What is domestic violence?

 Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive or threatening behaviors used by one person against an intimate partner or family member in the household to gain power and control over the victim. It is about getting and keeping power and control over the other person in the relationship.  It most often refers to violence between married or cohabiting couples, although it sometimes refers to violence against other members of a household, such as children or elderly relatives.  It has been described as "a pattern of behavior in which one intimate partner uses physical violence, coercion, threats, intimidation, isolation and emotional, sexual or economic abuse to control and change the behavior of the other partner.⁵

It can happen to anyone of any age, income, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.

The Georgia Code Section defines Domestic Violence as any felony, battery, assault, stalking, criminal damage to property, unlawful restraint or criminal trespass between two past or present spouses, parents of the same child, parents & children, stepparents & stepchildren, foster parents & foster children, or other persons living or formerly living in the same household (O.C.G.A. 19-13-1).  

IPV(intimate partner violence) while similar to domestic violence doesn't require that the partners live at the same address and excludes violence between relatives (parent, child, sibling, grandparent, in-law, cousin.)  IPV is often a part of domestic violence.

Types of Abuse :

There are different types of abuse, but the underlying issues are power and control. The abuser may use all or some of these methods to stay in control and exert his power.

PHYSICAL ABUSE: Grabbing, shoving, slapping, pinching, hitting, hair pulling, biting, burning.; sabotaging birth control efforts, denying medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use. 

SEXUAL ABUSE: Coerced sexual contact without consent, marital rape, forced sex after a beating, attacking private parts of the body or treating another in a sexually demeaning manner; forcing the victim to perform sex acts on the Internet or on another person, taking sexually explicit photographs against a person’s will. Sexual assault, molestation and exposure to sexually explicit materials or situations of children are both sexual abuse and domestic violence.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE: Causing fear by intimidation, threatening physical harm to self, partner or children, destruction of pets and property, mind games or forcing isolation from friends, family, school or work.   Psychological abuse can also include financial and emotional abuse.

FINANCIAL ABUSE: Making or attempting to make a person financially dependant by withholding access to money and information about finances, forbidding employment or attendance in school, forcing employment or using money for  other coercive purposes. 

EMOTIONAL ABUSE: Undermining a person's sense of self-worth with constant criticism, belittling or name calling, playing mind games to try to convince you that you are crazy or using a medical condition like HIV-positive status as a means to control you, telling lies to try to damage your relationship with the children or threatening to take your them away.

National Domestic Violence Statistics

1 in 3 American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend.¹

Since 1976, each year about 30% of all female murder victims are killed by their intimate
partner.²

More than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.³

A national survey reported that 50% of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children.⁶

75% of battered women report that their children are also physically and/or sexually abused.³

14 calls a minute are made to Domestic Violence hotlines.

85% of domestic violence is committed by men against women.²

Immigrants and refugees experience violence at the same rates as other communities. However, immigrants and refugees experience increased barriers to services due to language barriers and fear about their immigration status.⁵

Women are more likely to be killed by their partner with a firearm than by all other means combined.⁷

 In one day, almost 9000 people who reached out for domestic violence services were turned away for lack of resources. Half of those were victims seeking emergency shelter or transitional housing.
That is 4500+ people who had no where to turn…every day.

Georgia Domestic Violence Statistics

From 2003-2009, over 834 Georgia citizens lost their lives due to domestic violence. 

In 42% of the cases studied through Georgia’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project, children were present during the killing.⁷

Research indicates that the presence of violence in the home can increase the likelihood that child maltreatment will also occur.⁸

Georgia was recently ranked 15th in the nation for its rate of men killing women. GA has been in the top 20 for all 10 years of the study.²

In one year, 3,315 victims of domestic abuse were turned away from shelters in Georgia due to a lack of available shelter beds.