"...One in four women in the UK will experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetimes..."

Did you know over two women per week are killed by current or ex-partners, and that one in four women in the UK will experience domestic violence in their lifetime?

• On average 2 women a week are killed by a male partner or former partner: this constitutes around one-third of all female homicide victims.
(Povey, (ed.), 2004, 2005; Home Office, 1999; Department of Health, 2005.)

• Domestic violence accounts for between 16% and one quarter of all recorded violent crime.
(Home Office, 2004; Dodd et al., 2004; BCS, 1998; Dobash and Dobash, 1980)

• One incident is reported to the police every minute.
(Stanko, 2000)

• One in four women and one in six men will be a victim of domestic violence in their life time.

45% women and 26% men had experienced at least one incident of inter-personal violence in their lifetimes.
(Walby and Allen, 2004)

• In any one year, there are 13 million separate incidents of physical violence or threats of violence against women from partners or former partners.
(Walby and Allen, 2004)

• Women are much more likely than men to be the victim of multiple incidents of abuse, and of sexual violence: 32% of women who had ever experienced domestic violence did so four or five (or more) times, compared with 11% of the (smaller number) of men who had ever experienced domestic violence; and women constituted 89% of all those who had experienced 4 or more incidents of domestic violence.
(Walby and Allen, 2004)

• Women are more likely than men to have experienced all types of intimate violence (partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking) since the ages of 16. And nearly half the woman who had experienced intimate violence of any kind, were likely to have been victims of more than one kind of intimate abuse.
(Coleman et al., 2007)

• 54% of UK rapes are committed by a woman’s current or former partner.
(Walby and Allen, 2004)

• 500 women a year commit suicide due to domestic violence

International statistics
• Partner violence accounts for a high proportion of homicides of women internationally: between 40% - 70% of female murder victims (depending on the country) were killed by their partners/former partners, whereas the comparable figure for men is 4% - 8%. (Krug et al. 2002)

• Domestic violence is internationally acknowledged to be one of the health inequalities affecting women particularly, and forms a significant obstacle to their receiving effective health care.
(World Health Organisation, 1997; United Nations,1993).

Calls to the National Domestic Violence Helpline
• The Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline (run in partnership between Women’s Aid and Refuge) received just over a quarter of million calls during its first 12 months.

• During 2006-7, the National Helpline answered an average of 387 calls per day: 500 a day on weekdays, 250 on Saturdays and 200 on Sundays.

Impact of Domestic Violence on Children
• At least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence.
(Department of Health, 2002).

• Children who live with domestic violence are at increased risk of behavioural problems and emotional trauma, and mental health difficulties in adult life.
(Kolbo, et al., 1996; Morley and Mullender, 1994; Hester et al., 2000)

• Nearly three quarters of children on the 'at risk' register live in households where domestic violence occurs and 52% of child protection cases involving domestic violence.
(Department of Health, 2002; Farmer and Owen, 1995).

• In 75% to 90% of incidents of domestic violence, children are in the same or the next room.
(Hughes, 1992; Abrahams, 1994).

• The link between child physical abuse and domestic violence is high, with estimates ranging between 30% to 66% depending upon the study
(Hester et al, 2000; Edleson, 1999; Humphreys & Thiara, 2002).

• 70% of children living in UK refuges have been abused by their father.
(Bowker et al., 1998)

• 46% of respondents knew of cases where a violent parent had used contact proceedings to track down his partner.
(Saunders with Barron 2003).

• 29 children in 13 families were killed between 1994 and 2004 as a result of contact arrangements in England and Wales, 10 of them since 2002. In five of these families contact was ordered by the court.
(Saunders, 2004)

Nature and Impact
• A study of 200 women’s experiences of domestic violence commissioned by Women’s Aid, found that 60% of the women had left because they feared that they or their children would be killed by the perpetrator.
(Humphreys & Thiara, 2002).
 
• Women are at greatest risk of homicide at the point of separation or after leaving a violent partner.
Lees, 2000).

• In a study by Shelter, 40% of all homeless women stated that domestic violence was a contributor to their homelessness. Domestic violence was found to be “the single most quoted reason for becoming homeless”
(Cramer and Carter, 2002).