Domestic violence has many costs, both to the women who suffer the abuse and to their societies. In addition to emotional anguish, abused women may suffer severe physical injury, mental illness and increased incidence of suicide and homicide. The economic costs to society include the value of goods and services not produced when abuse leads to increased absenteeism, decreased productivity while on the job and job loss. Domestic violence may also affect children in at least three important ways: their health, their educational performance and their use of violent conduct in their own relationships. The study did not include all the social and economic costs of domestic violence. It did not quantify the costs imposed on the judicial and police systems, the costs of providing counseling to abused women or the costs of operating women’s shelters. Although it did calculate lost earnings for working women, it did not calculate lost earnings due to the premature deaths of women killed by their male partners. Tables, appendixes, notes, references