Domestic Violence Facts
Of domestic violence victims 85% are women and 15% are men. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence.
On average a victim leaves 7 times before staying away for good. Source: The National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Since the landmark Violence Against Women Act passed in 1994, annual rates of domestic violence have dropped by 64%. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence.
On average 3 women are killed everyday by an intimate partner. When Men Murder Women is an annual report prepared by the Violence Policy Center detailing the reality of homicides committed against females by single male offenders. The study analyzes the most recent Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.10 The information used for this report is for the year 2015. Of victims who knew their offenders, 64 percent (928 out of 1,450) were wives, common-law wives, ex-wives, or girlfriends of the offenders. (Ex-girlfriends cannot be included in the intimate acquaintance analysis because there is not a separate designation for ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends in the FBI Supplementary Homicide Report relationship category.) Source: Violence Policy Center, When Men Murder Women 2015 Homicide Data.
93 percent of female victims (1,450 out of 1,551) were murdered by someone they knew. Source: Violence Policy Center, When Men Murder Women 2015 Homicide Data.
58 percent of female victims were shot and killed by their current or former husband or intimate acquaintance. Source: Violence Policy Center, When Men Murder Women 2015 Homicide Data.
About 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner (e.g., hit with a fist or something hard, beaten, slammed against something) at some point in their lifetime. Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Center for Disease Control, 2010.
Women who leave their abusers are at a 75 percent greater risk of being killed by their abuser than those who stay. Source: Los Angeles Police Department.
There is only a 1% chance that an abuser will change. Source: The Family and Child Abuse Prevention Center
10,000,000 children are exposed to domestic violence every year. Source: American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Most intimate partner victimizations are not reported to the police. Approximately 20% of all rapes, 25% of all physical assaults, and 50% of all stalkings perpetrated against female respondents by intimates were reported to the police. Source: US Department of Justice.
8,000,000 days of paid work are lost by women every year because of domestic violence. This is equivalent to 32,000 full-time jobs. Source: American Psychological Association.
1 out of 3 women globally has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Source: United Nations.
Worldwide, men who were exposed to domestic violence as children are 3 to 4 times more likely to perpetrate intimate partner violence as adults then men who did not experience domestic abuse as children. Source: World Health Organization.
Domestic violence is the 3rd leading cause of homelessness among families. Source: US Department of Health and Human Services.
1 in 10 women will be raped by an intimate partner in her lifetime. Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Center for Disease Control, 2010.
26% of gay men, 37% of bisexual men, and 29% of heterosexual men experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Source: Center for Disease Control.
44% of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, and 35% of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Source: Center for Disease Control.
54% of multiracial Non-Hispanic, 46% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 44% Non-Hispanic Black, 35% Non-Hispanic White, 37% Hispanic, and 20% Asian/Pacific Islander women experience sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Source: Center for Disease Control.
Women with disabilities are 40% more likely to experience intimate partner violence, especially severe violence, than women without disabilities. Source: American Psychological Association.