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Women age 16 to 24 are most vulnerable
to intimate partner violence, according to a
new report released by the U.S. Department of
Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS). Intimate Partner Violence and Age of
Victim, 1993-99 provides statistical information
on the prevalence of domestic violence and the
characteristics of victims of abuse. The report
examines victims’ age and gender, finding
that women are more likely to be victims of
domestic violence than men, and women in their
late teens and early twenties are more likely
to experience abuse than women of other ages.
“The report
confirms that domestic violence and domestic
homicide are primarily crimes against women,
and that young women are at great risk for domestic
violence,” said Family Violence Prevention
Fund Executive Director Esta Soler. “As
a nation, we need to allocate resources to stop
teen dating violence and ensure that comprehensive
services are available to every woman –
regardless of age – who is abused. We
need a commitment to educate girls about how
to protect themselves from relationship violence
and to teach boys that violence against girls
and women is always wrong.”
Intimate Partner
Violence, written by Callie Marie Rennison,
PhD, is based on the findings of the National
Criminal Victimization Survey (NCVS) data collected
by the BJS and homicide data collected by the
FBI. The NCVS collects information about crimes
that are both reported to the police and not
reported, and provides information on the frequency,
characteristics and consequences of criminal
victimization.
Intimate
Partner Violence
Intimate partner
violence is widespread, and women are the victims
of abuse more often than men are. In 1999, 671,110
women were the victims of domestic violence,
according to Intimate Partner Violence. Eight-five
percent of all victims of intimate partner violence
were women, while 15 percent (120,100) were
men. Intimate partner violence against women
most often took the form of simple assault (66
percent), rape or sexual assault (14 percent),
or aggravated assault (10 percent).
Intimate Partner
Violence notes that between 1993 and 1999, there
was a nationwide decrease in crime. The rate
of intimate violence against women also declined,
but to a lesser extent, during the period. From
1993 to 1999, intimate partner violence against
women decreased by 41 percent, from 1.1 million
women in 1993 to 671,110 in 1999.
Intimate
Partner Violence and Age
The rates of
intimate partner violence “differ greatly”
depending on the age of the victim, according
to the report. Women between the ages of 16
and 24 are nearly three times more vulnerable
to intimate partner violence (excluding intimate
partner homicide) than women in other age groups.
In 1999, the overall rate of intimate partner
violence against women was 5.8 victimizations
per 1,000 women, but the rate was 15.6 per 1,000
women for those aged 16 to 24.
The higher rate
of intimate partner violence exists regardless
of young women’s marital status, notes
Intimate Partner Violence. Women between the
ages of 20 and 24 were victimized at a higher
rate than older women, regardless of marital
status. In general, the report adds, women who
are separated experienced intimate partner violence
at rates “significantly higher”
than women in any other marital category. Separated
women age 20 to 34 had the highest average rates
of intimate partner violence of women in any
age group.
The pattern
of younger women being most vulnerable to victimization
was consistent across racial lines as well,
Intimate Partner Violence finds. The rate of
intimate partner violence peaked for both white
and African American women between the ages
of 20 and 24. The rate of intimate partner violence
for Hispanic women peaked between the ages of
16 and 34.
Intimate
Partner Homicide
Male murder
victims were “substantially less likely”
than female victims to have been killed by an
intimate partner, finds the report. Intimate
partner homicide accounted for 32 percent of
the murders of women in 1999 and approximately
four percent of the murders of men. In 1999,
1,642 people were killed by intimates and three
in four victims were women. Of the victims,
74 percent (1,218) were female and 26 percent
(424) were male.
While women
in their teens and early twenties have the highest
rate of intimate partner violence, women between
the ages of 35 and 49 are “the most vulnerable”
to intimate partner homicide, according to the
report. Between 1993 and 1999, intimate partner
homicides made up 32 percent of the homicides
of women between the ages of 20 and 24, compared
with nearly 40 percent of the homicides of women
between the ages of 35 and 49. In 1999, women
in this age group were murdered by an intimate
partner at rates greater than women in any other
age group.
But the report
notes that woman between the ages of 20 and
34 also had high rates of intimate partner homicide.
Young women (age 12 to 15) and women over age
50 experienced the lowest homicide rates among
females. However, in every age category, women
are more likely than men to be murdered by an
intimate partner.
Intimate Partner
Violence is available on the Bureau of Justice
Statistics’ web site. Copies of the report
also can be ordered through the BJS clearinghouse
number, 800/732-3277.
Source:
Intimate Partner Violence
http://www.endabuse.org
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