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By: by Garry Cooper, LCSW
Adapted from a fact sheet on domestic/interpersonal violence compiled by the National Center for Victims of Crime https://www.ncvc.org
The National Center for Victims of Crimes has compiled a fact sheet of the most recent available statistics at their website at which is culled from reliable, authoritative sources. Among the statistics:
The Department of Justice estimates that there were 509,230 violent crimes of IPV. This accounted for 13.36 percent of all violent crimes. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics says that of all female murder victims in 2010, 37.5 percent were killed by a husband or boyfriend.
The cost to society of IPV is extremely high. According to the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards, in 2009 25 percent of all adult victims compensated by victim compensation programs were IPV victims. Their compensation comprised 40 percent of all assault claims. Of all adults on probation in 2009, domestic violence was the most serious crime of which they had been convicted.
Although the statistics seem to indicate that male on female IPV is more common, with the percentage of female IPV victims roughly four times that of males, because the statistic comes from the Department of Justice, it reflects only those who have been arrested, and so the statistic is weighted toward the more severe cases of IPV.
The rates of IPV, at least in terms of arrests, may be decreasing slightly. In 2010 IPV rates for females decreased from 4.2 victimizations per 1,000 in 2009 to 3.1 per 1,000. No substantial difference in the rates of intimate partner violence for males during the same time period was reported: the rates held steady from 1.0 per 1,000 in 2009 and 0.8 per 1,000 in 2010.
IPV is not limited to heterosexual, straight couples. In 2008, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, or queer people (LGBTQ) reported 3,419 incidents of domestic violence to local anti-violence programs. Nine of these incidents resulted in murder. In that same year, women comprised 51 percent of LGBTQ domestic violence victim, men 42 percent, and 5 percent were transgender. IPV in LGBTQ couples slightly trends toward an older age group than heterosexual IPV couples. 64 percent of LGBTQ domestic violence victims 30 or over, and 36 percent were under 30. For more complete statistics on LGBTQ IPV, see article #3 in this course, the report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence programs.
Finally, a significant number of IPV cases involve stalking. In 30.3 percent of stalking cases reported in 2009, the stalker was a current or former intimate partner. When asked why they believed the stalking had begun, 16.8 percent of the victims said it was because the person liked or had a crush on the victim and 16.2 percent said it was to keep the victim in a relationship with the stalker.