Family Violence Statistics

Family violence reported to policeState prosecution of family assaultApproximately 60% of family violencevictimizations were reported to policebetween 1998 and 2002. The reportingrate among female victims was notsignificantly greater than the reportingrate among male victims.Of the approximately 1,500 defendantscharged with felony assault during May2000 in the State courts of 11 largecounties, about a third were chargedwith family violence.The most common reason victims offamily violence cited for not reportingthe crime to police was that the incidentwas a "private/personal matter" (34%).Another 12% of non-reporting familyviolence victims did not report the crimein order to "protect the offender."Among the 2.1 million incidents offamily violence reported to policebetween 1998 and 2002, 36% resultedin an arrest.Family violence recorded by policeAmong felony assault defendantscharged with family violence in Statecourts, 84% had at least one prior arrestfor either a felony or a misdemeanor(not necessarily for family violence),and 73% had been previously convictedof some type of felony or misdemeanor(not necessarily family violence).Nearly half of felony assault defendantscharged with family violence werereleased pending case disposition.2 Family Violence StatisticsPersons suspected of domesticviolence made up 4% of the total18,653 Federal suspects referred toU.S. attorneys for alleged violent crimesfrom 2000 to 2002.Of the 757 suspects referred to U.S.attorneys for domestic violenceoffenses between 2000 and 2002, mostwere firearm-related domestic violenceoffenses rather than interstate domesticviolence offenses. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives accountedfor 80% of all referrals for firearmrelated domestic violence. The FBI accounted for 72% of allAmong the 1,500 felony assault cases,interstate domestic violence referrals.the probability of the case leading toconviction (felony or misdemeanor) wasFederal courts convicted 90% of defengreater for family assault defendantsdants adjudicated for an interstate(71%) than nonfamily assault defendomestic violence offense.dants (61%).Family violence accounted for 33% ofall violent crimes recorded by police in18 States and the District of Columbiain 2000. Of these more than 207,000family violence crimes, about half (53%, State courts sentenced 83% of personsconvicted of assault (both family andor 110,000) were crimes betweennonfamily) to either prison or jail.spouses.Among felony assault defendantsconvicted in State courts —Among crimes recorded by police, 2%of family violence involved a firearm, 68% of incarceration sentencescompared to 6% of nonfamily violence.for family assault were to jailA weapon was used in 16% of familyand 21% of nonfamily violence. 62% of incarceration sentencesfor nonfamily assault were to prisonAbout 6% of all violent crime recordedby police in 2000 involved more than 45% of persons sent to prison forone offender victimizing a lone victim.family assault received a sentence ofThe exception was stranger crime, inmore than 2 years, compared to 77%which 14% of incidents involved multiof nonfamily assault offenders sent tople offenders victimizing a lone victim.prison.About 49% of family violence crimesrecorded by police resulted in an arrest.Males comprised 77% of suspectedfamily violence offenders arrested in2000.Federal prosecution of domesticviolenceAmong defendants convicted in federalcourts — 79% of convictions were the productof a guilty plea, and the remaining21% were the product of convictionfollowing a trial most were male (96%), under age 40(67%), white (72%), and non-Hispanic(95%) 4 in 5 defendants had a prior adultconviction.Of 47 Federal defendants sentenced foran interstate domestic violence offensebetween 2000 and 2002, 91% receiveda prison term with a median length of 60months.

Family violence offenders in prisonOf the nearly 500,000 men and womenin State prisons for a violent crime in1997, 15% were there for a violentcrime against a family member.Nearly half of all the family violenceoffenders in State prisons were servinga sentence for a sex offense against afamily member. More than threequarters of parents convicted of aviolent crime against their son or daughter were in prison for a sex offense.Of the crimes for which family violenceoffenders were in prison —About 90% of offenders in State prisons Family violence offenders in jailfor family violence had injured theirvictim:Convicted family violence offendersmade up about 22% of the nearly 50% of family violence victims were86,500 convicted violent offenders inraped or sexually assaultedlocal jails in 2002. Most (60%) of theseapproximately 18,700 jail inmates incar 28% of the victims of family violencecerated for family violence were in jailwere killedfor an aggravated assault. 50% of offenders in State prisons forspousal abuse had killed their victims Of State prison inmates imprisonedfor a crime against their son or daughter, 79% had raped or sexuallyassaulted the child, and another 10%had killed the child.Local jail inmates convicted of familyviolence reported that — their victims were predominantlyfemale (79%) nearly 30% of their victims wereunder age 18. most were against a female (78%) more than half were against a childunder age 18 more than a third were against achild under age 13.Among family violence offenders inState prisons in 1997 — most were male (93%) 6 out of 10 were white, while about aquarter were black about 80% were between ages 25and 54.Among offenders whose incarcerationin State prisons was for family violence,23% had used a weapon to committheir crime. The comparable percentageamong State prisoners incarcerated fornonfamily violence was higher— 46%.Among local jail inmates convicted offamily violence, 55% injured their victim.Most convicted jail inmates serving timefor violence against a family member(88%) did not use a weapon during thecrime.Among jail inmates convicted of familyviolence, 45% had been subject to arestraining order at some point in theirlife. About 18% were under an activerestraining order at the time of admission to jail.Family Violence Statistics 3

adoptive-grandparent; in-law; or otherrelative (aunt, uncle, nephew).DefinitionsViolent crime Unless indicated otherwise, statistics on violent crime in thisreport pertain to all forms of the following crimes: criminal homicide,completed and attempted rape, sexualassault (including threats), robbery,assault (including threats), kidnaping,intimidation, illegal abortion, extortion,cruelty towards child or wife, hit-and-rundriving with bodily injury, and miscellaneous crimes against persons (asopposed to crimes against property).Nonfamily violence Unless indicatedotherwise, nonfamily violence includesall types of violent crime betweencurrent or former boyfriends andgirlfriends; between current or formerfriends and acquaintances; andbetween strangers.Relationship of victim to offender Thedatabases used in this report all containsufficient information to permit identification of family violence cases.Family violence Unless indicated other- However, the types of information thatmake identification possible are notwise, family violence includes all typesuniform. Some provide more relationof violent crime committed by anship categories than others. Foroffender who is related to the victimexample, the Supplemental Homicideeither biologically or legally throughmarriage or adoption. A crime is consid- Reports provides 28 different categories of victim-offender relationship, whileered family violence if the victim wasthe offender’s current or former spouse; the National Crime Victimization Surveyhas 15 categories. Also, the databasesparent or adoptive parent; current oruse different terms to describe specificformer stepparent; legal guardian;victim-offender relationships. Forbiological or adoptive child; current orexample, one uses the categoryformer stepchild; sibling; current orformer step sibling; grandchild; current “employee/employer,” while anotheror former step- or adoptive-grandchild; uses “colleague at work.”grandparent; current or former step- orData documenting the flow of family violence cases through the justice systemCrimeCrimereportedto policeCrimerecordedby rrectionsState Court ProcessingNational IncidentStatistics (BJS)Based ReportingSystem (FBI)Federal JusticeSupplementaryStatistics Program (BJS)Homicide Reports (FBI)National CrimeVictimization Survey (BJS)Figure 14 Family Violence StatisticsSurvey of Inmatesin State and FederalCorrectionalFacilities (BJS)Survey of Inmatesin Local Jails (BJS)In general, enough information wasavailable in each of the databases todistinguish six categories of victimoffender relationship: three familycategories (spouse, son or daughter,and other family), and three nonfamilycategories (boyfriend/girlfriend, friend/acquaintance, and stranger). Mostsections of the report present statisticson all six categories.Sources of data on family violenceNational Crime Victimization Survey(a BJS survey)One data source used to document thenature and extent of family violence inthe United States is the BJS NationalCrime Victimization Survey, or NCVS,for 1998 to 2002. The NCVS compilesdata on family and nonfamily violencethrough biannual interviews with nationally representative samples of U.S.residents age 12 or older. In these interviews, residents are asked if they werea recent victim of crime. Those whowere victims are then asked numerousquestions about the incident, such aswhere it occurred and whether theyknew the offender. Residents areencouraged to tell interviewers bothabout crimes that were reported topolice and about unreported crimes.Because the survey data come frominterviews with victims, the NCVS hasno information on homicide. Thesurvey’s scope is limited to certainforms of nonfatal violence: rape andsexual assault, robbery, aggravatedassault, and simple assault. Based oninterviews with the Nation’s crimevictims, estimates are formed not onlyof how many of these crimes occureach year but also of the characteristicspertaining to the criminal incidents.Such characteristics include the numberof victims that obtained medical care fortheir injuries, the number that reportedthe crime to police, and the numberwhose assailant was a relative.

Supplementary Homicide Reports(an FBI database)State Court Processing Statistics(a BJS data collection)For national statistics on familyhomicide for the year 2002, the sourceused in this report was the FBI'sSupplementary Homicide Reports, orSHR. The FBI compiles detailednational data on family and nonfamilyhomicide from the thousands of lawenforcement agencies across theNation. For each criminal homicide, theSHR record such information as theage and race of the offender, therelationship of the victim to the offender,and the type of weapon used in thekilling.No national data in the United Statesdescribe the processing of familyviolence cases from arrest through finaldisposition by a court. The availablealternative used in this report is anextract of the BJS data collection StateCourt Processing Statistics (SCPS).The SCPS data used are entirely frompolice and court records that trackedfamily and nonfamily assault cases in11 counties, from the filing of Statecourt charges in May of 2000 to theirfinal court disposition. These datainclude information about personsarrested and charged with family andnonfamily assault: their demographiccharacteristics, their prior arrest andconviction record, and their criminaljustice status at time of arrest. TheSCPS data also contain informationabout the processing of the assaultcases, such as type of pretrial release,adjudication outcome, and type ofsentence imposed.National Incident-Based ReportingSystem (an FBI database)For statistics on family violence thatcomes to police attention and for statistics on arrests for family violence, thesource used in this report is thedatabase for the year 2000 from theNational Incident-Based ReportingSystem, or NIBRS. The database,compiled by the FBI, contains NIBRSdata from at least 1 police agency ineach of 18 States and the District ofColumbia. These jurisdictions coverabout 16% of the U.S. population anddo not include any areas with a population of one million or more.Administrative Office of the UnitedStates Courts, the United StatesSentencing Commission, and theFederal Bureau of Prisons.Survey of Inmates in State and FederalCorrectional Facilities (a BJS survey)For national statistics on persons inprison for family violence, this reportused the BJS Survey of Inmates inState and Federal CorrectionalFacilities, conducted in 1997. Thesurvey involves face-to-face interviewswith a nationally representative sampleof State prisoners. Persons in prison foreither family or nonfamily violence areincluded in the sample. Through interviews with them, information is obtainedon their victims and on numerous othercharacteristics of the crime that broughtthem into prison, such as whether aweapon was used, and the location ofthe offense.Survey of Inmates in Local Jails(a BJS survey)Federal Justice Statistics Program(a BJS database)For statistics on inmates who wereconvicted of family violence andsentenced to a period of incarcerationof less than 1 year, the source used inInformation regarding violations offamily violence-related Federal statutes this report is the BJS Survey of Inmatesin Local Jails. This is a periodic surveythat were subsequently referred towhich describes the current offensesFederal court come from the Federaland offense characteristics of local jailJustice Statistics Program (FJSP), aThe NIBRS data have information oninmates. Most recently conducted indatabase maintained by the Bureau ofvictims, offenders, persons arrested,Justice Statistics. FJSP provides annual 2002, face-to-face interviews wereand incidents of family and nonfamilyconducted with a nationally representadata on workload, activities, andviolence. For example, information ontive sample of local jail inmates tooutcomes associated with Federalvictims includes the type of injurycollect systematic information on thiscriminal cases. Data for 2000 to 2002sustained and the victim’s relationshipspecial correctional population.were acquired on all aspects ofto the offender. Among the variousQuestions were asked regarding theprocessing in the Federal justicedetails available on offenders and arres- system, including the number ofrelationship of the victim to the incarcertees are their age, race, and gender.ated offender, the gender, race/persons investigated, prosecuted,Offense characteristics available in the convicted, and incarcerated. The FJSP Hispanic origin, and age of victims andNIBRS data include the type of weapon database is a BJS database,offenders, injury to the victim, offenderused and the type of location where the constructed from files provided by theuse of a weapon, offender substanceuse at the time of the crime, and theU.S. Marshals Service, the Executivecrime occurred.Office for United States Attorneys, theplace at which the crime occurred.Family Violence Statistics 5

Uniform counting rulesIncidents of crime vary depending onthe number of offenders, number ofoffenses committed, and number ofvictims. For instance, in a singleincident where two men rape and rob awoman, there are two offenders, fouroffenses (a rape and a robbery committed by each man), and a single victim.Such an incident differs from one inwhich a lone man assaults anotherindividual. That incident involves oneoffender, one offense, and one victim.Likewise, if an incident involved morethan one victim and the databasecontained information (such as thevictim’s age, race, and gender) on morethan one victim, victim statistics used inthe analysis were based on just one ofthe victims.Selecting the husband over the strangerto characterize the incident conforms toa rule adopted for this report that saysto select whichever offender is highestin the following victim-to-offenderrelationship hierarchy (shown in orderfrom highest to lowest, with columnheadings in italics):Certain databases used in the report —SpouseNCVS, SHR, and NIBRS — werespouse and common-law spousevictim-based. Choosing a particularex-spousevictim to characterize an incident wasSon or daughterunnecessary with these databases.Other data collections used in the reportchild— Survey of Inmates in State andstepchildFederal Correctional Facilities andOther familyThe various databases used in thisreport are not uniform in the amount of Survey of Inmates in Local Jails — were parent and stepparentoffender-based. Choosing a particularsibling and step-siblinginformation they contain about eachgrandchildincident of crime. One of the databases offender to characterize an incident wasunnecessary with these sources.grandparent(NIBRS) contains information on virtuin-lawsally every offender, every victim, andWherechoiceshadtobemadeaboutother relativeevery offense in an incident. The otherdatabases contain less information. For which offender, which offense, or which Boyfriend or girlfriendboy/girlfriendexample, offender characteristics avail- victim characterized an incident, thechoices were guided by various hierarex-boy/girlfriendable in the prisoner database pertainchies. Information about the hierarchieshomosexual partneronly to each individual incarceratedis summarized below.Friend or acquaintanceoffender. The incident that resulted inchild of girl or boyfriendthat person’s incarceration may havefriendinvolved multiple offenders, but informa- In choosing a particular offender toneighborcharacterize an incident, the choice wastion on co-offenders was unavailable.employerguided by the victim’s relationship to theemployeeoffender. For example, in a singleTo improve the comparability of statisacquaintanceincident in which a woman wastics across the databases, rules werebabysitteeadopted to guide tabulations. All statis- assaulted by her husband and aotherwise knowntics in this report — that is, statistics on stranger, the incident was treated as , on offenses, and on victimsstrangerstatistics for such an incident (such as— follow the rule that each incident beNot included in analysisage, race, and gender) thereforetreated as though it involved onerelationship unknownpertained solely to the characteristics ofoffender, one offense, and one victim.the husband; characteristics of thestranger were not tabulated.If an incident involved more than oneoffender and information (such as age,race, and gender) was available onmore than one offender, the availabledata on just one of the offenders weretabulated. Similarly, if an incidentinvolved more than one offense andinformation on the different offenses(such as the place where eachoccurred) was available, only the dataon one of the offenses were counted.6 Family Violence Statistics

When it was necessary to choose asingle victim to characterize an incident,the victim-offender relationship hierarchy was also used. Again, the chosenvictim was the one highest in thehierarchy.As noted earlier, each incidenttabulated in this report was treated ashaving one offender, one offense, andone victim. Each incident was alsotreated as having one offense location,one victim injury (if any), one weaponinvolved (if any), one arrestee (if any),and one arrest offense (if any). TheIn choosing a particular offense tocharacterize an incident, the choice was characteristic’s position in a hierarchydetermined which characteristic (forguided by the offense’s position in aexample, which injury) was tabulated.hierarchy of offense seriousness. TheThe characteristic with the highestoffense highest in the hierarchy wasposition was chosen.selected to characterize the incident.For example, in a single incident wherethe victim was raped and murdered, the Listed in order from highest to lowest,the offense location hierarchy is in tableoffense selected to characterize theincident was murder because murder is 5.2; victim injury hierarchy, table 8.4;offender weapon use hierarchy, tablehigher in the offense seriousness5.6; and arrest offense hierarchy, tablehierarchy than rape. The offense5.8. The arrestee hierarchy is the sameseriousness hierarchy (from most toleast serious) generally corresponds to as the victim-to-offender relationshipthe offense list shown in table 5.1.hierarchy described above.Family Violence Statistics 7

Family violence offenders in prisonAbout the data in this sectionStatistics in this section pertain toviolent offenders in State prisonsnationwide in 1997. The statistics werebased on State prisoner data from theBJS Survey of Inmates in State andFederal Correctional Facilities, 1997.(Federal prisoner data were notincluded in these analyses.) The surveyinvolved face-to-face interviews with anationally representative sample ofprison inmates.Inmates in State prison for familyviolenceType of violent crime for whichoffenders were imprisonedOf the 458,148 men and women inState prisons nationwide for a violentcrime in 1997, 14.6% were there for aviolent crime against a member of theirfamily (table 8.1). The remaining 85.4%were men and women whose violentcrime was against a nonfamily member.The leading type of violent crime forwhich family violence offenders were inState prisons was a sex offense. Sexoffenders were nearl

Arrest rate by offense (table 4.7) Family violence recorded by police. 29 About the data in this section Offense type (table 5.1) Offense location (table 5.2) Victim demographics (table 5.3) Victim injury (table 5.4) Offender demographics (table 5.5) Offender weapon use (table 5.6) Number of victims and offenders (table 5.7) Arrests by offense .