DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence

Introduction

Since the late 1970s, attention paid to domestic violence has increased exponentially. It is now one of the types of victimization garnering the most policy and research attention. Initially, domestic violence was defined narrowly as physical violence perpetrated by husbands against their wives. This definition has evolved in the last 30 years as people have come to realize that violence exists in all kinds of romantic relationships. Here, domestic violence is defined broadly as abuse perpetrated by one romantic partner (or ex-partner) against another (Cole, 2009).

Discussion

Prevalence and Incidence

There are two ways to measure how common domestic violence is the incidence and prevalence. In the case of domestic violence, incidence is best thought of as the number of acts of domestic violence during a given time in a given population. Prevalence is best thought of as the proportion of a population that has experienced domestic violence in a specified period. If every victim experienced only one act of domestic violence in a year, incidence and prevalence numbers would be the same for that year. However, typically incidence figures are higher than prevalence figures when based on the same data. These are typically calculated on an annual and lifetime basis, so both are presented here. Yearly domestic estimates of domestic violence are taken from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), an annual national survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2008, the NCVS estimated that there were 593,100 incidents (69,100 against men and 504,980 against women) of violent victimization by an intimate partner in the United States, which translates to an annual incidence rate of less than 1 victimization per 1,000 men age 12 and older and 4 victimizations per 1,000 women age 12 and older. The National Violence against Women Survey (NVAWS) was a one-time national survey focused on physical violence, sexual assault, stalking, and threats of violence. The NVAWS (conducted from 1994 to 1996) estimated there were 2.3 million domestic violence victims (counting physical assault and sexual assault) in the United States, which translated to annual prevalence of 1.2% of the population age 18 and older (a rate of 12.1 per 1,000 people)—1.5% of women and .9% of men (Crosby, 2010). The NVAWS also provided estimates of how many adults in the United States had experienced domestic violence over the course of their lives. The lifetime prevalence estimate was 16.5% of the population age 18 and older (a rate of 165 per 1,000 people)—24.8% of women and 7.6% of men. Homicide is the most extreme form of domestic violence, and it is tracked by the FBI through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program's Supplementary Homicide Reports (UCR-SHR). In 2008, there were 1,333 intimate homicides in the United States. According to the NCVS and UCR-SHR, domestic violence has declined considerably over the last few decades. Between 1993 and 2008, the annual rate of domestic violence victimization reported by the NCVS has dropped 60% for women, from 9.8 to 3.9 per 1,000 women age 12 or older, and more than ...