Domestic violence has a profound effect on the lives of millions of victims. The following describes the tragic human costs associated with abusive relationships, and the spillover impact on the workplace.

Facts about domestic violence

• Ninety-five percent of reported cases of domestic violence involve a male batterer and a female victim. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)

• Conservative estimates indicate that each year 1 million women suffer nonfatal violence by an intimate partner. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (NCJ-154348), August 1995, p. 3.).
  
  
• By other estimates, 4 million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during an average 12-month period. (Source: Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, APA, 1996, p. 10)

• Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. (Source: Commonwealth Fund Survey, 1998)

• Of women who reported being raped and/or physically assaulted since the age of 18,
  three-quarters (76 percent) were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabitating
  partner, date or boyfriend. (Source: Prevalence Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, U.S.
  Department of Justice, November, 1998)

• The age group with the highest rate of domestic violence perpetrated against them is 16-24. Females between the ages of 25-34 come in a close second. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics)

• One-third of female victims of homicide were killed by their current or former husbands or boyfriends. (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report)

• In 2001 alone, more than 1,300 murders in the United States were committed by a spouse or intimate partner—this number equates to nearly four murders a day. (Source: FBI)

• A child’s exposure to the father abusing the mother is the strongest risk factor for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next. (Source: Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, APA, 1996)

• Battered women are 15 times more likely to be at risk for alcoholism than nonbattered women, and 9 times more likely to be at risk for drug abuse. (Source: Attorney General Task Force on Family Violence)

• Approximately one-fifth of patients treated in hospital emergency rooms are treated for injuries inflicted by someone with whom they have an intimate relationship. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Facts about domestic violence in the workplace

• Homicide by domestic partners is by far the most frequent manner in which women are fatally injured in the workplace. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)

• Domestic violence accounts for 27 percent of all incidents of violence in the workplace. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)

• Husbands and boyfriends commit 13,000 acts of violence against women in the workplace every year. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)

• A 1995 survey found that 94 percent of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security problem at their companies. (Source: National Safe Workplace Institute)

• One 1997 survey found that 56 percent of employees in domestic violence situations were late for work at least five times per month, 28 percent had to leave work early at least five times per month, and 54 percent missed at least three full days of work per month. (Source: EDK Associates)

• A comprehensive study done in 1992 found that 74 percent of employed battered women reported being harassed while at work by their abusive partners, in person or by telephone. (Source: Domestic Violence: An Occupational Impact Study)
  
  
• It is estimated that domestic violence costs employers $3-5 billion annually in the form of increased health care costs, absenteeism, reduced productivity, and related security costs. (Source: Bureau of National Affairs)