DV Information: Statistics

• One in four women will be physically abused by a partner in her lifetime (A)
• More than one in three Americans have witnessed an incident of domestic violence. (B)
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of serious injury to American women, more common than muggings and car crashes combined. (C)
• A woman is battered every 15 seconds in the United States (D)
• It is estimated that between 2.3 and 10 million children are exposed to intimate partner violence. (F)
• Each year in the United States 42% of murdered women are killed by their male partners. (G)
• Only approximately one-quarter of all physical assaults, one-fifth of all rapes, and one-half of all stalkings perpetuated against females by intimate partners are reported to the police. (H)
• One in five high school girls reports being physically or sexually assaulted by a date. (J)
• One of every three women in the world has experienced abuse at the hands of a partner. (K)
• 90-95% of victims of domestic violence are women (D)
• A woman is MORE likely to be seriously injured or killed AFTER she leaves the relationship. (L)

1. Tjaden, Patricia & Thoennes, Nancy. National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention,
"Extent, Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey," 2000
2. Family Violence Prevention Fund, "Men Beating Women: Ending Domestic Violence, A Qualitative & Quantitative Study of Public Attitudes on Violence against Women," New York:1993
3. Stark and Flitcraft, 1985
4. FBI, NIJ:2000
5. UN Study On The Status of Women, Year 2000
6. Carlson, B. E. (1984). Children's observations of interparental violence. In A. R. Roberts (Ed.) Battered women and their families (pp. 147-167).
7. FBI's 88-91 Uniform Crime Reports
8. National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, "Extent, Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey," 2000.
9. Davis, T.C, Peck G. Q., Storment, J. M. (1993). Journal of Adolescent Health, 14, 220-224.
10. UN Commission on the Status of Women, 2/28/00
11. CWLC's Murder at Home Project, 1998-2002