Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence in the United States has become a major problem that affects nearly 2/3's of all people. It can affect wives, the elderly, and even men. This paper will discuss the violence toward both women and children.

It is widely understood that most estimates of the commonness of domestic violence are understated. Even large population surveys cannot provide accurate estimates of the amount of domestic violence. This is partly because many victims feel unable to speak out about domestic violence. The pressures of negative society attitudes toward victims, feelings of shame, and fear of retribution from the person responsible for add to low levels of disclosure of domestic violence. Also, because domestic violence often occurs in the privacy of the home, there are few outside witnesses.

Statistics from public agencies such as police, courts, counseling and accommodation services are another source of information. However, these can only provide information about people who come to public attention, many victims never contact such agencies. Some agencies do not collect statistics on domestic violence, and those that do define and record domestic violence in different ways. The Women's Safety Survey in 1996 surveyed approximately 6,300 women about their experience of actual or threatened physical and sexual violence. Based on the survey results (fig. 1), they estimated these results. Of women who had been physically assaulted in the 12-month period, 58% spoke to a friend or neighbor, 53% spoke to a family member, 12% spoke to a counselor, and 4.5% spoke to a crisis service organization. Only 19% reported the incident to police, and women who experienced violence by a current partner were least likely to have reported the assault, while women who were assaulted by a stranger were more likely to report to police. 18% had never told anyone about the incident.

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