Domestic Violence Facts: MASSACHUSETTS

By: NCADV
 www.ncadv.org/files/Massachusetts.pdf

• One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.1 One in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.2
• An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.3
• The majority (73%) of family violence victims are female. Females were 84% of spousal abuse victims and 86% of abuse victims at the hands of a boyfriend.4
• The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year, $4.1 billion of which is for direct medical and mental health services.5
• Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.6
• More than 33,000 women and children were served by community-based domestic violence programs in Massachusetts in 2005.7
• The statewide domestic violence hotline, SafeLink, answered 21,637 domestic violence calls in 2006.7 
• There were 28 victims killed in domestic violence related incidents and 24 incidents of domestic
  violence related homicide in 2006.7
• There were fifteen victims of domestic homicide in only the first half of 2006, which was equal to the total killed in 2005.
• There were 28,760 protection orders issued in Massachusetts in 2005.7
• 82% of the perpetrators were male.7
• During this same period, 4,347 adults (88% of whom were male) were arraigned for violating orders for protection.7
• There were 2,582 incidents of sexual assault in Massachusetts between July 1, 2005 and June 30,
  2006.8
• 1,742 of these cases were forcible rape.9

 RESOURCES:
1 Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (2000). Extent, Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention
2 U.S. Department of Justice. (November 1998). Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women.
3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2003). Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta, GA: National Centers for Injury Prevention and Control.
4 Bureau of Justice Statistics. (June, 2005). Family Violence Statistics. U.S. Department of Justice.
5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2003). Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta, GA: National Centers for Injury Prevention and Control.
6 Strauss, Gelles, & Smith. (1990). Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families. Transaction Publishers.
7Jane Doe Inc. (2007). DVAM 2006 Statistics– Massachusetts. Boston, MA: The Massachusetts Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
8 Center for Family and Community Health. (January 2007). Rape and Sexual Assault in Massachusetts, 2005-2006: Services Provided by Rape Crisis Programs. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Violence and Injury Prevention. Retrieved on October 19, 2007, from http://www.mass.gov/dph/fch/violnece/January2007
9Massachusetts Law Enforcement Agency. (2007). Uniform Crime Report, 2006. Boston, MA. Retrieved on October 19, 2007, from http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/macrime.html
10The Family Violence Prevention Fund. (May 2005). The Facts on Children and Domestic Violence. Retrieved on October 23, 2007, from http://www.endabuse.org/resources/facts/Children.pdf