Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence

Statistics on Domestic Violence

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES

• One in four women in the United States report experiencing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse at some point in their lives.
• Women of all ages are at risk for domestic violence, and those between the ages of 20-24 experience the highest instances of rape and sexual assault.
• Compared to men, women are more likely to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner.
• 84%-86% of the victims of domestic violence are female.
• 75% percent of perpetrators of domestic violence are male.
• An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
• On average, three women a day are killed by their husbands or boyfriends.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN MARYLAND

• In 2009, 17,343 domestic violence assaults were reported to Maryland's law enforcement.
• 4,317 of these reported assaults were aggravated, which can include the use of dangerous weapons, firearms, or hands and fists.
• 25,054 domestic violence cases were filed in Maryland between July 1 2009-June 30, 2010.
• 2,483 temporary orders for protection and 1,758 final orders for protection were issued during the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
• A total of 38 people were killed as a result of domestic violence between the 2009-2010 fiscal year.  These included 18 females, 18 males, and 2 children.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN

• About 7 million children in the United States are exposed to domestic violence on a regular basis.
• More than half of women who are victims of domestic violence have children under the age of 12.
• 966 domestic violence victims found refuge in emergency shelters or transitional housing provided by local domestic violence programs in Maryland
• 669 adults and children received non-residential assistance and services, including individual counseling, legal advocacy, and children’s support groups in Maryland
• Batterers often use child custody as a basis for further abuse through harassing and retaliatory legal actions.
• Children who are exposed to domestic violence are more likely to exhibit behavioral and physical health problem including depression, anxiety, and violence towards peers. They are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crime.
• Boys who are exposed to domestic violence during their childhood are three times more likely to be abusive in their future relationships than are boys that come from non abusive homes.
• In 2009-2010, Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence served 689 children as secondary victims of domestic violence and provided shelter services to 46 children.

TEEN DATING VIOLENCE

• Recently, teen dating violence has become an area of concern in anti-domestic violence efforts.
• One in three adolescent girls is a victim of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner.
• One in five adolescents between the ages of 11-14 report that they have a friend who is verbally abused by their boyfriend.
• Teen dating violence may be a precursor to martial forms of domestic violence.
• Prevention programs provided in schools are used to deter youth from the dangers of domestic abuse.

• Immigrant women often feel trapped in abusive relationships because of immigration laws, language barriers, social isolation, and lack of financial resources.
• A recent study in New York City found that 51% of intimate partner homicide victims were foreign-born, while 45% were born in the United States.
• Forty-eight percent of Latinas in one study reported that their partner’s violence against them had increased since they immigrated to the United States.
• Immigrant women often suffer higher rates of battering than U.S. citizens because they may come from cultures that accept domestic violence or because they have less access to legal and social services than U.S. citizens. Additionally, immigrant batterers and victims may believe that the penalties and protections of the U.S. legal system do not apply to them.
• Battered immigrant women who attempt to flee may not have access to bilingual shelters, financial assistance, or food. It is also unlikely that they will have the assistance of a certified interpreter in court, when reporting complaints to the police or a 911 operator, or even in acquiring information about their rights and the legal system.

Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence Statistics: Annual Report 2009-2010

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS

• Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation1 or forced labor. Victims are young children, teenagers, men and women.
• The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines two subsets of human trafficking: sex trafficking and labor trafficking.
• Sex trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.
• Labor trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery
• Victims are trafficked by force, fraud, and coercion.
• Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State. These estimates include women, men and children.
• Many victims trafficked into the United States do not speak and understand English and are therefore isolated and unable to communicate with service providers, law enforcement and others who might be able to help them.

If you think you have come in contact with a victim of human trafficking, call the trafficking information and referral hotline at 1-888-3737-888.

Family Violence Prevention Fund (2009). The Facts on Domestic, Dating and Sexual Violence.
http://www.endabuse.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/DomesticViolence.pdf

National Coalition against Domestic Violence (2006). Domestic Violence Facts: Maryland. 
http://www.ncadv.org/files/Maryland%20revised%202.09.pdf

National coalition against Domestic Violence (2006). Domestic Violence Facts: Maryland.
http://www.ncadv.org/files/Maryland%20revised%202.09.pdf

Family Violence Prevention Fund (2009). The Facts on Domestic, Dating and Sexual Violence.
http://www.endabuse.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/DomesticViolence.pdf

Kernsmith, Poco. 2006. "Gender Differences in the Impact of Family Origin Violence on Perpetrators of Domestic 
  Violence." Journal of Family Violence, 21(2):163-171.

Family Violence Prevention Fund (2009). The Facts on Domestic, Dating and Sexual Violence.
http://www.endabuse.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/DomesticViolence.pdf

Family Violence Prevention Fund (2009). The Facts on Immigrant Women and Domestic Violence.
http://www.endabuse.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Immigrant.pdf

Administration for Children and Families, HHS. (N.d.). Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet. Washington D.C.:  
  Department of Health and Human Services.  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_sex.pdf