The Big Picture

What domestic violence ISN'T – a male/female power struggle!

This crime affects not only the victim and abuser but also all those around the couple; children, parents, neighbors, friends, employers, fellow employees, society at large, etc.

• 85% of batterers learn how to use violence in their own home.

• 50% correlation between domestic violence and child abuse

• 30–50% of female homicide victims killed by intimates, past or present. Males seldom killed within this context.

• 30% of females seen in ERs are there because of domestic violence (AMA).

• Kids in homes are 1000x more likely to abuse as adults. Recent research from American Psychological Association confirms this study.

• Kids kill themselves at 6x the national rate.

• Domestic violence victims kill themselves at 6x the rate of other women.

• Nearly 75% of all “hostage situations” involve a perpetrator who has issues of domestic violence and job/career threatening problems.

• Kids are 74% more likely to commit crimes against other people and 24x as likely to commit rape or sexual assault.

• Witnessing domestic violence increases drug/alcohol abuse/teenage pregnancies.

• #1 cause of death of women in the workplace is murder usually stemming from domestic violence. Others die as well.

• Cost to US businesses? Between 5 and 8 billion dollars!

Who do you think pays the tab?

Does any of us really believe that we get “crooks” because they crawl out from under a rock fully formed and say, “I think I'll commit crime?”

How many prisons do we want to build and pay for?

-Taken from Training on Preventing Domestic Violence with Sergeant Anne O'Dell