Rate of Family Violence Drops More Than One Half

The report Family Violence Statistics , released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics this past summer, compares family and nonfamily violence statistics from victimization through the different stages of the justice system. Family violence is defined as all types of violent crime committed by an offender who is related to the victim. It includes spousal abuse, parental violence against a child, and violence among other family members. Nonfamily relationships used for comparison include boyfriends and girlfriends, friends and acquaintances, and strangers. Data are drawn from victimization surveys, official police statistics, state and federal court statistics, and surveys of inmates in state prisons and local jails.

Family Violence Statistics showed that the rate of family violence fell by more than one-half between 1993 and 2002, from an estimated 5.4 victims to 2.1 victims per 2,000 U.S. residents 12 years and older, reflecting the general decline in crimes against people during the same period, the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced.

Family violence accounted for 11 percent of violent victimizations between 1998 and 2002. Of these offenses against family members, 49 percent were crimes against spouses, 11 percent parents attacking their children, and 41 percent between other family members.

Seventy-three percent of family violence victims were female, and 76 percent of persons who committed family violence were male. Simple assault was the most frequent type of family violence.

Drugs or alcohol was involved in 39 percent of family violence victimizations, and in 20 percent of family violence incidents, the offender had a weapon.

During the four-year period between 1998 to 2002, about four in ten family violence victimizations did not come to police attention. Thirty-four percent of victims who did not report said they did so because it was private or personal. Another 12 percent said they did not report it to protect the offender.

About one in five persons murdered in 2002 was killed by a family member. In all homicides that year, almost 9 percent were the killing of a spouse, 6 percent the murder of a son or daughter, and 7 percent the killing of another family member.

Fifty-eight percent of family murder victims were female, and 26 percent were under age 18. Among murdered children under age 13, 66 percent were killed by family members. The average age of a son or daughter killed by a parent was seven years old, and 80 percent were younger than 13.

Family Violence Statistics can be accessed at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/fvs.htm.