Information/Facts

ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:

Until the mid-1970's, no one talked much about abuse between adult partners. We were taught to think that criminal violence occurred on the street or in taverns and bars. Home was thought to be a safe place.

Now we know that violence in the home is very frequent. More than 2 million American women a year are physically attacked by their male partners. During the first half of the 1980's, the deaths of nearly 17,000 people resulted from one partner killing another, with women twice as likely to be victims of such fatal partner violence as men. Violence between partners happens in all groups in society. No group is immune.
Violence in a relationship is never okay and never justified. A "little slap" is violence. So is pushing, shoving, punching, kicking, biting, choking, burning, throwing things, threatening violence, or forcing a partner to engage in sexual activities against her or his will. All of these things, along with injury with weapons, have happened to victims of domestic violence.

If violence or a threat of violence of any kind has happened more than once or twice, it is extremely likely to happen again. It may get more frequent or more severe. If this describes you and your relationship, you are at risk.

For local referrals and confidential counseling, please call New Day Shelter at 715-682-9565 or toll free 1-800-924-4132, or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

THE FACTS:

	A woman is beaten every 15 seconds. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice.)
	Ninety-five percent of the victims of domestic violence are women. (Violence Against Women, June 1992, The National Women's Health Resource Center.)
	Domestic Violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States -- more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991.)
	As many as one-quarter to two -thirds of battered women report abuse during pregnancy. (Violence Against Women, June 1992, The National Women's Health Resource Center.) Battered women are more likely to suffer miscarriages and to give birth to babies with low birth weights. (Surgeon General, United States, 1992.)
	Sixty-three percent of the young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide have killed their mother's abuser. (March of Dimes, 1992.)
	Women of all cultures, races, occupations, income levels, and ages are battered -- by husbands, boyfriends, lovers, and partners. (Surgeon General Antonia Novello, as quoted in Domestic Violence: Battered Women, a publication of the Reference Dept. of the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA.) One in five women victimized by their spouses or ex-spouses report they had been victimized over and over again by the same person. (The Basics of Batterer Treatment, Common Purpose, Inc., Jamaica Plain, MA.) Battering is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through violence and other forms of abuse. The batterer uses acts of violence and a series of behaviors, including intimidation, threats, psychological abuse, isolation, etc. to coerce and control the other person. The violence may not happen often, but it remains as a hidden (and constant) terrorizing factor. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1990.)