Safe Harbor, Inc. :: A Safe Home, When Home Isn't Safe

Examples of Abusive Behaviors l Causes of Domestic Violence l Myths about Domestic Violence l Laws Pertaining to Domestic Violence l Cycle Theory of Violence l Relationship Wheels l Facts l

Facts about Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is virtually impossible to measure with absolute precision due to numerous complications including the varying definitions of abuse and the societal stigma that inhibits victims from disclosing their abuse. However, we do know that:

1. South Carolina is first in the U.S. in the number of women murdered by their intimate partners.

2. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women: more so than muggings, stranger rapes, and car accidents combined. (A woman is safer on the streets than she is in her own home: she is nine times more likely to be battered by her partner than by a stranger (FBI).

3. Women are less likely to be victims of violent crimes overall, however women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner. Over 95% of all battering victims are women.

4. One out of every four American women (26%) report that they have been physically abused by a husband or boyfriend. 30% of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by a husband or boyfriend in the past year.

5. One incident of domestic violence is reported every minute in the U.S.; the actual number of battering incidents is estimated to be once every nine seconds.

6. Domestic violence is repetitive in nature: about 1 in 5 women victimized by their spouse or ex-spouse reported that they had been a victim of at least three assaults in the past six months.

7. Between 22% and 35% of all emergency room visits by women are for injuries related to domestic violence.

8. According to the American Medical Association, 37% of all pregnant women are being battered.

9. More than three million children witness acts of violence in the home every year in the U.S. 60% of known abusers witnessed or experienced domestic violence as a child.

10. Children of abused mothers are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide and 50% more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.

11. 75% of the women murdered by their husbands were attempting to leave an abusive relationship.

12. 70% of murders committed by women are caused by domestic abuse.

13. 25% of all female suicides are battered women.

14. Fifty to sixty-five percent of batterers, and thirty to thirty-five percent of battered women have been abused or seen their fathers abuse their mothers.

15. Men and women who observed their parents engage in physical violence were three times as likely to engage in physical violence with their own spouse as those who had not.

16. Men raised in violent homes had a rate of beating their wives ten times more than men raised in nonviolent homes. Women had a rate of six times higher.