What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner.

Forms of Domestic Violence:

Physical Abuse - includes slapping, shoving, kicking, biting, choking, using a weapon, spitting, pushing to the ground, arm-twisting, hair pulling, and starving

Emotional Abuse - includes name-calling, intimidation or threats, isolation from family and/or friends, restriction or control over activities, degradation, and humiliation

Sexual Abuse - includes forced sexual activities, flaunting of extramarital affairs, sexual harassment, and forced pornography

Economic Abuse - includes controlling the finances, preventing or prohibiting the victim from working, restricting the victim from getting an education or obtaining work skills, and preventing access to money

Destruction Of Property Or Harm To Pets - includes destroying the victim’s property or favorite objects, and hurting or killing the victim’s beloved animals

Isolation - includes locking victims in the house; concealing her identity documents, like passport, Green Card, and educational certificates; and not allowing her to communicate with her family

Facts on Domestic Violence
There are many myths about domestic violence, but these are the facts about domestic violence in the United States:

• • 1 IN 4 WOMEN, 1 IN 9 MEN IN UNITED STATES ARE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIVES
• • 4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during a 12-month period.
• • 1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused.
• • 30% of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her partner in the past year.
• • Women of all races are equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate partner.
• • In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5% of the murders of women.