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Female Victims of Violence

NCJ Number
228356
Author(s)
Shannan M. Catalano, PhD, BJS Statistician; Erica L. Smith, BJS Statistician; Howard N. Snyder, PhD, BJS Statistician; Michael R. Rand, BJS Statistician
Date Published
September 2009
Annotation

Provides the current findings on nonfatal and fatal violent crimes committed against females.

Abstract

Provides the current findings on nonfatal and fatal violent crimes committed against females. Data are from the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting Program's (UCR) Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR). The report focuses on intimate partner violence and stalking. It includes estimates of the extent of crimes against females and the characteristics of crimes and victims. Crime trends are also presented, along with comparative estimates of crimes against males.

Highlights
  • In 2008 the rate of intimate partner victimizations for females was 4.3 victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older. The equivalent rate of intimate partner violence against males was 0.8 victimizations per 1,000 males age 12 or older.
  • The rate of intimate partner violence against females declined 53% between 1993 and 2008, from 9.4 victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older to 4.3 per 1,000. Against males, the rate declined 54%, from 1.8 victimizations per 1,000 males age 12 or older to 0.8 per 1,000.
  • Between 1993 and 2007 the overall rate of female homicides fell 43% from 4.18 to 2.38 homicides per 100,000 female U.S. residents.

 

Date Modified: October 23, 2009

Added footnote on "Fatal intimate partner violence," page 2.
Asterisk was added to explain bullet on page 2 - Homicide data are voluntarily reported to the FBI by law enforcement agencies active in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Offender information (and, therefore, information on the victim-offender relationship) is missing for about 1 in 3 murders reported. This information is missing because either no offender was identified or information on the identified offender was not sent to the FBI. For this report, missing victim-offender relationships were estimated by assuming that the distribution of relationships in murders, for which the relationship was known, was the same as in murders for which the relationship information was missing.
Table 2. Revised the age at offense for percent of intimate partner violence by victims and defendants.

Date Published: September 30, 2009