Domestic Violence 101

Domestic violence crosses all age, ethnic, socioeconomic, religious, and educational boundaries.  There are doctors, ministers, psychologists, police, attorneys, judges, and other professionals who beat their partners. Battering also occurs in same gender relationships.

Domestic violence is virtually impossible to measure with absolute precision due to numerous complications including the societal stigma that inhibits victims from disclosing their abuse and the varying definitions of abuse used from study to study. Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend per year to 3.9 million women who are physically abused per year.  Thirty percent of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year.

Abusive relationships can be defined as a relationship in which one partner uses a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors to maintain power and control over the other partner.  This includes couples who are married or unmarried, gay or straight.  Types of abuse can include physical, emotional, social, economic, and sexual aspects.