About Domestic Violence
Statistics indicate that 1 in 3 women will be abused during her lifetime. This may be an issue for you or someone in your life. This section providse details about different forms of abuse, indications of abusive behavior, and other commonly requested information.
What is Abuse?
What do we mean when we talk about relationship abuse, or domestic violence? Relationship abuse is a pattern of misusing power to control and hurt someone in an intimate partner relationship. Abuse and violence in relationships adhere to no boundaries – it can happen to anyone, at any age, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, level of education, sexual orientation or economic background. Abuse comes in many forms:
| Physical | Kicking, punching, shoving, slapping, pushing, and any other acts which hurt your body. |
| Sexual | Calling you vulgar names, criticizing your body part or sensuality, forced or pressured sexual acts, including rape |
| Emotional | Assaults against your self-esteem |
| Verbal | Name-calling, threats, put-downs |
| Psychological | Causing you to feel as if you are "going crazy" |
| Spiritual | Attacking your spiritual or religious beliefs |
| Financial | Controlling and manipulating you by threatening your economic status and basic needs |
| Homophobic | Threatening to "out" you to people who do not know your sexual orientation |
| Immigration | Using your immigration status and fear of deportation to control you |
| Destructive Acts | Actual or threatened assault of your property or pets to scare you |
Common Statistics
Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives (1998 Commonwealth Fund survey)
Intimate partner violence is primarily a crime against women. In 2001, women accounted for 85 percent of the victims of intimate partner violence and men accounted for approximately 15 percent of the victims (Bureau of Justice)
The costs of intimate partner violence annually exceed $5.8 billion, including $4.1 billion in direct health-care expenses, $900 million in lost productivity, and $900 million in lifetime earnings (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control)
66% of corporate leaders say domestic violence is a major problem in today's society. This compares to 57% who thought so in 1994. (Liz Claiborne, Inc. 2nd Corporate Leader Survey, 2002)
Approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner (Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 286, No. 5, 2001)
30% of teens reported worrying about their personal physical safety in a relationship. (Liz Claiborne, Inc. Teen Relationship Abuse Survey, 2006)
In 2005, California law enforcement agencies responded to 181,362 domestic violence calls, of which 93,027 involved weapons (firearms and knives) (Attorney General’s office)
In 2005, over 46,300 arrests of spousal abuse and 155 intimate partner homicides were reported to the California Department of Justice (Attorney General’s office)