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Domestic Violence Fact Sheet

General Data

• At least two studies conclude that there is regular and repeated violence between spouses in 10 to 20 percent of all marriages and that at least one incident of physical violence occurs in 50 percent of all marriages.

Straus, M.A., R. Gelles, and S. Steinmetz. (1980).
Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family
New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, Schulman. (1979)
AA Survey of Spousal Violence Against Women in Kentucky@

 

• In 1991, 28 percent of all female murder victims were slain by their husbands or boyfriends.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1992)
ACrime in the United States, 1991.@ Washington, D.C.

 

• Women who leave their batterers are at a 75 percent greater risk of being killed by the batterer than those who stay.

Hart, Barbara. (1988)
ADomestic Violence Fact Sheet.@ National Coalition
Against Domestic Violence. Washington, D.C.

 

• Fifty percent of all homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence.

Sheehan, Myra A. (1993). An Interstate Compact
on Domestic Violence: What are the Advantages?@
Juvenile and Family Justice Today, 1(4):12-13,19.

Impact on Utah

• In Utah, a total of 7,768 protective orders were obtained in 1995, a 23% increase from1996.

Information Services
Administrative Office of the Courts, 1998

 

• During the period of July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996, 7,520 abused adults were served through the 17 domestic violence shelters statewide; 1975 adults and 2639 children received emergency shelter.

Utah State Department of Human Services
Division of Child and Family Services, 1996

 

• Even with only 46 of the 120 reporting agencies participating, IBR Statisitcs show a total of 4,203 offenses committed against family members.

Crime in Utah, 1996.

 

• Intimate partner homicides totaled seven during the year 1996, 12% of total homicides (60).

Crime in Utah, 1996.

 

• One third of women in Utah (34%) have experienced Emotional abuse during the past year.

Domestic Violence Incidence and prevalence Study
conducted for Governor=s Commission on Women and Families
Dan Jones & Associates, Inc., April-May 1997

Medical Impact

• Every year, domestic violence results in almost 100,000 days of hospitalizations, almost 30,000 emergency department visits, and almost 40,000 visits to a physician.

American Medical Association. (1991)
AFive Issues in American Health.@ Chicago, IL

 

• Medical expenses from domestic violence total at least $3 to $5 billion annually. Businesses forfeit another $100 million in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity.

Colorado Domestic Violence Coalition. (1991)
Domestic Violence for Health Care Providers. 3rd Edition

 

• Between 15 percent to 25 percent of pregnant women are battered.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1993
AFacts on Domestic Violence.@ Washington, D.C.

 

• Battering is the major cause of injury to women, resulting in more injuries to women than auto accidents, muggings and rapes combined.

Stark, E., & A. Flitcraft. (1988)
AViolence Among Intimates, An Epidemiological Review,@ in
V.D. Van Hasselt, et al., (eds.), Handbook of Family Violence

The Impact on Children Witnessing Parental Violence

• One study demonstrated that some fathers deliberately arrange for the children to witness the violence.

Dobash, R.E. & Dobash, R.P. (1979)
Violence Against Wives
New York: Free Press

 

• Girls whose fathers batter their mothers are 6.5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted by their fathers than are girls from non-violent homes.

Bowker, L.H., Arbitel, M. and McFerron, J.R. (1988)
AOn the Relationship Between Wife Beating
and Child Abuse.@ In K. Yllo and M. Bograd (eds.)
Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Newbury Park, CA: Sage

 

• Seventy-five percent of boys who witness parental abuse have demonstrable behavioral problems.

Jaffe, P.G., S. Wilson & D. Wolfe. (1986)
APromoting Changes in Attitudes and
Understanding of Conflict Resolution
Among Child Witnesses of Family Violence@
Canadian Journal of Behavioral
Science Review, 18 (4), pp. 356-366

 

• A comparison of delinquents and non-delinquent youth found that a history of family violence or abuse was the most significant difference between the two groups.

Miller, G. (1989)
AViolence By and Against America=s Children@
Journal of Juvenile Justice Digest,17 (12), p. 6

 

• In one study, eighty-five percent of children witnessing domestic violence admitted to a drinking problem which started as early as age 11; two percent at age 9.

Roy, Maria. (1989)
Children in the Crossfire
Violence in the home -How does it affect our children?
Health Communications, Inc. , 53-164.

 

• Being abused or neglected as a child increased the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 53 percent, as an adult by 38 percent, and for a violent crime by 38 percent.

National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Research in Brief, October 1993

 

• Children from violent families can provide clinicians with detailed accounts of abusive incidents their parents never realized they had witnessed.

Jaffe, P.G., D.A. Wolfe, & S.K. Wilson (1990)
Children of Battered Women: Issues in Child Development and Intervention Planning
Newbury Park, CA: Sage

 

• Children witnessing the violence inflicted on their mothers evidence behavioral, somatic, or emotional problems similar to those experienced by physically abused children.

Jaffe, P.G., D.A. Wolfe, & S.K. Wilson (1990)
Children of Battered Women: Issues in Child Development and Intervention Planning
Newbury Park, CA: Sage

 

• In comparing children not exposed to violence as contrasted to children who witness violence and children who both witness and are abused, data suggest that the latter two groups are most comparable and have heightened behavioral and emotional distress as compared to the former.

Hughes, H., Parkinson, D. and Vargo, M. (1989)
Witnessing Spouse Abuse and Experiencing Physical Violence: A Double-Whammy?
A Journal of Family Violence 4(2)

 

• Boys who have witnessed domestic violence are three times more likely to hit their wives than those who have not.

Stark, E. and Flitcraft, A. (1985)
AWoman-Battering, Child Abuse and Social Heredity: What is the Relationship?@
In N. Johnson (ed.), Marital Violence
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul

 

• In homes where spousal abuse occurs, children are abused at a rate 1,500 percent higher than the national average.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (1993)
AFacts on Domestic Violence@ (brochure). Washington, D.C.

 

• One in five women in Utah relate that their children witness or hear verbal abuse, while one in fourteen report their children witness or hear physical abuse.

Domestic Violence Incidence and prevalence Study
conducted for Governor's Commission on Women and Families
Dan Jones & Associates, Inc. April-May 1997

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