Statistics

Statistics underscore the prevalence of violence in our communities. It is urgent that we stand up against domestic violence, sexual violence, human trafficking and child abuse:

Domestic violence statistics

• A person is abused in the United States every 9 seconds; (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
• On average, 3 women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in the United States; (Bureau of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics)
• 1 in 4 women have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner; (National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey)
• 1 in 4 victims of intimate partner violence identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer; (National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs)
• 66 percent of female stalking victims are stalked by a current or former intimate partner; (National Stalking Resource Center)
• Domestic violence costs more than $8.3 billion a year in medical care, mental health services and lost productivity at companies; (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• More than 15 million children witness domestic violence each year in the United States; (Journal of Family Psychology)
• 3,500 to 4,000 children witness fatal family violence annually in the United States; (National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence)

Sexual violence statistics

• 1 in 4 women and 1 out of 6 men are sexually abused in their lifetime; (Department of Justice)
• In 8 out of 10 rape cases, the victim knows the attacker; (Department of Justice)
• 1 in 2 transgender individuals will experience sexual violence; (National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey)
• 1 in 4 bisexual women will experience sexual violence; (National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey)
• 2 in 5 gay men will be sexually abused; (National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey)
• Nearly 6 out of 10 sexual assaults occur in the victim’s home or the home of a friend, relative or neighbor; (Department of Justice)
• 13.3 percent of college women say they have been forced to have sex in a dating situation; (Journal of Interpersonal Violence)
• Only 28 percent of victims report their sexual assault to the police; (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
• Only about 2 percent of all sexual assaults reported to police turn out to be false; (Department of Justice)
• Among developmentally disabled adults, up to 83 percent of females and 32 percent of males are victims of sexual violence; (Disabled Women’s Network)

Child abuse statistics

• A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds; (American Society for the Positive Care of Children)
• 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually assaulted by the time they reach 18; (Department of Justice)
• More than 4 children die each day because of child abuse; (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• More than 90 percent of child sexual abuse victims know their attacker; (“Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement” by Howard Snyder)
• Approximately 70 percent of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4; (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• About 30 percent of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the cycle of violence; (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)