Chapter 6
The Prevalence of Domestic Violence

Who is Abused?
Who are the Abusers?
Estimates of Domestic Violence
Abused to Death

Who is Abused?

Shannan Catalano of the Bureau of Justice Statics (BJS) reports in Intimate Partner Violence in the United States (December 2007, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/intimate/ipv.htm#contents) that the National Crime Victimization Survey found that in 2005, 3.6 of every 1,000 women were victims of nonfatal intimate partner violence. (See Figure 6.1.) Most of these women were victims of simple assault (assault without a weapon). The rate of violent intimate partner victimization had steadily decreased since 1993, when the rate was 9.8 per 1,000 women.

Who were these women? Sarah Romans et al. of the University of Toronto find in “Who Is Most At Risk for Intimate Partner Violence?: A Canadian Population-Based Study” (Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 22, no. 12, 2007) that there was little difference between men and women in the frequency with which they reported an incident of physical or sexual abuse in an intimate relationship during the previous five years. However, women were much more likely than men to have experienced repeated violence or severe forms of violence, such as being choked or beaten, during that time frame. The researchers also note that risk factors for intimate partner violence included a younger age, being divorced, separated, or single, having children living in the household, and having poor physical health. A lower income or minority status put women, but not men, at a higher risk for intimate partner violence. Still, Romans et al. explain that classification is not exclusive. Just about anyone, rich or poor, male or female, may be a victim of domestic violence.

Who are the Abusers?

Like victims of domestic abuse, batterers come from all socioeconomic groups and all ethnic backgrounds. They may be male or female, young or old, but by definition they share one common characteristic: they all have a personal relationship with their victim.

During 2005 men who had been abused were slightly more likely to have been victimized by a stranger (54.1%) than a nonstranger (42.8%), whereas women were more likely to be victimized by someone they knew (64.4%) as opposed to a stranger (34.1%). (See Table 6.1.) Two-thirds (67%) of rape and sexual assault victims knew their assailant. Catalano reports that rates of violent victimization by an intimate partner toward women increase as household incomes go down.

Single people were victimized by violent crime much more often than married or widowed people in 2005. Never-married people who were victimized experienced violent crime at a rate of 37.4 per 1,000 people, and divorced or separated people experienced violent crime at a rate of 31.7 per 1,000 people. (See Table 6.2.) These rates were more than three times higher than the rates of violent crime experienced by married and widowed people. Married people experienced violent crime at a rate of 10.3 per 1,000 people, whereas widowed people (who tend to be older, on average) experienced violent crime at a rate of 6.1 per 1,000 people.

Women as Abusers

Amy Holtzworth-Munroe points out in “Female Perpetration of Physical Aggression against an Intimate Partner: A Controversial New Topic of Study” (Violence and Victims, vol. 20, no. 2, April 2005) that until the early twenty-first century, “it was politically incorrect to even consider studying female aggression when conducting research on marital violence.” However, as surveys reveal, a substantial minority of perpetrators of intimate partner violence are women. Intimate partner violence has traditionally been understood as a method to gain power and control in a relationship. Research indicates, however, that this model may be useful mainly for understanding male batterers. By contrast, Poco Kernsmith of Wayne State University notes in “Exerting Power or Striking Back: A Gendered Comparison of Motivations for Domestic Violence Perpetration” (Violence and Victims, vol. 20, no. 2,

April 2005) that female batterers “appear more motivated by the desire to maintain personal liberties in a relationship where they have been victimized.”

Motivation for battering is important to consider; so, too, is the impact and pattern of abuse. L. Kevin Hamberger of the Medical College of Wisconsin addresses these issues in “Men's and Women's Use of Intimate Partner Violence in Clinical Samples: Toward a Gender-Sensitive Analysis” (Violence and Victims, vol. 20, no. 2, April 2005). Even though some surveys find that women initiate domestic violence nearly as often as men, Hamberger argues that in evaluating these results, research must also assess the impact and context of intimate partner violence. In his review, he used a model that included gender differences in key elements of partner violence, including the initiation of the pattern of violence in the relationship, how often each partner initiates violence, the physical and mental health effects of domestic violence, behavioral and emotional responses to being victimized by violence, and the motivations of the batterer. He concludes that, even in relationships in which women also use violence against their partners, “women are disproportionately victimized by partner violence compared to men.”

Estimates of Domestic Violence

Because domestic violence is often unreported, it is impossible to be certain exactly how many domestic assaults occur each year. Variations in definitions of violence and abuse, the types of questions posed by researchers, and the context in which they are asked compound the difficulty. For example, when victims are questioned in the presence of their abuser, or even other family members, they are often more reluctant to report instances of violence. Studies on the subject are sometimes contradictory, but most show that domestic violence remains a growing concern. Many researchers fear that available data represent only a fraction of a problem of massive proportions.

To understand why there are so many varying estimates of domestic violence, it is necessary to consider the surveys, studies, and reports themselves. Richard J. Gelles of the University of Pennsylvania notes in “Estimating the Incidence and Prevalence of Violence against Women” (Violence against Women, vol. 6, no. 7, July 2000) that the source and purpose of the research, the definition of abuse used, the population surveyed, and the survey setting, as well as the political agendas of the surveyors and researchers, may elicit different data and varying interpretations of these data.

The 1975 National Family Violence Survey and the 1985 National Family Violence Resurvey are among the most analyzed and cited data in the literature about intimate partner violence. The strength of these surveys lies in their ability to measure violent behavior that respondents might not classify as criminal. Using data from both surveys, Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles estimate in “Societal Change and Change in Family Violence from 1975 to 1985 as Revealed by Two National Surveys” (Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 48, August 1986) that about 1.6 million women were severely beaten by their partners in 1985, down from 2.1 million in 1975.

The National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS; published by the BJS) and the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR; published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]) are valuable sources of information on crime, including violent crime by intimate partners such as rape and sexual assault. Both studies measure the amount and prevalence of crime in the United States. The NCVS is a national survey that asks Americans about crimes they have personally suffered, including those that were not reported to the police. By its nature it cannot include coverage of murder. The UCR is a compilation of crime statistics reported by law enforcement agencies across the United States. Crimes that were not reported to the police are not included. Because they are based on different sources of data, the surveys give different results, and neither can be assumed to measure the true amount of intimate partner violence because some people will not report that it is occurring. However, one advantage of these surveys is that they enable researchers to observe trends in interpersonal violence over time. For example, NCVS data show that the rate of nonfatal intimate vio-

lence against females declined drastically between 1993 and 2005. (See Figure 6.1.)

As a joint effort of the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Violence against Women Survey (NVAWS) collected data about intimate and nonintimate partner violence during the 1990s. The NVAWS and NCVS are considered the most reliable sources of data about intimate partner violence, even though their differing approaches make data comparisons difficult. For example, the NCVS is a survey about crime, and because some victims do not consider instances of intimate partner violence as a crime, they are less likely to disclose them in the NCVS.

The NCVS defines an intimate partner as a spouse, former spouse, or a current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, either of the same sex or the opposite sex. (See Table 6.3.) In Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2005 Statistical Tables (December 2006, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus05.pdf), the BJS states that in 2005, 9% of all violent crimes, including rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault (assault with a weapon), and simple assault victimizations (assault without a weapon and resulting in minor injuries), were committed against intimate partners. (See Table 6.1.) However, women were disproportionately likely to be victimized by their intimate partners. Nearly one out of five (18.1%) violent crimes against women were committed by intimate partners, whereas only 2.6% of violent crimes against men were committed by intimates.

Far more women than men are murdered by their intimate partners, as well. The FBI reports in Crime in the United States, 2006 (September 2007, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html) that in 2006, 11.9% of murders were committed by family members. In that year, 567 wives were killed by their husband and 123 husbands were killed by their wife. (See Table 6.4.) In addition, 450 girlfriends were killed by their boyfriend and 150 boyfriends were killed by their girlfriend.

National Violence against Women Survey

The NVAWS collected information from interviews with eight thousand men and eight thousand women to assess their experiences as victims of various types of violence, including domestic violence. The NVAWS asked survey respondents about physical assaults and rape, but excluded other sexual assaults, murders, and robberies.

In Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence against Women Survey (July 2000, http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf), Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes of the Center for Policy Research in Denver, Colorado, find that intimate violence is pervasive in American society, with women suffering about three times as much of this violence as men. They estimate that in 1998, 22.3 million (22.1%) of women had been physically assaulted by a loved one during the course of their lifetime, whereas 6.9 million (7.4%) men had been physically assaulted by intimates over their lifetime. Women were also more likely to become victims of rape,

stalking, and physical assault by intimates than their male counterparts at some time during their lifetime. Furthermore, women physically assaulted by their partners averaged 6.9 assaults by the same person, as opposed to men, who averaged 4.4 assaults.

During the twelve months that preceded the interview, women also reported higher rates of rape, stalking, and physical assault than did men. Tjaden and Thoennes estimate based on NVAWS data that about 1.5 million (1.5%) of the surveyed women and 834,732 (0.9%) of the men reported they had been raped and/or physically assaulted by a partner in the twelve months preceding the survey. In other words, approximately 4.8 million women and 2.9 million men are assaulted by a partner every year.

The rates of violence between intimate partners varied by race. Whereas 15% of Asian and Pacific Islanders

reported violence, 37.5% of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, 29.1% of African-Americans, and 24.8% of whites reported having been victimized by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Tjaden and Thoennes conclude that most partner abuse and violence is not reported to the police. Women reported 17.2% of rapes, 26.7% of physical assaults, and 51.9% of stalking incidents to police, whereas men reported 13.5% of physical assaults and 36.2% of stalking incidents. Many victims said they felt the police would not or could not do anything on their behalf. These expressions of helplessness and hopelessness—feeling that others in a position to assist would be unwilling or unable to do so—is a common characteristic shared by many victims of intimate partner violence.

STATISTICS FOR VIOLENCE IN SAME-SEX COUPLES ARE PROBLEMATIC. Tjaden and Thoennes also find that same-sex couples who lived together reported experiencing far more intimate violence in their lifetime than heterosexual cohabitants. Among women, 39.2% of the same-sex cohabitants and 21.7% of the opposite-sex cohabitants reported being raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by a partner during their lifetime. Among men, the comparative figures were 23.1% and 7.4%, respectively.

Even though survey findings indicated that members of same-sex couples have experienced more intimate partner violence than have members of heterosexual couples, the reported violence does not necessarily occur within the same-sex relationship. When comparing intimate partner victimization rates among same-sex and opposite-sex cohabitants by the gender of the perpetrator, Tjaden and Thoennes find that 30.4% of the same-sex women cohabitants reported being victimized by a male partner sometime in their lifetime, whereas 11.4% reported being victimized by a female partner. The researchers conclude that same-sex cohabiting women were three times more likely to report being victimized by a male partner than by a female partner. In comparison, women who lived with men were nearly twice as likely to report being victimized by a male than same-sex cohabiting women were to report being victimized by a female partner.

According to Tjaden and Thoennes, male same-sex partners reported more partner violence than men who lived with women. About 23% of men who lived with men said they had been raped, sexually assaulted, or stalked by a male cohabitant, as opposed to just 7.4% of men who reported comparable experiences with female cohabitants. This finding confirms the widely held observation that violence and abuse in intimate partner relationships is primarily inflicted by men, whether the victimized partner is male or female.

In comparison with the research on intimate partner violence between men and women, the literature about same-sex violence is sparse, in part because many respondents may consider disclosing same-sex relationships risky and revealing partner violence within them even more sensitive. Furthermore, not all people who engage in same-sex relationships identify themselves as homosexual, leading to more questions about the quality of data gathered. The research that examines same-sex partner violence reveals that it is quite similar to heterosexual partner violence—abuse arises in the attempts of one partner to exert control over the other, and it escalates throughout the course of the relationship.

National Crime Victimization Surveys

The NCVS are ongoing federal surveys that interview eighty thousand people from a representative sample of households biannually to estimate the amount of crime committed against people over age twelve in the United States. Even though the surveys cover all types of crime, they were extensively redesigned in 1992 to produce more accurate reports of rape, sexual assault, and other violent crimes committed by intimates or family members. Both Intimate Partner Violence in the United States by Catalano and Criminal Victimization, 2006 (December 2007, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv06.pdf) by Michael

Rand and Shannan Catalano of the BJS are based on NCVS survey results.

Rand and Catalano find that the rate of violent crime was 23.3 per 1,000 people aged twelve and older in 2006. Even though the number of violent crimes remained fairly steady between 2005 and 2006, the numbers are still staggering: 3.7 million violent crimes were committed in 2006 (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault). Nearly three-quarters of a million violent crimes—595,740 women and 144,350 men—were committed against intimate partners. (See Table 6.5.)

According to Catalano, between 2001 and 2005, 22% of violent crimes against females and 4% of violent crimes against males were perpetrated by intimate partners. Of those women attacked by an intimate partner, 7.2% were raped; 1.9% were sexually assaulted; 62.7% were hit, slapped, or knocked down; and 54.9% were grabbed, held, or tripped. (See Table 6.6.) Male victims were more likely than female victims to be attacked with a weapon: 8% were attacked by a knife and 4.5% were hit by a thrown object. Over half of both female and male victims were threatened with harm (59.3% and 55.3%, respectively). (See Table 6.7.) Females reported their partners threatened to kill them more often than males did (26.9% and 15.1%, respectively). Catalano notes that female victims of intimate partner violence were more likely than male victims to be injured (51.3% and 41.5%, respectively).

According to the BJS, in Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2005 Statistical Tables, 47.4% of all

violent victimizations were reported to the police in 2005, including 62.4% of aggravated assaults, 42.3% of simple assaults, and 38.3% of rape and sexual assaults. (See Table 6.8.) Female victims were more likely to report violent offenses than male victims. Hispanic women were the most likely to report violent crimes (60.3%), followed by African-American women (58.3%) and white women (53.9%). (See Table 6.9.) Hispanic men (43.5%) were more likely than either white men (42.8%) or African-American men (41.5%) to report violent crime. However, as mentioned earlier, women are known to seriously underreport sexual assaults and rapes.

National Family Violence Survey

The National Family Violence Survey, which is considered by many to be the source of the most important research on family violence, was originally conducted in 1975 for the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. In the 1985 study Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles found that the rate of assaults by husbands on wives had dropped slightly during the decade, from 121 instances per 100,000 couples in 1975 to 113 instances per 100,000 couples in 1985. Furthermore, the rate of severe violence, such as hitting, kicking, or using a weapon had declined by 21%, from thirty-eight to thirty per one hundred thousand couples.

The study's most controversial finding indicated that women were initiating domestic violence at a rate equal to men. The 1985 study reported that in half of the cases, the abuse was mutual. After reassessing their data in 1990 and again in 1993, Straus and Gelles concluded that even though there were similar levels of abuse between men and women, men were six times more likely to inflict serious injury.

In “Change in Spouse Assault Rates from 1975 to 1992: A Comparison of Three National Surveys in the United States” (paper presented at the Thirteenth World Congress of Sociology, Bielefeld, Germany, July 1994), Murray A. Straus and Glenda Kaufman Kantor compare the rates of abuse from the 1975 National Family Violence Survey and the 1985 National Family Violence Resurvey and a 1992 survey conducted by Kantor. When the researchers reclassified “minor assault” to include pushing, grabbing, shoving, and slapping, and “severe assault” to include behavior likely to cause serious injury, such as kicking, punching, beating, and threatening with a weapon, they found some startling results.

The rates of reclassified minor assaults, which were considered less likely to cause injuries requiring medical treatment, decreased for husbands between the 1975 and 1985 surveys, yet remained constant for wives. The researchers find the same trend held true for severe assaults by husbands versus those by wives. Even though the rate of severe assaults by men against their wives declined 50% in the seventeen years from 1975 to 1992, severe assaults by women remained fairly steady. Straus and Kantor conclude that the reason for the decline in severe assaults by husbands was that over time men became increasingly aware that battering was a crime and grew reluctant to admit the abuse. At the same time, women had been encouraged not to tolerate abuse and to report it, accounting for an increase in the reporting of even minor instances of abuse.

When abuse was measured based on separate reports by men and women, Straus and Kantor find that minor assaults by husbands decreased from 1975 to 1985. Based

on the husbands’ reports, these rates continued to decline from 1985 to 1992, but wives reported an increase over the same period. Men also reported a decrease in the rate of severe abuse between 1975 and 1985, whereas women reported no change. In contrast, between 1985 and 1992 men reported a slight increase in the rate of severe abuse, whereas women reported a sharp drop of 43%. These findings appear to contradict Straus and Kantor's hypothesis that the rate change was a result of men's reluctance to report abuse and women's greater freedom to report it.

According to women, minor abuse perpetrated by wives against their husbands declined from 1975 to 1985 but increased substantially from 1985 to 1992. Men, however, said the rate of minor abuse by their wives increased over both periods. Women also reported that the rate of severe assaults against their husbands remained steady during the first decade but increased between 1985 and 1992. Husbands reported a steady decrease in severe assaults by their wives during both periods.

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS FROM THE DATA. Straus and Kantor observe that the large decrease in severe assaults by husbands was supported by FBI statistics showing an 18% drop in the number of women killed by their husbands during that period. The researchers speculate that strides made over several years, such as justice system interventions to punish abusive husbands, along with the greater availability of shelters and restraining orders, played a role in the decline of severe abuse. The lack of change in minor assaults by husbands may reflect the emphasis that has been placed on severe assaults, which could allow men to mistakenly assume that an occasional slap or shove does not constitute abusive behavior.

To explain the increase in minor assaults by women, Straus and Kantor suggest that there had been no effort to condemn assaults by wives, and with increasing gender equality, women might feel entitled to hit as often as their male partners. The decrease in severe abuse by wives as reported by their husbands, which is inconsistent with the wives’ responses, might reflect men's reluctance to admit they have been victims of abuse.

Abused to Death

In 2005, 1,181 women and 329 men were killed by an intimate partner. (See Table 6.10.) Even though these statistics sound alarming, they reflect a positive trend in domestic homicides. Since 1976, when the FBI began keeping statistics on intimate murders, the number of men and women killed by an intimate partner has dropped significantly. The number of men killed by an intimate declined from 1,304 in 1976 to 329 in 2005, a decrease of 75%, and the number of women killed was stable until 1993, when it began to decline. (See Figure 6.2.)

According to James Alan Fox and Marianne W. Zawitz, in Homicide Trends in the United States (July 2007, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm#contents), the number of white females killed by an intimate increased during most of the 1980s but then declined after 1987. In 1997 it reached its lowest point in two decades. This decline, however, did not hold true across all relationship categories. The intimate homicide rate for white girlfriends in 2006 was higher than it was in 1976, and even though the homicide rate for white wives and former wives had declined somewhat, it had not declined as much as that for white husbands and former husbands. (See Figure 6.3.) The intimate homicide rates among African-Americans

dropped more dramatically for all relationship categories, with the steepest decline experienced by husbands and the most modest decrease experienced by girlfriends.

Of all intimate homicides committed during this period, guns were used in a majority of the murders, although other weapons such as knives were also used. (See Figure 6.4 and Table 6.11.) In the period between 1990 and 2005 more than two-thirds of all victims of murder at the hands of their spouse or former spouse were killed by guns. However, almost half (47%) of the boyfriends murdered by their partner and one out of five (20%) of the girlfriends murdered by their partner were killed with knives.

In “How Can Practitioners Help an Abused Woman Lower Her Risk of Death?” (National Institute of Justice Journal, no. 250, November 2003), Carolyn Rebecca Block of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority investigates what factors present in abusive relationships might indicate a threat of the violence escalating to homicide. She finds that certain types of past violence directed against female intimates indicate an increased risk of homicide, especially choking. She also finds that recently abused women are more likely to be killed—half of women who were killed in 1995 and 1996 by their partners had experienced violence in the previous thirty days before the survey. Increasingly frequent violent incidents posed a higher risk of homicide.

Jacquelyn C. Campbell et al. evaluate in “Assessing Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide” (National Institute of Justice Journal, no. 250, November 2003) the risk factors among abused women for being killed by their intimate partners. The researchers find that abused women whose abusers owned guns and who had threatened to kill them were at a high risk of being killed by their intimate partners. (See Figure 6.5.) Other high-risk factors for homicide include extreme jealousy, attempts to choke, and marital rape. Campbell et al. hope that the “danger assessment” tool they use may assist women and advocates for battered women to better assess the level of risk in abusive relationships.