Intimate Partner Violence

Statistics

As many as 53% of college students have experienced at least one incident of dating violence (Worth, Matthews & Coleman, 1990).
In a study of dating violence, 25% of college men surveyed admitted to slapping, pushing, or restraining a female partner (Hannan & Burkhart, 1993).
The Department of Justice found that women ages 16 - 24 are the most likely victims of intimate partner violence (US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Statistics, October 2001).
As many as 1 in 5 couples in the United States experience at least 1 episode of partner-to-partner violence.
Women are more likely than men to be repeatedly abused, injured, or die as a result of partner violence.
Women are more willing to disclose violent episodes than men. Women who are assaulted are 9 times more likely than men to report it to the police and 5 times more likely to tell a friend or relative.
35-50% of victims of intimate partner violence are male.
It is estimated that in this country a woman is severely assaulted by her male partner every 15 seconds, and a man is severely assaulted by his female partner every 14.6 seconds.
About 8-10% of male-to-female partner violence is reported, while only 1-2% of female-to-male partner violence is reported.
The majority of victims murdered by their current or former intimate partners are either estranged, separated, or in the process of leaving the relationship.
Every 9 seconds a woman is assaulted in the United States, usually by her male partner.
32% of college students report dating violence by a previous partner and 21% report violence by a current partner. National Center for Victims of Crime, 2006.
61% of female homicide victims were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers. NCADV Violence Policy Center Annual Report, 2004.
About 1 in 320 households were affected by intimate partner violence.
Female victims are more likely to be victimized by intimates than male victims. In 2005, of offenders victimizing females, 18% were described as intimates and 34% as strangers. By contrast, of offenders victimizing males, 3% were described as intimates and 54% as strangers.
The rate of nonfatal intimate violence against females declined by nearly half between 1993 and 2001.
Between 1976 and 2002, about 11% of murder victims were determined to have been killed by an intimate.
The sharpest decrease in number of intimate murders has been for black male victims. An 81% percent decrease in the number of black men murdered by intimates occurred between 1976 and 2002.

Dating Violence Statistics

Adolescents and adults are often unaware how regularly dating violence occurs.

1 in 11 adolescents reports being a victim of physical dating violence (CDC 2006).
1 in 4 adolescents reports verbal, physical, emotional, or sexual violence each year (Foshee et al. 1996; Avery-Leaf et al. 1997).
1 in 5 adolescents reports being a victim of emotional violence (Halpern et al. 2001).
1 in 5 high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner (Silverman et al. 2001).
Dating violence occurs more frequently among black students (13.9%) than among Hispanic (9.3%) or white (7.0%) students (CDC 2006).
72% of eighth and ninth graders reportedly "date" (Foshee et al. 1996); by the time they are in high school, 54% of students report dating violence among their peers (Jafe et al. 1992).

Note: A woman is nearly twice as likely to use an object when she assaults a male partner which can increase the level of potential injury.

Violent Victimization of College Students, 1995-2002

Examines the incidence of college student victimization and compares the findings to persons of similar ages in the general population. In addition, the report describes the extent to which student victimization occurs on campus and in off-campus locations and settings, as well as the involvement of alcohol and drugs in student victimizations.

Highlights include the following: On average, from 1995 to 2002, comparing persons ages 18-24 -

Male college students were twice as likely to be victims of overall violence as female students (80 versus 43 per 1,000).
White students had somewhat higher rates of violent victimization than blacks and higher rates than students of other races (65 versus 52 and 37 per 1,000 respectively).
For females, non-students were over 1.5 times more likely than college students to be a victim of a violent crime (71 versus 43 per 1,000).

01/05 NCJ 206836

Victim/Offender Relationship

Males were more likely to be violently victimized by a stranger than a non-stranger, and females were more likely to be victimized by a friend, an acquaintance, or an intimate.

During 2005 --

About seven in ten female rape or sexual assault victims stated the offender was an intimate, other relative, a friend or an acquaintance.
Seventy-four percent of males and 48% of females stated the individual(s) who robbed them was a stranger.

Intimates were identified by the victims of workplace violence as the perpetrator in about 1% of all workplace violent crime. About 40% of the victims of nonfatal violence in the workplace reported that they knew their offender.

For murder victims, 43% were related to or acquainted with their assailants; 14% of victims were murdered by strangers, while 43% of victims had an unknown relationship to their murderer in 2002.

Two thirds of murders of children under the age of 5 were committed by a parent or other family member.

Time of occurrence

In 2005 -

53% of incidents of violent crime occurred during the day between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Almost two-thirds of the rapes/sexual assaults occurred at night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Place of occurrence

In 2005 -

The location of about a quarter of incidents of violent crime was at or near the victim's home. Among common locales for violent crimes were on streets other than those near the victim's home (19%), at school (12%), or at a commercial establishment (8%).
For violent crime, about half occurred within a mile from home and 76% within five miles. Only 4% of victims of violent crime reported that the crime took place more than fifty miles from their home.
Of victims of violent crime, 22% were involved in some form of leisure activity away from home at the time of their victimization, 22% said they were at home, and another 20% mentioned they were at work or traveling to or from work when the crime occurred.

The Role of Alcohol in Crime Victimization

About 1 million violent crimes occurred in 2002 in which victims perceived the offender to have been drinking at the time of the offense. Among those victims who provided information about the offender's use of alcohol, about 30% of the victimizations involved an offender who had been drinking.

Two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a factor. Among spouse victims, 3 out of 4 incidents were reported to have involved an offender who had been drinking. By contrast, an estimated 31% of stranger victimizations where the victim could determine the absence or presence of alcohol were perceived to be alcohol-related.

For about 1 in 5 violent victimizations involving perceived alcohol use by the offender, victims also reported they believed the offender to have been using drugs as well.

Alcohol and drugs

On average between 2001 and 2005 -

The presence of any alcohol or drugs was reported by victims in about 42% of all nonfatal intimate partner violence.
Victims reported that approximately 8% of all nonfatal intimate partner victimizations occurred when a perpetrator was under the influence of both alcohol and drugs.
Female and male victims of nonfatal intimate partner violence were equally likely to report the presence of alcohol during their victimization.
Female and male victims of nonfatal intimate partner violence both reported their attacker was under the influence of drugs in about 6% of all victimizations.

Gender

Females are more likely than males to experience nonfatal intimate partner violence.

On average between 2001 and 2005, nonfatal intimate partner victimizations represented -

22% of nonfatal violent victimizations against females age 12 or older
4% of nonfatal violent victimizations against males age 12 or older.

For homicides, intimate partners committed -

30% of homicides of females.
5% of homicides of males.

Trends for nonfatal intimate partner victimization differ by gender.

The rate of nonfatal intimate partner victimization for -

Females was about 4 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2005, down from about 10 in 1993.
Males remained stable between 2004 and 2005.

Domestic Violence in the workplace

National cost of Domestic Violence

The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year.
Of this total, nearly $4.1 billion is for victims requiring direct medical and mental health care services.
Lost productivity and earnings due to intimate partner violence accounts for almost $1.8 billion each year.
Intimate partner violence victims lose nearly 8.0 million days of paid work each year - the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity.

Your corporate peers

68% of senior executives surveyed agreed that their company's financial performance would benefit from addressing the issue of domestic violence among its employees.
94% of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security risk.
78% of Human Resource Directors identify domestic violence as a substantial employee problem.
56% of corporate leaders are personally aware of specific employees who are affected by domestic violence.
60% of senior executives said that domestic violence has a harmful effect on their company's productivity.

The human factor

85-95% of all domestic violence victims are female.
Over 500,000 women are stalked by an intimate partner each year.
5.3 million women are abused each year.
1,232 women are killed each year by an intimate partner.
Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women.
Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger.

Workplace violence

Of selected occupations examined from 1993 to 1999, police officers were the most vulnerable to be victims of workplace violence, as well as correctional officers, taxicab drivers, private security workers, and bartenders.

While working or on duty, U.S. residents experienced 1.7 million violent victimizations annually from 1993 to 1999 including 1.3 million simple assaults, 325,000 aggravated assaults, 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults, 70,000 robberies, and 900 homicides. Workplace violence accounted for 18% of all violent crime between 1993 to 1999.

Police officers were victims of a nonfatal violent crime while they were working or on duty between 1993 to 1999 at a rate of 261 per 1,000 officers.

Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace.
Of the approximately 1.7 million incidents of workplace violence that occur in the US every year, 18,700 are committed by an intimate partner: a current or former spouse, lover, partner, or boyfriend/girlfriend.

Of battered workers

96% experience problems at work due to abuse
74% are harassed while at work by their abuser
56% are late to work
28% leave work early
54% miss entire days of work

Yale Health, Yale Health