Anyone Can Be a Victim
Domestic violence can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. Domestic violence occurs in both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships and can happen to intimate partners who are married, living together, or dating.
What Is Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is an escalating pattern of abuse where one partner in an intimate relationship controls the other through force, intimidation, or the threat of violence. Domestic violence has no boundaries. It affects all ages, both sexes, all cultures, all religions, all professions, and people from all income levels.
Understanding Abuse
Domestic violence is about power and control and includes many different types of abuse. It is more than just the bruises and broken bones often associated with physical abuse. Domestic violence can also include sexual, psychological or emotional, and financial abuse.
Data & Statistics from the Washington State Department of Health:
Washington State Data:
- Approximately 1 of every 6 adult women in Washington has been a victim of one or more completed forcible rapes during their lifetime.
- One in five Washington women reports being injured by domestic violence sometime in her lifetime.
- At least 30% of all female homicide victims in Washington State are killed by a current or former intimate partner.
- Between 1997 and 2001, more than half of the people murdered in domestic violence-related homicides were woman killed by their current or former husbands or boyfriends.
- Of the nearly 500,000 men and women in State prisons for a violent crime in 1997, 15% were there for a violent crime against a family member.
National Data:
- One in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.
- One out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.
- On average, more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States.
- Every nine seconds, a woman is beaten in the United States.
- Women ages 20-34 endure the highest rates of domestic violence.
- Only about one in five domestic violence victims with physical injuries seek professional medical treatment.
- Sexual violence starts very early in life. More than half of all rapes of women (54%) occur before age 18; 22% of these rapes occur before age 12.
- Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of injury to women. It affects 1-3 million women a year in the U.S., making it more common than muggings, stranger rapes and car accidents combined.
- Domestic crime against adults accounts for almost 15% of total crime costs: over $67 billion per year.
If you are being abused, REMEMBER –You are not alone
It’s not your fault
Help is available.
NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, 2010
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
In the 16 years since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), we have broken the silence surrounding domestic violence to reach thousands of survivors, prevent countless incidences of abuse, and save untold numbers of lives. While these are critical achievements, domestic violence remains a devastating public health crisis when one in four women will be physically or sexually assaulted by a partner at some point in her lifetime. During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we recognize the tremendous progress made in reducing domestic violence, and we recommit to making everyone’s home a safe place for them.
Read the full proclamation by President Obama
Learn the Warning Signs, Types of Abuse, Myths & Facts, Cycle of Violence and How to Help Loved Ones.