Love isn’t supposed to hurt – physically, psychologically, or sexually. If it does and that hurt is routine and intentional, that’s not love.
- Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States – more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.
- There are 1,500 shelters for battered women in the United States. There are 3,800 animal shelters.
- One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
- Police are more likely to respond within 5 minutes if an offender is a stranger than if an offender is known to a female victim.
- Battering occurs among people of all races, ages, socio-economic classes, religious affiliations, occupations, and educational backgrounds.
- Battering tends to increase and become more violent over time.
- 25% – 45% of all women who are battered are battered during pregnancy.
- Domestic violence does not end immediately with separation. Over 70% of the women injured in domestic violence cases are injured after separation.
- Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
- 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.
- 30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate-partner-violence also abuse children in the household.
- The average prison sentence of men who kill their women partners is 2 to 6 years. Women who kill their partners are, on average, sentenced to 15 years.
- Domestic abuse is not a gender-specific crime. According to CDC studies, over 40% of victims of severe physical violence are men.
- Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic violence each year, and between 100,000 and 6 million men, depending on the type of survey used to obtain the data.
Sad and startling, huh? Want to read more stats?
October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Domestic violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. If you know someone close to you who is a victim or a perpetrator, please intervene before it’s too late. It is your business.
