic violence related deaths in Arizona involve
the use of a
firearm.
(Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence,
Domestic Violence Related Homicides 2001)
» According to newspaper
reports, 106 people died in Arizona in 2000 as
a result of a domestic
violence related homicide. In addition, 22 perpetrators
committed suicide. In 2001, 92 people
died in Arizona as a result of a domestic violence
related homicide and 17 perpetrators
committed suicide.
(Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence,
Domestic Violence Related Homicides, 2000 and
2001)
» The estimated yearly
direct medical cost of caring for battered women
is about $1.8 billion.
(Wisner, Gilmer, Saltzman, and Zink, “Intimate
Partner Violence Against Women: Do Victims Cost
Health Plans More?,” The Journal of Family
Practice, 48, No. 6, 1999)
» The United States Department
of Justice has reported that a current or former
spouse or partner
injured 37 percent of all women who sought medical
care in hospital emergency rooms for
violence-related injuries.
(United Nations Children’s Fund, “Domestic
Violence Against Women and Girls,” Innocenti
Digest, No. 6, May 2000)
» A study conducted at
a large health plan in Minneapolis and St. Paul,
Minnesota in 1994, found
that an annual difference of $1,775 more was spent
on abused women who utilized hospital
services than on a random sample of general enrollees.
(Wisner, Gilmer, Saltzman, and Zink, “Intimate
Partner Violence Against Women: Do Victims Cost
Health Plans More?,” The Journal of Family
Practice, 48, No. 6, 1999)
Retrieved from http://www.azcadv.org/HTML/DV_Fact_Sheets.html
on November 15, 2004.
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