Know the Facts About Interpersonal Violence

Interpersonal violence continues to be a serious problem in Utah and across the nation. The following ‘lowlights’ show the need for more men become involved in efforts to prevent further violence.

Domestic Violence Facts - Utah

The Utah Behavioral Risk Surveillance System survey conducted in 2008 found that 14% of Utah women had experienced intimate partner violence during their lifetimes.
A total of 4,270 alleged domestic violence cases came to the attention of DCFS in Fiscal Year 2008 which was similar to previous years.
Over a third (39%) of the perpetrators were husbands or a live-in male partner, 27% were former husbands or live-in partners, and 26% were former boyfriends.
More than 3,400 individuals—31 men, 1,655 women, and 1,761 children—entered shelters in Fiscal Year 2009 to escape domestic violence. These individuals spent more than 83,000 days in shelters.
In 2009, domestic violence-related homicides accounted for 40% of adult homicides in Utah.
Domestic violence-related incidents accounted for 12% of adult suicides in the state between 2005 and 2007.

Sexual Violence Facts - Utah

Rape is the only category of violent crime in Utah where the state average exceeds the national average.
The 2007 Rape in Utah survey found that nearly 1 in 3 women report experiencing some type of sexual assault during their lifetimes, but less than 12% of these crimes were reported to the police. Nearly 1 in 8 Utah women will be raped in their lifetimes, but less than 10% of those attacks will be reported to law enforcement.
The survey found that most sexual assaults were committed by male perpetrators who were known to the victim.
86.2% of victims were first assaulted before their 18th birthday.
The number of rapes reported to the police has remained the same in Utah since 2000, however the rate of rapes (adjusted for population) has decreased from 74 per 100,000 females in 2000 to 61 per 100,000 females in 2009.
The Utah Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey conducted in 2007 found that 13% of high school students reported having been hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend during the previous 12 months.

Domestic Violence Facts – USA

On average more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States. In 2005, 1,181 women were murdered by an intimate partner.
In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data collected in 2005 that finds that women experience two million injuries from intimate partner violence each year.
Nearly one in four women in the United States reports experiencing violence by a current or former spouse or boyfriend at some point in her life.
Women are much more likely than men to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner. Women are 84 percent of spouse abuse victims and 86 percent of victims of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or girlfriend and about three-fourths of the persons who commit family violence are male.
There were 248,300 rapes/sexual assaults in the United States in 2007, more than 500 per day, up from 190,600 in 2005. Women were more likely than men to be victims; the rate for rape/sexual assault for persons age 12 or older in 2007 was 1.8 per 1,000 for females and 0.1 per 1,000 for males.
15.5 million children in the United States live in families in which partner violence occurred at least once in the past year, and seven million children live in families in which severe partner violence occurred.
In a single day in 2008, 16,458 children were living in a domestic violence shelter or transitional housing facility. Another 6,430 children sought services at a non-residential program.
Women who have experienced domestic violence are 80 percent more likely to have a stroke, 70 percent more likely to have heart disease, 60 percent more likely to have asthma and 70 percent more likely to drink heavily than women who have not experienced intimate partner violence.

Sexual Violence Facts - USA

1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).
17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.
9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003.
While about 80% of all victims are white, minorities are somewhat more likely to be attacked, with American Indian and Alaska Native women experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence.12 Lifetime rate of rape /attempted rape for women by race:
- All women: 17.6%
- White women: 17.7%
- Black women: 18.8%
- Asian Pacific Islander women: 6.8%
- American Indian/Alaskan women: 34.1%
- Mixed race women: 24.4%
Young women age 20 to 24 experience the highest rates of rape and sexual assault, followed by those 16 to 19.
15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.
29% are age 12-17.
44% are under age 18.
80% are under age 30.
12-34 are the highest risk years.
Girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
Approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner – a figure that far exceeds victimization rates for other types of violence affecting youth.
Teen victims of physical dating violence are more likely than their non-abused peers to smoke, use drugs, engage in unhealthy diet behaviors (taking diet pills or laxatives and vomiting to lose weight), engage in risky sexual behaviors, and attempt or consider suicide.
About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. 2.78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.
Victims of sexual assault are
- 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
- 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
- 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
- 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
- 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.
Approximately 300,000 women and 92,000 men are forcibly raped each year in the U.S.
Among college students nationwide, between 20% and 25% of women reported experiencing a completed or attempted rape.
Of surveyed college women, about 90% of rape and sexual assault victims knew their attacker…prior to the assault.