National Statistics

• 95% of batterers are men.

• A woman is battered at least once every 15 seconds in the U.S.

• Battering is the single largest cause of injury to women in the U.S.
  3 to 4 million are beaten in their homes each year. (Battering is severely underreported. This number accounts for only those cases of assault severe enough to warrant police or medical intervention. Many cases are not reported.)

• 25 to 45% of battered women are battered during pregnancy.

Profile of the Abused Woman

• Any woman can be abused; she can be of any race, religion, economic status, educational background, or age. She can be married, divorced, or may never have been married.

• Battered women have low self-esteem, low self-confidence. They feel helpless, fearful, and shameful. They may have confused feelings of love and loyalty towards the batterer.

• Battered women may be prevented from planning or acting on their own behalf due to control and fear.

• Battered women often feel they can control the abuser by trying to please him or avoid getting him angry with them.

• A battered woman may have injuries to the head, face, neck, shoulders, and arms. In pregnancy, the breast and abdomen are often targets of assault.

Profile of the Batterer

• At least 60% of men who batter grew up in homes where they were beaten or witnessed parental battering.

• Men who batter use threats, force, or violence to solve problems or violence to solve problems or control their partners;

• Have low self-esteem;

• Often have a problem with alcohol/drugs;

• May be jealous of their partners' relationships with other people;

• Blame their partners for their violent actions.

Statistics

• Every day, 4 women are murdered by boyfriends or husbands.

• Prison terms for killing husbands are twice as long as for killing wives.

• 93% of women who killed their mates had been battered by them.

• 67% killed them to protect themselves and their children at the moment of murder.

• 25% of all crime is wife assault.

• 70% of men who batter their partners either sexually or physically abuse their children.

• Domestic violence is the number one cause of emergency room visits by women.

• 73% of the battered women seeking emergency medical services have already separated from the abuser.

• Women are most likely to be killed when attempting to leave the abuser. In fact, they're at a 75% higher risk than those who stay.

• The number-one cause of women's injuries is abuse at home. This abuse happens more often than car accidents, mugging, and rape combined.

• Up to 37% of all women experience battering. This is an estimated 566,000 women in Minnesota alone.

• Battering often occurs during pregnancy. One study found that 37% of pregnant women, across all class, race, and educational lines, were physically abused during pregnancy.

• 60% of all battered women are beaten while they are pregnant.

• 34% of the female homicide victims over age 15 are killed by their husbands, ex-husbands, or boyfriends.

• 2/3 of all marriages will experience domestic violence at least once.

• Weapons are used in 30% of domestic violence incidents.

• Approximately 1,155,600 adult American women have been victims of one or more forcible rapes by their husbands.

• Over 90% of murder-suicides involving couples are perpetrated by the man. 19-26% of male spouse-murderers committed suicide.

• When only spouse abuse was considered, divorced or separated men committed 79% of the assaults and husbands committed 21%.

• Abusive husbands and lovers harass 74% of employed battered women at work, either in person or over the telephone, causing 20% to lose their jobs.

• Physical violence in dating relationships ranges from 20-35%.

• It is estimated that between 20% to 52% of high school and college age dating couples have engaged in physical abuse.

• More than 50% of child abductions result from domestic violence.

• Injuries that battered women receive are at least as serious as injuries suffered in 90% of violent felony crimes.

• In 1991, only 17 states kept data on reported domestic violence offenses. These reports were limited to murder, rape, robbery, and serious bodily injury.

• More than half of battered women stay with their batterer because they do not feel that they can support themselves and their children alone.

• In homes where domestic violence occurs, children are abused at a rate 1,500% higher than the national average.

• Up to 64% of hospitalized female psychiatric patients have histories of being physically abused as adults.

• 50% of the homeless women and children in the U.S. are fleeing abuse.

• The amount spent to shelter animals is three times the amount spent to provide emergency shelter to women from domestic abuse situations.

• Family violence kills as many women every 5 years as the total number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War.