Domestic violence is the leading cause of injuries to American women. According to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more women are treated in emergency rooms for battering injuries than for (non-marital) rapes, muggings, and traffic accidents combined (Jones, Ann. Next Time She'll Be Dead. Boston: Beacan Press, 1994).
Federal officials estimate that domestic violence costs U. S. firms more than four billion dollars a year, due to lower productivity, staff turnover, absenteeism, and excessive use of medical benefits (Jones, Ann. Next Time She'll Be Dead. Boston: Beacan Press, 2000).
Women are most in danger when they seek to put a firm end to an abusive relationship. Experts warn that the two actions most likely to trigger a deadly assault are moving out of a shared residence or beginning a relationship with another man. (Domestic Violence Alternatives, Inc., P. O. Box 1093, Emmett, ID 83617. 208-365-4075).
The rate of intimate offender attacks on women separated from their husbands was about three times higher than that of divorced women, and about 25 times higher than that of married women (Boatman, Ronet, and Saltzman. Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (NCJ-154348)).
In two national studies, it was found that between 33-70% of men who battered a woman also battered a child; in homes with more than four children, this rate jumps to 92% (Jones, Ann. Next Time She'll Be Dead. Boston: Beacan Press, 2000).
25-30% of all abused women are beaten as frequently as once a week (Domestic Violence Alternatives, Inc, P. O. Box 1093, Emmett, ID 83617. 1-208-365-4075).
Women who leave their batterers are 75% more likely to be killed by the batterer than those who stay (Barbara Hart, National Coalition Against domestic Violence, 1988).
Violence is the reason stated for divorce in 22% of middle-class marriages (EAP Digest Nov/Dec 1991).
Nationally, 50% of all homeless women and children are on the streeets because of violence in the home (Sen. Joseph Biden D-DE, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Violence Against Women: Victims of the System, 1991).
63% of the young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide have killed their mother's abusers (March of Dimes, 1992).
Since domestic violnce is a pattern of behavior, not a single event, episodes may become more severe and more frequent over time, resulting in an increased likelihood that the children eventually become victims (National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse; Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Linked. emorandum, September 1996).
CASE IN POINT: A court held in the case of James Lutgen (Illinois) that a man could not be considered an unfit parent merely because he had murdered the mother of his children. He served less than three (3) years for voluntary manslaughter. His wife had a valid Protection Order from abuse. (Jones, Ann. Next Time She'll Be Dead. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000).
Sexual Assaults
RAPE IS A CRIME! Rape is NEVER the victim's fault. Rapists are 100% responsible for their actions.
57% of rapes occur in the context of a date 38% of date rape victims are females between the ages of 14-17 years old. 30% of females are raped by a friend; 11% by a boyfriend 42.5% of assaults happen in the victim's own home 75% of males and 55% of females consumed alcohol or other drugs before the assault 78% of teens do not tell their parents they have been raped 71% of rape victims tell a friend 6% of teens report to the police that they have been raped. 3% of rapes result in pregnancy
In a Rhode Island study with high school students, over 50% of males and 42% of females agreed that there were times when it was "acceptable for a male to hold a female down and physically force her to engage in intercourse." (I Never Called It Rape, 1988)
Half of all rapes committed on women over the age of thirty are part of the battering syndrome. In one study, 43% of women sexually abused told NO ONE!
THE EFFECTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT DO NOT GO AWAY BY SIMPLY TRYING TO FORGET THEM!
