Domestic Violence Fact Sheet

Violence in the Lives of Women and Children: Some Facts

General Statistics

Last year in America nearly four million women were physically abused by their husbands or boyfriends. Physical abuse of a woman occurs approximately every nine seconds in this country.
Most attacks on women (about 70%) are committed by someone the victim knows - often a husband or boyfriend.
More women are victims of domestic violence than of burglary, muggings, and other violent crime combined.
Over 1/3 of Americans have witnessed at least one incident of domestic violence. And according to a 1997 nationwide survey released by the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FUND) almost 90% of Americans say that the beating of women is a serious problem in many families of all races and ages. The same survey also indicated that over 80% percent of Americans believe something can be done to reduce domestic violence in this country.
The FUND polled 500 women and found that nearly 90% believe that the overall level of violence in America could be reduced if policymakers would develop initiatives addressing domestic violence. Over 90% of women say that cops walking a neighborhood beat would help; only about 50% support building more jails.

Prevalence

In 1997, about 7% of American women (4 million) who were married or living with someone as a couple were physically abused, and 37% (20.7 million) were verbally or emotionally abused by their spouse or partner.
Approximately 95% of assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men against women according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Domestic violence is a "serial" crime with (usually) a single victim. Approximately 1 in 5 women victimized by a spouse or ex-spouse has reported that she had been in a series of at least 3 assaults in the preceding 6 months.
In 1993 a national study showed that about 19% of Americans had witnessed robberies or muggings. Almost twice as many (35%) directly witnessed domestic violence. About 14% of American women have admitted that they had been violently abused by a husband or boyfriend.

Injuries and Fatalities

When a woman is killed, in about 43% of the cases the murderer is an intimate male partner.
Approximately 30% of women visiting the Emergency Room (ER) of hospitals have been identified as having injuries caused by battering.
Pregnant women are even more likely to be beaten by husbands or boyfriends. Studies indicate that anywhere from 8% to 15% of pregnant women in public and private clinics are presenting with injuries due to domestic violence.
In over half the cases, the physical abuse of a woman by her partner was accompanied by death threats. Almost the same number had called the police on at least one occasion; one-third of them had obtained restraining orders. Ending the relation does not always end the violence. Over one third of women who leave abusive relationships continue to be threatened, assaulted or harassed afterwards.
Domestic violence often causes severe injury: a study of over 200 women presenting at a metropolitan emergency room with injuries due to domestic violence showed that 28% required admission to hospital from injuries. About 13% required major medical treatment. 40% had required medical care in the past for trauma due to domestic violence.
More than one third of abused women suffer from post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) afterwards. More than 40% suffer major depression. Over one in four has attempted suicide at least once, usually in adolescence.

Cost

Domestic crime against adults accounts for nearly 15 percent of total crime costs - $67 billion per year - according to a 1996 study by the National Institute of Justice.
The Rush Medical Center in Chicago has found that the average cost of medical treatment to abused women, children, and elders is about $1,630 per person per year. This suggests a national annual cost of about $850 million.

Reporting Domestic Violence

A National Crime Survey has shown that almost half (48%) of all incidents of domestic violence against women go unreported.
92% of women physically abused by their partners did not discuss these incidents with their physicians. 57% did not discuss the incidents with anyone.
One study has shown that in about 40% of cases in which women present at the emergency room for treatment of injuries due to battering, the staff does not discuss the abuse with the patient.
A Midwest study of 476 consecutive women seen by a family practice clinic has shown that about 80% agreed to be surveyed. Of these, 22.7% disclosed that their partners had physically assaulted them within the last year. Over 38% admitted that they had been abused at least once in their lifetime. Only six women reported that their physicians had ever asked them about domestic violence.
A study of a major metropolitan emergency department showed that even when there exists a protocol for domestic violence, in over 90% of the cases the emergency department physician failed to ask about abuse or the safety of the woman.
Over 50% of accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools do not require instruction about domestic violence.

Domestic Violence and Children

A national survey of over 6,000 American families has shown that 50% of the men who frequently abused their wives also abused their children.
In families where domestic violence is present child abuse is 15 times more likely to occur.
Boys who witness their parents' domestic violence are three times more likely to grow up to abuse their own wives than are the children of non-violent parents.
The sons of the most violent parents are 1000 times more likely to physically abuse their wives.
Children who observe violence at home frequently develop emotional and behavioral problems, e.g., nightmares, low self-esteem, withdrawal, self-blame and aggression toward family, peers and property.
The most significant difference between delinquent and non-delinquent youth is the frequent history of abuse or family violence among the delinquents.
Every year over 3 million children are in danger of exposure to parental violence.

Domestic Violence and the Workplace

The most frequent cause of fatal injuries among women at work is homicide.
The U.S. Department of Labor has shown that in about one out of six of these homicides, the alleged assailant was a current or former husband or boyfriend.
A 1994 study showed that two out of three senior executives of Fortune 1,000 companies believed that a company's financial performance would improve by addressing the issue of domestic violence among its employees. Almost half of these executives said that domestic violence reduced employee attendance, lowered company productivity and increased insurance and medical costs.
A study of 50 battered women in New York showed that 75% had been harassed at work by their batterer; 54% reported missing an average of three days each month; 44% lost at least one job for reasons directly related to the abuse.

Policy Recommendations

The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) now requires that accredited emergency departments have established procedures for training staff about domestic violence and for treating battered adults.
One goal of the JCAHO is that by the year 2000 at least 90% of hospital emergency departments will have implemented protocols for identifying, treating, and referring victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Poverty and Violence

Over 80% of very low-income mothers have been victims of severe physical and/or sexual abuse during their lives.
A study in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry indicated that among women who head poor families there has been an extreme level of lifelong physical and sexual abuse by parents, caretakers, and adult partners.
A 6-year study in Massachusetts funded by the US Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the National Institute of Mental Health documented the extensive levels of abuse in the lives of very low-income female-headed families.
Over 60% of female heads of low-income families were, as children, severely assaulted by adult caretakers; Over 40% of them were sexually molested by age 12; and almost 20% required medical treatment for bruises, cuts or burns resulting from abuse.
As adults, over 60% of these female heads of families had experienced severe mental abuse and physical violence from male partners. More than a third of them required medical treatment.