Some facts about domestic violence:
* Women are far more likely than men to be murdered by an intimate partner. Of those murdered by their intimate partner, 74% are women and 26% are men. In other words, nearly 3 out of 4 of the murders committed by intimate partners have a female victim.
* The FBI reports that between 1976 and 1996, domestic violence claims the lives of more than four women each day.
* Between 1976 and 1996, there was a "sharp decrease" in the number of men murdered by intimate partners, whereas the number of women murdered by an intimate partner remained constant. Some have attributed this to the increasing availability of shelters which provide battered women with options other than killing an abusive partner. It is possible that some women who might have otherwise killed their abuser are able to leave and go to a shelter.
*Only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police. African-American women are more likely than others to report their victimization to police.
*The most common reasons for not reporting domestic violence to police are that victims view the incident as a personal or private matter, they fear retaliation from their abuser, and they do not believe that police will do anything about the incident.
*Even with this dramatic under-reporting, domestic violence calls constitute approximately half of all violent crime calls to police departments. For example, 49% of the violent crime calls received by the DC Metropolitan Police Department in 2000 were for domestic violence incidents.
Excellent Fact Sheet on Domestic Violence.
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