Criminal Justice / Domestic Violence Resources

Facts & Stats

• Domestic abuse is a pattern of behavior used by one person in a relationship to gain power and control over another, usually an intimate partner. The pattern can include physical, sexual, emotional, and/or economic abuse. Domestic violence is about power and control
• Domestic violence is not confined to any one socioeconomic, ethnic, religious, racial, or age group.
• Somewhere in America a woman is battered, usually by her intimate partner, every 15 seconds. (UN Study On The Status of Women, Year 2000)
• One out of three American Women (31%) reports being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in her life. (The Commonwealth Fund, May 1999)
• Domestic violence occurs in approximately 25-33% of same-sex relationships. (NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, October 1996)
• 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. (Commonwealth Fund)
• Globally, at least one in three women and girls had been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. (UN Commission on the Status of Women, 2/28/00)
• Domestic violence takes a devastating toll on children. Over three million children witness parental violence every year. Children whose mothers are victims of wife battery are twice as likely to be abused themselves as those children whose mothers are not victims of abuse. When children witness violence in the home, they have been found to suffer many of the symptoms that are experienced by children who are directly abused. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)