DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STATISTICS

Nationally, 50% of all homeless women and children are on the streets because of violence in the home (Biden, Senator J., 1991. U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Violence Against Women: Victims of the System.)

The average prison sentence of men who kill their women partners is 2 to 6 years. Women who kill their partners are sentenced on average to 15 to 25 years, despite the fact that most women who kill do so in self-defense. (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1989.)

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 2/3 of female victims of violence documented in 1993 were related to or knew their attacker.

Statistics show that 41% of all female homicide victims are murdered by a husband or a boyfriend, and that most serious injuries and death occur when the woman attempts to leave the relationship. (Matthews, C. "Justice for Battered Women".)

In almost 75% of reported spouse assault cases, the victim was divorced or separated at the time of the incident. (Department of Social Services, Quincy, MA.)

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 22% to 35% of women who visit emergency rooms are there for injuries related to on-going abuse.

Women are 10 times more likely than men to be victims of violent crime in intimate relationships. Male victimization by intimates and other relatives accounted for only 5% of all violent victimizations against men. (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994. "Violence Against Women".)

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that 45% of pregnant women in this country are battered. Battered women who become pregnant are likely to experience a change in the sites of abuse to blows to the pregnant abdomen, the breast, the genitalia, and to experience rape. Battered pregnant women are twice as likely to miscarry and four times as likely to have low birth weight babies.

There are 3 times as many animal shelters in the U.S. than shelters for battered women. (Senate Judiciary Hearings, 1990. Violence Against Women Act.)

In Michigan, there is a woman killed as the result of domestic violence every 8 days. (Uniform Crime Statistics.)

Battering is the single most common cause of injury to American women. More than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined. (Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 264, No. 8.)

Children who witness violence at home display emotional and behavioral disturbances as diverse as withdrawal, low self-esteem, nightmares, self-blame, and aggression against peers, family members, and property. (Peled, I., Jaffe, P., & Edleson, J. (Eds.), 1995. "Ending the Cycle of Violence: Community Responses to Children of Battered Women." Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.)

63% of young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide have killed their mother's abuser. (March of Dimes, 1992.)

79% of violent children have witnessed violence between their parents. (Family Prevention Fund, 1991. "This Invisible Victim: Children of the War at Home.)

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