Two recent
research reports, were published by the U.S. Department of Justice. and
released in the summer and fall of 2001. One, is the Extent, Nature,
and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence and the other is the Full
Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against
Women: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey.
Presented here are facts
taken directly from these two reports. You may download these reports at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm
or e-mail puborder@ncjrs.org
and ask for a hard copy of the reports.
You can also read a joint article by Richard
L. Davis and Kim Eyer on this subject; or test your knowledge of domestic
violence issues with our onsite quiz.
In no specific order
of importance some of the findings are:
- Nearly 25 percent
of surveyed women and 7.6 percent of surveyed men said they were raped
and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting
partner, or date at some time in their lifetime.
- 1.5 percent of surveyed
women and 0.9 percent of surveyed men said they were raped and/or physically
assaulted by a partner in the previous 12 months.
- 0.5 percent of surveyed
women and 0.2 percent of surveyed men reported being stalked by such
a partner in the previous 12 months.
- Rates of intimate
partner violence vary significantly among women of diverse racial backgrounds.
However, results diminish when other sociodemographic and relationship
variables are controlled
- 41.4 percent of women
and 19.9 percent of men who were physically assaulted by an intimate
partner were injured during their most recent assault.
- Results from the
survey demonstrate that most physical assaults committed against women
and men by intimates are relatively minor and consist of pushing, grabbing,
shoving, slapping, and hitting.
- Women experience
more chronic and injurious physical assaults than men.
- There were an estimated
503,484 stalking victimizations perpetrated against women and 185,496
against men.
- 54 percent of the
men and 40 percent of the women said an adult caretaker physically assaulted
them as a child.
- Experiencing and/or
witnessing violence in one's family increase one's chances of being
a perpetrator or victim.
- Lower income women
are victims more than those with higher rates of income.
- Women with little
education are victims more than those with more education.
- Unmarried couples
are at greater risk than those who are married.
- There are strong
links between drug and alcohol use concerning injury to victims.
- Police are significantly
more likely to take a report and to arrest or detain the perpetrator
if the victim was female.
- Only [emphasis added]
7.5 percent of women who were raped and only [emphasis added] 7.3 percent
of women who were physically assaulted said that their attacker was
criminally prosecuted.
- The victims rarely
seek restraining orders as a form of early intervention but rather as
an act of desperation after they have experienced extensive problems.
- Most temporary restraining
orders are violated.
- Approximately 1.5
million women and 834,732 men are raped and/or physically assaulted
annually.
- The report estimates
that 4.5 million women and 2.9 million men are physically assaulted
annually.
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