Statistics

Domestic violence is a crime

• Acts of domestic violence occur every 15 to 18 seconds in the United States.
• 20% of all murders in this country are committed within the family, and 13% are committed by spouses.
• 3 out of 4 murdered women are killed by their partners.

Most family violence is committed against women

• 95% of all spousal assaults are committed by men against women.
• 30% of all hospital emergency room admissions are female victims of domestic violence.
• 6 million American women are beaten each year by their husbands or boyfriends.  Four thousand of them are killed.
• 11 women die every day as a result of domestic violence.
• 25% of all domestic violence victims are pregnant when beaten.

What keeps women from leaving?

• Women who leave their abusers, and who do not have a safe, confidential place to stay are at a 75% greater risk of being killed by the batterer than those who stay. 
• In the first year after divorce, a woman's standard of living drops by 73% while a man's improves by an average of 42%.
• After being sheltered, 31% of abused women in New York City returned to their batterers primarily because they could not locate long-term housing.

Domestic violence takes its toll on children, society and the future.

• Children in homes where domestic violence occurs are physically abused or seriously neglected at a rate 1,500% higher than the national average for the general population.
• Up to 50% of all homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence.
• Even young children (age 2) show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder when they live exposed to domestic violence.
• The presence of spousal abuse is the single greatest risk factor in predicting child abuse.
• Domestic violence costs the United States economy as estimated $3 billion to $5 billion annually in job absenteeism and another $100 million annually in medical expenses.
• Between 75–90% of all hostage takings in the U.S. are related to domestic violence situations.
• These statistics have been taken from Partners for Safe Families: Strangers in a Strange Land, 1996, and were collected by the State Offices to Children and Families and the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence.

Domestic violence—physical, emotional and sexual abuse within the family—has become and epidemic in our society.  Studies show that domestic violence does not usually stop after an incident or two—it tends to happen over and over, and to become worse.

We have not found a way to make batterers stop battering, but we do know a way to help victims become survivors.  It really comes down to two things:  education and support—understanding the problem and doing something about it.

Bradley-Angle House has been successfully providing services to local families for more than two decades.   Victims need support to step forward and break free; abusers must understand that we are no longer willing to tolerate their actions.