What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence can include emotional, physical, sexual and economic abuse. Abusers use their POWER TO CONTROL and manipulate their spouse, girlfriend, lover or relative. It is the most common and the least reported crime in the US, and crosses all class, cultural, racial and religious lines. (Because approximately 95% of reported domestic violence cases involve women abused by men, we’ll use feminine pronouns to describe victims/survivors and male pronouns to describe abusers.

Statistics

* Every 15 seconds in the US a woman is battered/abused by her husband, boyfriend or live-in partner.

* Women who are battered account for 22% to 35% of women seeking care for any reason in the emergency rooms. Medical expenses from domestic violence total at least $3 to $5 billion a year.

* As many as one in four young women are battered before completing high school and one in three before completing college.

* 95 % of reported domestic violence is male to female violence.

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