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National Facts

  • In 2009, violent crimes by intimate partners (current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend) accounted for 26 percent of non-fatal crimes against females and 5 percent against males. 1
  • Of female murder victims in 2009, 35 percent were killed by an intimate partner.2
  • In 2008, 14 percent of state and 17 percent of local firearms application rejections were due to a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction or restraining order. 3
  • Domestic violence victims constituted 25 percent of all adult victims compensated by victim compensation programs in 2009. They received compensation for 40 of all assault claims. 4
  • One study found that women who had experienced any type of personal violence (even when the episode was 14 to 30 years ago) reported a greater number of chronic physical symptoms than those who had not been abused.  The risk of suffering from six or more chronic symptoms increased with the number of forms of violence experienced. 5
  • Fifteen percent of teens who have been in a relationship report having been hit, slapped or pushed by their boyfriend or girlfriend. 6
  • For two percents of adults on probation, domestic violence was the most serious offense of which they had been convicted. 7
  • A study of Native American Women in Oklahoma found that 83 percent had experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetimes, and 68 percent had experienced severe forms of violence. 8
  • 89 percent of Native American women who reported partner violence in their lifetime had suffered injuries from the violence, and 73 percent reported moderate or severe injuries, with nearly one in four (22 percent) reporting more than 20 different injury incidents. 9
  • During 2001-2005, Native American/Alaska Native females had the highest rate of intimate partner victimization (11.1 per 1,000), compared to black females (5.0), white females (4.0), and Asian American females (1.4). 10
  • A 2004 study found that women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods were more than twice as likely to be victims of intimate partner violence compared with women living in more advantaged neighborhoods. 11
  • In 2008, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender or queer people (LGBTQ) reported 3,419 incidents of domestic violence to local anti-violence programs. Nine of these incidents resulted in murder. 12
  • In 2008, 51 percent of LGBTQ domestic violence victims were women, 42 percent men and 5 percent transgender. 13
  • In cases where the age of the victim as reported, 64 percent of LGBTQ domestic violence victims were over the age of 30, while 36 percent were under 30. 14

 

1.     Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Criminal Victimization, 2009," (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2010), 7, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv09.pdf (accessed October 28, 2010).

2.     Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Crime in the United States, 2009: Expanded Homicide Data," (Washington, DC: GPO, 2010), calculated from Tables 2 and 10, http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2009 (accessed October 18, 2010).

3.     Bowling et al., "Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2008," (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010), 1,  http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/html/bcft/2008/bcft08st.pdf (accessible October 18, 2010).

4.     National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards, "Crime Victim Compensation Helps Victims," (Alexandria, VA: NACVCB, 2010), http://www.nacvcb.org/NACVCB/files/ccLibraryFiles/FILENAME/000000000035/facts%20about%20crime%20victim%20compensation2010.doc (accessed October 18, 2010).

5.     Christina Nicolaidis et al., "Violence, Mental Health, and Physical Symptoms in an Academic Internal Medicine Practice," Journal of General Internal Medicine 19 (2004): 823, http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1492498 (accessed October 18, 2010).

6.     Teen Research Unlimited, "Liz Claiborne Inc. Topline Findings: Teen Relationship Abuse Survey (Conducted March 2006)," (Northbrook, IL: Teen Research Unlimited, 2006), 11, http://www.loveisnotabuse.com/pdf/Liz%20Claiborne%20Mar%2006%20Relationship%20Abuse%20Hotsheet.pdf (accessed October 18, 2010).

7.     Lauren Glaze and Thomas Bonczar, "Probation and Parole in the United States, 2008,"(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2009), 33, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus08.pdf (accessed October 18, 2010).

8.     Lorraine Halinka Malcoe and Bonnie M. Duran, "Intimate Partner Violence and Injury in the Lives of Low-Income Native American Women," in Family Violence and Violence Against Women: Developments in Research, Practice, and Policy, ed. Bonnie Fisher (Washington, DC: NIJ, 2004), I-2-9, http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/199703.pdf (accessed October 18, 2010).

9.     Ibid., I-2-10.

10.   Shannon Catalano, "Intimate Partner Violence in the United States, 2007," (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics), http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/intimate/victims.cfm (accessed November 15, 2010).

11.   Michael Benson and Greer Fox, "When Violence Hits Home: How Economics and Neighborhood Play a Role," (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2004), 1, http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/205004.pdf (accessed October 18, 2010).

12.   National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Domestic Violence in the United States in 2008," (New York: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, 2009), 2, http://www.avp.org/documents/2008NCAVPLGBTQDVReportFINAL.pdf (accessed October 26, 2010).

13.   Ibid., 20.

14.   Ibid., 23.