Domestic Violence Statistics

Domestic violence is an issue that is prevalent in every community and that affects all people, regardless of their age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, religion or nationality. Though most people see domestic violence as abuse perpetrated by one intimate partner against another – usually a man against a woman – domestic violence can involve anyone you are related to, or anyone you currently have or previously had an intimate relationship with, including a current or former spouse, a domestic partner, your child, someone you have a child with, someone you are currently dating or previously dated, someone who currently lives with you or previously lived with you, or someone related to you by blood or marriage.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), domestic violence is defined as “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.” Domestic violence can include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, and threats, and has devastating consequences that cross generations and can last a lifetime. If you have been the victim of domestic violence in San Diego, contact San Diego Domestic Violence Attorney, today to speak to an experienced domestic abuse attorney about your legal options.

National Statistics on Domestic Violence

• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have suffered some form of physical abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have suffered severe physical abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
• 1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men are severely injured by intimate partners in their lifetime.
• On average, close to 20 people are physically abused by an intimate partner every minute in the United States, which equals approximately 10 million women and men each year.
• 1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner to the point where they feared they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.
• 76% of victims of physical intimate partner violence are female and 24% are male.
• The presence of a firearm in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.
• A majority of physical intimate partner abuse is committed by dating partners rather than spouses.
• On any given day, more than 20,000 phone calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines in the United States.
• 15% of all violent crime in the United States involves violence between intimate partners.
• Only 34% of people who suffer injuries in a domestic violence incident receive medical treatment.
• 19% of domestic violence situations involve a weapon.
• Intimate partner violence is most common among women between the ages of 18-24 and 25-34.
• More than 75% of women between the ages of 18 and 49 who are abused were previously abused by the same person.
• Slightly more than half of physical intimate partner violence is reported to law enforcement.
• Domestic violence is associated with an increased risk of depression and suicidal behavior.

Stalking

• 19.3 million women and 5.1 million men in the United States have been stalked in their lifetime.
• 66.2% of female stalking victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
• 76% of women killed by intimate partners and 85% of women who survive homicide attempts are stalked prior to the murder or attempted homicide.
• Nearly 3 out of 4 victims of stalking know their stalkers in some capacity.
• People between the ages of 18 and 24 have the highest rate of stalking victimization.
• Stalking is a crime in all 50 states, but less than 1/3 of states classify stalking as a felony for a first-time offense.
• 1 in 7 stalking victims are forced to move as a result of the stalking.
• Stalking victims suffer significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, social dysfunction and insomnia.
• 1 in 4 stalking victims contemplate suicide.
• 86% of stalking victims say their personalities changed as a result of being stalked.

Sexual Assault

• Nearly half of female (46.7%) and male (44.9%) victims of rape in the United States are raped by someone they know, and of these, 45.4% of female victims and 29% of male victims are raped by an intimate partner.
• 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States have been raped in their lifetime.
• Nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men suffer some form of sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime.
• Between 40% and 45% of women in abusive relationships will be sexually assaulted during the course of the relationship.
• Between 10% and 14% of married women will suffer rape at some point during their marriages.
• Only 36% of rape victims ever report the crime to the police.

Children and Domestic Violence

• 1 in 15 children are exposed to domestic violence every year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to the abuse.
• 18% of female victims of spousal rape say their children witnessed the rape.

Homicide

• 72% of all murder-suicides in the United States involve an intimate partner, and 94% of murder-suicide victims are female.
• In 2013, 941 women were killed by male intimate partners, and most of these women were killed with firearms.
• Women in the United States are 11 times more likely to be murdered with a firearm than in other high-income countries.
• 20% of domestic violence homicide victims in the United States are family members, neighbors, friends, bystanders, law enforcement responders, or other people who intervened.
• 1 in 3 female murder victims and 1 in 20 male murder victims are killed by intimate partners.
• Almost half of intimate partner homicides are committed by dating partners rather than spouses.

Abuse in Later Life

• Approximately 4 million older Americans suffer physical, psychological or other forms of abuse and neglect every year.
• Approximately 50% of older adults with dementia are abused or mistreated.
• 76.1% of physical abuse against older adults is committed by a family member.
• Only 1 out of every 24 cases of elder abuse is ever reported.
• Only 15.5% of elder sexual abuse is reported to police.

Physical/Emotional Impact

• Research has found a relationship between intimate partner violence and mental health issues like depression and suicidal thoughts or behavior.
• Women abused by an intimate partner face a greater risk of contracting HIV or another STI due to forced intercourse and/or continued exposure to extreme stress.
• Numerous physical, sexual, mental and reproductive health problems have been linked to domestic violence, including miscarriage, adolescent pregnancy, unintended pregnancy, neurological disorders, disability, anxiety, chronic pain, substance abuse addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• 48.4% of women and 48.8% of men have suffered psychologically-aggressive behavior by an intimate partner on at least one occasion.
• 4 in 10 men and 4 in 10 women have suffered coercive control by an intimate partner on at least one occasion.
• 18.7% of women have had an intimate partner threaten them with physical harm.
• 95% of men who physically abuse their intimate partners also abuse them psychologically.
• Women who earn 65% or more of their household’s income are more likely to be psychologically abused by their intimate partner.

Economic Impact

• The cost of domestic violence to the United States economy is between $5.8 billion and $12.6 billion per year.
• Victims of domestic violence lose a total of 8.0 million days of paid work every year, which is the equivalent of 32,000 full-time jobs.
• Between 21% and 60% of victims of domestic abuse in the United States lose their jobs due to reasons stemming from the abuse.
• From 2003 to 2008, 648 women were murdered in their workplace, and 33% of these homicides were perpetrated by a personal relation. Of these, 78% were intimate partners.
• From 2005 to 2006, 130,000 stalking victims were asked to leave their jobs as a result of the stalking.
• Between 94% and 99% of domestic violence victims have also suffered economic abuse.