National Crime Victim's Rights Week - Resource Guide

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

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Women experienced over 1,000,000 violent victimizations per year committed by an intimate, compared to approximately 143,000 incidents per year committed against men. ("Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey", August, 1995. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.)

Women were attacked seven time more often by offenders with whom they had an intimate relationship than were male violence victims. (Ibid.)

Nearly 30 percent of all female homicide victims were known to have been killed by their husbands, former husbands or boyfriends. In contrast, just over 3 percent of male homicide victims were known to have been killed by their wives, former wives, or girlfriends. (Ibid.)

Forty-five percent of all violent attacks against female victims 12 years old and older by multiple offenders involve offenders they know. (Ibid.)

The rate of intimate-offender attacks on women separated from their husbands was about three times higher than that of divorced women and about 25 times higher than that of married women. (Ibid.)

Women of all races were equally vulnerable to attacks by intimates. However, women in families with incomes below $10,000 per year were more likely than other women to be violently attacked by an intimate. (Ibid.)

In 1994, there was one rape for every 270 women, one robbery for every 240 women, one assault for every 29 women, and one

homicide for every 23,000 women. (Crime in the United States, 1995. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C.)

As many as 17 percent of adult pregnant women are battered. The number of teenagers that are battered during pregnancy may be as high as 21 percent. (Chez, R.A., "Battering During Pregnancy. Complications of Pregnancy: Medical, Surgical, Gynecological, Psychosocial, and Perinatal". Biltmore: Williams & Wilkins, 1992.)

Almost six times as many women victimized by intimates (18 percent) as those victimized by strangers (three percent) did not report their victimization to police because they feared reprisal from the offender. ("Violence Against Women: A National Crime Victimization Survey Report", 1994. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, D.C.)

Women age 20 - 24 were the most likely to experience all types of violent crime. (Ibid.)

Living in suburban or rural areas did not decrease a woman's risk of experiencing an act of violence by an intimate. Women living in central cities, suburban areas and rural locations experienced similar rates of violence committed by intimates. (Ibid.)

Robbery was the only crime in which women were likely to be victimized by strangers than by intimates, other family members, or acquaintances. (Bachman, Ronet, "Violence Against Women, A National Victimization Survey Report", January 1994. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, D.C.)

Note: OVC makes no representation concerning the accuracy of data from non-Department of Justice sources

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