“It is against the law for a household or family member to beat, harass, or intimidate you,” the Illinois State Bar Association notes in educational material. 4 But words alone don’t prevent domestic violence, and definitions, regardless of how inclusive haven’t managed to end it. Instead, “family violence” – as domestic violence is also sometimes referred to – remains a persistent problem that can take many forms and cause irreparable personal and societal harm. There are variables to domestic violence. No two incidents are exactly alike. But there are enough statistical similarities generally, according to law enforcement authorities, to create the impression of a few simple “truths.” Among them are that:
Victims of domestic violence are overwhelmingly female. Law enforcement officials define domestic violence as a “pattern of dominating and sometimes violent behavior that someone uses to control a partner.”5 Researchers suggest that domestic violence can “affect anyone regardless of gender, age, sexual preference, education, income, ethnic group, family situation or background.” Men are among those who are abused. But in terms of numbers, victims of domestic violence have always been, and remain, overwhelmingly female. According to Justice Department statistics, for every year since the mid-1970s, when the federal government began compiling statistics on violence, women have been between 7 and 10 times more likely to be victimized by someone they know - usually someone male – than men, who are more likely to be victimized by persons unknown to them.6 By some estimates, that means that one in every four women in America between the ages of 18 and 65 may be affected by domestic violence in their lifetimes. In addition, other estimates suggest that domestic violence may cause “more injuries to women than rape, muggings, and automobile accidents combined.”7
Victims of domestic violence are often abused by “loved ones.” Though women are less likely than men to be the victims of violent crimes generally, women are “five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner,” according to Justice Department statistics.8 “Intimate partners,” as defined by the U.S. Justice Department, includes people who know and/or are related to the victim, such as friends, lovers, husbands or ex-spouses, current or former boyfriends or relatives.9 More than two-thirds of all incidents of violence against women are committed by “intimate partners,” researchers suggest.10 Of the 1,551,143 incidents of family violence reported during 2004, the last year for which national statistics were formally compiled and published, “the most prevalent relationship” involving domestic violence “was boyfriend/girlfriend followed by spouse,” according to Justice Department research.11 Though many women survive “non-fatal” assaults, survivors report being beaten, choked, nearly drowned and threatened at gunpoint by “loved ones” or former “loved ones during these incidents. And yet, despite the brutality of these attacks, law enforcement officials estimate that only about half of all incidents of “intimate partner violence against women” are ever reported.12 One reason for this, researcher say, is that victims fear reprisals from abusers who are still in the home. But that reluctance can be fatal. In 2000, roughly 1,246 women were the victims of fatal incidents at the hands of intimate partners.13 Nearly 60 percent of all victims of murder within a family are female, the Bureau of Justice Statistics notes,14 and about 80 percent of the time, the spouse or dating partner committing the murder is male.15
Domestic violence leaves its victims without a safe place to go. As children we are taught that we are safe in the home. But domestic violence can take that away, leaving women and often children without a safe haven. To escape the danger, thousands of women try each year to leave violent households. Research suggests that domestic violence is the leading cause in about 20 percent of divorce filings among middle-class couples.16 And yet, leaving an abusive relationship can be the most dangerous time for a woman. “Battered women seek medical attention for injuries sustained as a consequence of domestic violence significantly more often after separation [from an abuser] than during cohabitation,” statistics compiled by state and local agencies suggest. Roughly, 75% of visits to emergency rooms by battered women occur after separation,” epidemio-logical research shows,17 and fully two-thirds of all “calls to law enforcement for inter-vention and assistance” in domestic violence cases occur after separation from batterers. Finally, research conducted by a national task force on violence against women found that half of all homicides of female spouses and partners were “committed by men after the women had separated from the batterers.”18
Domestic violence costs millions of dollars each year in medical fees and lost wages.“Domestic violence cases are a painful illustration of the reality that home and the workplace are seldom very far from each other, no matter how long or short the commute might be,” Margaret Graham Tebo wrote recently in an article for the AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL.19 With more than half of the American work force made up of women, issues of domestic violence are part of the everyday conversation within the work place. Tebo notes, for example, in the article titled When Home Comes to Work, that “[w]hen an employee is victimized by domestic violence, the employer often finds itself at a troubling intersection where concerns about the victim and the company’s larger interests can collide.”20 How troubling? Legal Momentum – formerly the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund – estimates that domestic violence costs companies across the United States between $3 and $13 billion a year in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity.21 That is often part of an abuser’s plan. For decades, the number of women in the workplace has soared. With work often comes a level of financial independence. In an effort to maintain control over their victims, abusers frequently attempt to sabotage a victim’s ability to work, thereby forcing her to remain economically dependant. In many cases, they are successful: Half of all victims of domestic violence report losing a job due to abuse or time spent away from work in a medical facility. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than one million women seek medical assistance for injuries caused by battering each year, resulting in domestic violence-related medical expenses between $3 to $5 billion annually.22
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1 The National Criminal Justice Reference Service, which compiles statistics for the F.B.I, defines “family violence” to include “child physical and sexual abuse, child neglect and maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse.” For definition and further explanation, see Family Violence: Facts and Figures, NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE FACT SHEET, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/facts.html, at p. 1.
2 In 2004, the number was actually 1,551,143 incidents. Though it may vary, it seems unlikely that during any year, these incidents will drop by more than 50,000 incidents. Id., at p. 1.
3 See Crime Data Brief: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, U.S. Department of Justice, Feb. 2003, available at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv01.pdf,
at p. 1. (Although this brief covers statistics compiled between 1993 – 2001, and the actual number of violent incidents rose and fell, the percentages during this period didn’t change markedly.)
4 See HOT TOPICS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, materials compiled, published and presented by and on behalf of the Illinois State Bar Association, May 10, 2007, at p. 21.
5 Id. at p. 23.
6 See Crime Data Brief, supra 3, at p. 1.
7 See HOT TOPICS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, supra note 4, at p. 23.
8 See U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, March 1998, at p. 1.
9 See Crime Data Brief, supra 3, at p. 1; Family Violence – Facts and Figures, supra note 2, at p. 1.
10 Id.
11 See Family Violence – Facts and Figures, NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE FACT SHEET, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/facts.html, at p. 1.
12 See Intimate Partner Violence, Special Report, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, revised Jan. 31, 2002, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf, at p. 1.
13 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION COMMISSION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Mobilizing the Legal Profession to Provide Access to Justice and Safety for Victims of Domestic Violence, August 12, 2008, available at: http://www.abanet.org/domviol/statistics/html, at p. 2 (citing Callie Marie Rennison, U.S. Dep’t Justice, NCJ 197838, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS CRIME BRIEF: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, at 1 (2003), available at: http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv01.pdf.)
14 See BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, Family Violence Statistics, June 2005, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fvs.pdf.
15 See ABA COMMISSION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, supra note 13, at p. 2.
16 See Employee Assistance Providers Digest, Nov./Dec. 1991.
17 See E. Stark and A. Flitcraft, Violence Among Intimates, An Epidemiological Review, HANDBOOK OF FAMILY VIOLENCE, Ed. V.D., Van Hasselt, et al., 1988).
18 See Barbara Hart, Remarks to the Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, April 1992).
19 See Margaret Graham Tebo, When Home Comes to Work, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL, Sept. 2005, pp. 42-47. Available on-line at: http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/when_home_comes_to_work/.
20 Among the potential mine field of issues is the possibility of tort liability, where an abuser has reached an injured the victim in the workplace; possible claims by fellow workers injured in the incident; wrong dismissal or discrimination claims if an employer fires an employee because s/he is a victim of domestic violence. See at p. 44.
21 Id. at p. 44.
22 See DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS (3rd Ed.) Colorado Domestic Violence Coalition, 1991.
Victims of domestic violence are overwhelmingly female. Law enforcement officials define domestic violence as a “pattern of dominating and sometimes violent behavior that someone uses to control a partner.”5 Researchers suggest that domestic violence can “affect anyone regardless of gender, age, sexual preference, education, income, ethnic group, family situation or background.” Men are among those who are abused. But in terms of numbers, victims of domestic violence have always been, and remain, overwhelmingly female. According to Justice Department statistics, for every year since the mid-1970s, when the federal government began compiling statistics on violence, women have been between 7 and 10 times more likely to be victimized by someone they know - usually someone male – than men, who are more likely to be victimized by persons unknown to them.6 By some estimates, that means that one in every four women in America between the ages of 18 and 65 may be affected by domestic violence in their lifetimes. In addition, other estimates suggest that domestic violence may cause “more injuries to women than rape, muggings, and automobile accidents combined.”7
Victims of domestic violence are often abused by “loved ones.” Though women are less likely than men to be the victims of violent crimes generally, women are “five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner,” according to Justice Department statistics.8 “Intimate partners,” as defined by the U.S. Justice Department, includes people who know and/or are related to the victim, such as friends, lovers, husbands or ex-spouses, current or former boyfriends or relatives.9 More than two-thirds of all incidents of violence against women are committed by “intimate partners,” researchers suggest.10 Of the 1,551,143 incidents of family violence reported during 2004, the last year for which national statistics were formally compiled and published, “the most prevalent relationship” involving domestic violence “was boyfriend/girlfriend followed by spouse,” according to Justice Department research.11 Though many women survive “non-fatal” assaults, survivors report being beaten, choked, nearly drowned and threatened at gunpoint by “loved ones” or former “loved ones during these incidents. And yet, despite the brutality of these attacks, law enforcement officials estimate that only about half of all incidents of “intimate partner violence against women” are ever reported.12 One reason for this, researcher say, is that victims fear reprisals from abusers who are still in the home. But that reluctance can be fatal. In 2000, roughly 1,246 women were the victims of fatal incidents at the hands of intimate partners.13 Nearly 60 percent of all victims of murder within a family are female, the Bureau of Justice Statistics notes,14 and about 80 percent of the time, the spouse or dating partner committing the murder is male.15
Domestic violence leaves its victims without a safe place to go. As children we are taught that we are safe in the home. But domestic violence can take that away, leaving women and often children without a safe haven. To escape the danger, thousands of women try each year to leave violent households. Research suggests that domestic violence is the leading cause in about 20 percent of divorce filings among middle-class couples.16 And yet, leaving an abusive relationship can be the most dangerous time for a woman. “Battered women seek medical attention for injuries sustained as a consequence of domestic violence significantly more often after separation [from an abuser] than during cohabitation,” statistics compiled by state and local agencies suggest. Roughly, 75% of visits to emergency rooms by battered women occur after separation,” epidemio-logical research shows,17 and fully two-thirds of all “calls to law enforcement for inter-vention and assistance” in domestic violence cases occur after separation from batterers. Finally, research conducted by a national task force on violence against women found that half of all homicides of female spouses and partners were “committed by men after the women had separated from the batterers.”18
Domestic violence costs millions of dollars each year in medical fees and lost wages.“Domestic violence cases are a painful illustration of the reality that home and the workplace are seldom very far from each other, no matter how long or short the commute might be,” Margaret Graham Tebo wrote recently in an article for the AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL.19 With more than half of the American work force made up of women, issues of domestic violence are part of the everyday conversation within the work place. Tebo notes, for example, in the article titled When Home Comes to Work, that “[w]hen an employee is victimized by domestic violence, the employer often finds itself at a troubling intersection where concerns about the victim and the company’s larger interests can collide.”20 How troubling? Legal Momentum – formerly the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund – estimates that domestic violence costs companies across the United States between $3 and $13 billion a year in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity.21 That is often part of an abuser’s plan. For decades, the number of women in the workplace has soared. With work often comes a level of financial independence. In an effort to maintain control over their victims, abusers frequently attempt to sabotage a victim’s ability to work, thereby forcing her to remain economically dependant. In many cases, they are successful: Half of all victims of domestic violence report losing a job due to abuse or time spent away from work in a medical facility. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than one million women seek medical assistance for injuries caused by battering each year, resulting in domestic violence-related medical expenses between $3 to $5 billion annually.22
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1 The National Criminal Justice Reference Service, which compiles statistics for the F.B.I, defines “family violence” to include “child physical and sexual abuse, child neglect and maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse.” For definition and further explanation, see Family Violence: Facts and Figures, NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE FACT SHEET, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/facts.html, at p. 1.
2 In 2004, the number was actually 1,551,143 incidents. Though it may vary, it seems unlikely that during any year, these incidents will drop by more than 50,000 incidents. Id., at p. 1.
3 See Crime Data Brief: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, U.S. Department of Justice, Feb. 2003, available at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv01.pdf,
at p. 1. (Although this brief covers statistics compiled between 1993 – 2001, and the actual number of violent incidents rose and fell, the percentages during this period didn’t change markedly.)
4 See HOT TOPICS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, materials compiled, published and presented by and on behalf of the Illinois State Bar Association, May 10, 2007, at p. 21.
5 Id. at p. 23.
6 See Crime Data Brief, supra 3, at p. 1.
7 See HOT TOPICS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, supra note 4, at p. 23.
8 See U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, March 1998, at p. 1.
9 See Crime Data Brief, supra 3, at p. 1; Family Violence – Facts and Figures, supra note 2, at p. 1.
10 Id.
11 See Family Violence – Facts and Figures, NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE FACT SHEET, available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/facts.html, at p. 1.
12 See Intimate Partner Violence, Special Report, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, revised Jan. 31, 2002, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf, at p. 1.
13 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION COMMISSION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Mobilizing the Legal Profession to Provide Access to Justice and Safety for Victims of Domestic Violence, August 12, 2008, available at: http://www.abanet.org/domviol/statistics/html, at p. 2 (citing Callie Marie Rennison, U.S. Dep’t Justice, NCJ 197838, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS CRIME BRIEF: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, at 1 (2003), available at: http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv01.pdf.)
14 See BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, Family Violence Statistics, June 2005, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fvs.pdf.
15 See ABA COMMISSION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, supra note 13, at p. 2.
16 See Employee Assistance Providers Digest, Nov./Dec. 1991.
17 See E. Stark and A. Flitcraft, Violence Among Intimates, An Epidemiological Review, HANDBOOK OF FAMILY VIOLENCE, Ed. V.D., Van Hasselt, et al., 1988).
18 See Barbara Hart, Remarks to the Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, April 1992).
19 See Margaret Graham Tebo, When Home Comes to Work, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL, Sept. 2005, pp. 42-47. Available on-line at: http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/when_home_comes_to_work/.
20 Among the potential mine field of issues is the possibility of tort liability, where an abuser has reached an injured the victim in the workplace; possible claims by fellow workers injured in the incident; wrong dismissal or discrimination claims if an employer fires an employee because s/he is a victim of domestic violence. See at p. 44.
21 Id. at p. 44.
22 See DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS (3rd Ed.) Colorado Domestic Violence Coalition, 1991.