Myths and Facts About Domestic Violence

MYTH: Domestic Violence affects only a small percentage of the population and is rare.

FACT: National studies estimate that 3 to 4 million women are beaten each year in our country. A study conducted in 1995 found that 31% of women surveyed admitted to having been physically assaulted by a husband or boyfriend. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in our country, and the FBI estimates that a woman is beaten every 15 seconds. Thirty percent of female homicide victims are killed by partners or ex-partners and 1,500 women are murdered as a result of domestic violence each year in the United State.

MYTH: Domestic Violence occurs only in poor, poorly educated and minority families.

FACT: Studies of domestic violence consistently have found that battering occurs among all types of families, regardless of income, profession, region, ethnicity, educational level or race. However, the fact that lower income victims and abusers are over-represented in calls to police, battered women's shelters and social services may be due to a lack of other resources.

MYTH: The real problem is couples who assault each other, women are just as violent as men.

FACT: A well-publicized study conducted by Dr. Murray Strauss at the University of New Hampshire found that women use violent means to resolve conflict in relationships as often as men. However, the study also concluded that when the context and consequences of an assault are measured, the majority of victims are women. The U.S. Department of Justice has found that 95% of the victims of spouse abuse are female. Men can be victims, but it is rare.

MYTH: Alcohol causes battering.

FACT: Although there is a high correlation between alcohol, or other substance abuse, and battering, it is not a causal relationship. Batterers use drinking as one of many excuses for their violence and as a way to place the responsibility for their violence elsewhere. Stopping the abusers' drinking will not stop the violence. Both battering and substance abuse need to be addressed separately, as overlapping yet independent problems.

MYTH: Domestic violence is usually a one time, isolated occurrence.

FACT: Battering is a pattern of coercion and control that one person exerts over another. Battering is not just one physical attack. It includes the repeated use of a number of tactics including intimidation, threats, economic deprivation, isolation and psychological and sexual abuse. Physical violence is just one of these tactics. The various forms of abuse utilized by batterers help to maintain power and control over their spouses and partners.

MYTH: Men who batter are often good fathers and should have joint custody of their children if the couple separates.

FACT: Studies have found that men who batter their wives also abuse their children in 70% of cases. Even when children are not directly abused, they suffer as a result of witnessing one parent assault another. Batterers often display an increased interest in their children at the time of separations as a means of maintaining contact with, and thus control over, their partners.

MYTH: When there is violence in the family, all members of the family are participating in the dynamic, therefore, all must change for the violence to stop.

FACT: Only the batterer has the ability to stop the violence. Battering is a behavioral choice for which the batterer must be held accountable. Many battered women make numerous attempts to change their behavior in the hope that this will stop the abuse. This does not work. Changes in family members' behavior will not cause the batterer to be non-violent.

MYTH: Battered women are masochistic and provoke the abuse. They must like it or they would leave.

FACT: Victim provocation is no more common in domestic violence than in any other crime. Battered women often make repeated attempts to leave violent relationships but are prevented from doing so by increased violence and control tactics on the part of the abuser. Other factors which inhibit a victim's ability to leave include economic dependence, few viable options for housing and support, unhelpful responses from the criminal justice system or other agencies, social isolation, cultural or religious constraints, a commitment to the abuser and the relationship and fear of further violence. It has been estimated that the danger to a victim increases by 70% when she attempts to leave, as the abuser escalates his use of violence when he begins to lose control.

MYTH: Men have a right to discipline their partners; battering is not a crime.

FACT: While our society derives from a patriarchal legal system that afforded men the right to physically chastise their wives and children, we do not live under such a system now. Women and children are no longer considered the property of men and domestic violence is a crime in every state in the country.

Fact About Domestic Violence

Approximately 95% of the victims of domestic violence are women.

Statistics, National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, Ruth Peachey, M.D. 1988.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States; more then car accidents, muggings and rapes combined.

"Violence Against Women, A Majority Staff Report," Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 102nd Congress, October 1992, p. 3

About 1 out of 4 women are likely to be abused by a partner in her lifetime.

Sara Glazer, "Violence Against Women" CQ Researcher, Congressional Quarterly, Inc., Volume 3, Number 8, February, 1993, p. 171

One women is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States

Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991.

One out of 4 women who attempt suicide are battered.

"Battered Families... Shattered Lives," Georgia Department of Human Resources. Family Violence Teleconference Resource Manual, January 1992.

Three to four million women in the United States are beaten in their homes each year by their husbands, ex-husbands or male lovers.

"Women and Violence," Hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, August 29 and December 11, 1990, Senate Hearing 101-939, pt. 1, p. 12.

Domestic violence ranks as one of the nations most expensive health problems.

American Medical News, American Medical Association 1992.

According to one study, family violence alone may cost the country as much as $5 to $10 billion every year in health care and associated costs.

"The Response to Rape: Detours on the Road to Equal Justice." Committee on the Judiciary, United States senate. May 1993.

Women of all cultures, races, occupations, income levels and ages are battered by husbands, boyfriends, lovers and partners.

For Shelter and Beyond, Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women Service Groups, Boston, MA 1990.

Police reports that between 40% and 60% of the calls they receive, especially on the night shift, are domestic disputes.

Carrillo, Roxanna "Violence Against Women: An Obstacle to Development" Human Development Report, 1990.

In murders of persons under age 12, the victims' parents accounted for 57% of the murderers. Eleven percent of all victims age 60 or older were killed by a son or daughter.

"Murder in Families," Victims' Hotline, Fall 1994.

Fifty percent of all homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence.

Senator Joseph Biden, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Violence Against Women Victims of the System, 1991.

It is estimated there are approximately 500,000 gay male victims and a similarly alarming number of lesbian victims of domestic violence annually.

"Myths About Lesbin and Gay Domestic Violence". David Island and Patrick Letellier 1991.

A recent survey of corporate security directors revealed that more than 90% of those surveyed had seen at least three cases of men stalking women employees. Domestic Violence was rated as a "high" security problem.

Family Violence Prevention Fund, Fall/Winter 1994.

Forty percent of assaults on women by their male partners begin during the first pregnancy, pregnant women are at twice the risk of battery than non-pregnant women. Fifteen to 25% of pregnant women are battered. As a result, these women are 4 times more likely to bear infants of low birth weight and have an increased risk of miscarriage or injury to the child.

Martin, S.R., Holsapfels, S. and Baker, P. (1992). Wife Abuse: Are We Detecting It? Journal of Women's Health 1(1), 77-80 Evan Stark and Anne Flitcraft, 1992, U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary (August 29 and December 11, 1990). Hearings on Women and Violence," Ten Facts About Violence Against Women" p. 78.

Half of female homicide and manslaughter victims were killed by male partners. Women serving a sentence for a violent offense were about twice as likely as their male counterparts to have committed their offense against someone close to them (36% versus 16%). Women charged in the death of a mate have the least extensive criminal records of any female offenders.

"Battered Families.....Shattered Lives", Georgia Department of Human Resources. Family Violence Teleconference Resource Manual, January 1992, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report, Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991. "Women's Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-vision of Human Rights" Schneier, E. M. and Jordan, S.B. (1981). Women's self-defense Cases: Theory and Practice, Charlottesville, VA: The Michie Company Law Publishers.

Domestic Violence is not only physical and sexual violence but also psychological. Psychological violence means intense and repetitive degradation, creating isolation, and controlling the actions or behaviors of the spouse through intimidation or manipulation to the detriment of the individual.

"Five Year State Master Plan for the Prevention of and Service for Domestic Violence." Utah State Department of Human Services, January 1994.

Domestic Violence: Ideas and Information
American Prosecutors Research Institute

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