Abuse Statistics
  • A female is battered every nine seconds. [California Alliance Against Domestic Violence, 1994]
  • It is estimated that one third of all high school and college students will have been in an abusive relationship by the time they graduate. [Levy, 1992]
  • Relationship violence is the number one cause of injury to women ages 15-44: more that rapes, muggings and car accidents combined. [Center For Community Solutions, 1997]
  • 63% of all boys ages 11-20 arrested for murder, murdered the man who was assaulting their mother.[Center For Community Solutions, 1997]
  • As many as 15 million women have been abused at some time during their lives. [Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, 1989]
  • In a prospective study of 1,200 white, Hispanic and black pregnant women, one in six reported physical abuse during pregnancy. ["Abuse During Pregnancy: A Cross-Cultural Study of Frequent and Severity of Injuries," J. McFarlane, 1991]
  • In the USA, the police spend 1/3 of their time responding to domestic violence calls.
  • One out of four women in the US is severely beaten during the course of her marriage.
  • In any one year, nearly six million wives will be abused by their husbands.

Time 5/9/83

  • An NHC study in the UK found that in 25/100 of cases, the male partner has also been violent towards the children. In 90/100 domestic violence incidents, the children are in the same or next room. The NCH study also found that 75/100 mothers said their children had witnessed domestic violence, 33/100 has seen their mothers beaten and 10/100 had witnessed sexual violence.

NCH, 1994

  • In 2007, approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations.
  • One in four female children is sexually molested by age 18.
  • One in six males is sexually molested by age 18 - 80-90 percent of the offenders are family members or close friends of the family.

OCCAPC

More Statistics (taken from http://www.ndvh.org/)

  • On the average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.1
  • 92% of women say that reducing domestic violence and sexual assault should be at the top of any formal efforts taken on behalf of women today.2
  • 1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.3
  • 1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. Abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors. They are 4 to 6 times more likely to get pregnant and 8 to 9 times more likely to have tried to commit suicide.3
  • 1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by his/her partner.4
  • As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. 5
  • Ninety-four percent of the offenders in murder-suicides were male.7
  • Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner (spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend). Of these, 96 percent were females killed by their intimate partners.7

1. Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003.
2. Progress & Perils: New Agenda for Women, Center for the Advancement of Women. June 2003.
3. Silverman, Jay G., Raj, Anita, and Clements, Karen. “Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality.” Pediatrics, August 2004.
4. Teenage Research Unlimited. Findings from study commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. to investigate the level of and attitudes towards dating abuse among American teenagers aged 13 to 18 [online] 2005 Feb [cited 2006 Mar 20]. Available from: URL: www.loveisnotabuse.com/statistics_abuseandteens.htm
5. Gazmararian JA, Petersen R, Spitz AM, Goodwin MM, Saltzman LE, Marks JS. “Violence and reproductive health; current knowledge and future research directions.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 2000; 4(2):79-84.
7. Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.

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