There has been a sharp decline in violence between intimate partners, according to a federal analysis.
“From 1994 to 2011, the rate of serious intimate partner violence declined 72 percent for females and 64 percent for males,” said the November 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Statistics from a National Crime Victimization study were compiled on persons age 12 or older from a national sample of U.S. households.
According to the study, “Serious violence against females accounted for a similar percentage of intimate partner violence (35 percent) and non-intimate violence (34 percent).”
In addition, an estimated two-thirds of female and male intimate partners’ victimizations involved a physical attack between 2002 and 2011. The remaining third involved an attempted attack or verbal threat of harm.
During the 10-year period, eight percent of female intimate partner victimizations involved some form of sexual violence during the incident.
The study shows about four percent of females and eight percent of males were “shot at, stabbed or hit with a weapon” between 2002 and 2011.
“During the most recent 10-year period (2002-11), aggravated assault accounted for the largest percentage of serious intimate partner violence experienced by females (16 percent), while rape or sexual assault (10 percent) and robbery (nine percent) contributed a similar percentage,” the study said.
The study also found “Serious violent crime accounted for 39 percent of intimate partner violence committed against males. As for females, aggravated assault (22 percent) accounted for the largest percentage of serious intimate partner violence against males. However, 16 percent of intimate violence against males was comprised of robbery, while rape or sexual assault accounted for the smallest percentage of intimate partner violence experienced by males (about 1 percent).”
Statistics in the study confirm 27 percent of male’s intimate partner victimization act of violence involved the use of a weapon compared to 18 percent for females.
In that same 10-year period, an object held in the hand of or thrown by an intimate partner accounted for five percent of female victimized and 19 percent of the males.
The study shows 50 percent of the females victimized by an intimate partner suffered some type of injury throughout this 10-year period, compared to 44 percent for males.
“From 2002 to 2011, a greater percentage of female (13 percent) than male (five percent) intimate partner victimizations resulted in a serious injury such as internal injury, unconsciousness or broken bones,” the study revealed.
It was also reported, “An average of 18 percent of females and 11 percent of males were medically treated for injury sustained during intimate partner violent victimization during 2002-2011.”
“Of the 3,032 homicide incidents involving females in 2010 39 percent were committed by an intimate, 37 percent were committed by a non-intimate and 24 percent by an unknown offender.”
The majority of homicides recorded by the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report involved male victims. A larger percentage of females than males were murdered by an intimate partner when the offender relationship was known.
In 2010, a reported 10,878 homicides involved males. Statistics show three percent of those murders were committed by an intimate partner, 48 percent by a non-intimate.
Figures in the study show an unknown assailant committed 50 percent of those homicides.
A larger percentage of females were physically attacked when victimized by an intimate partner (67 percent) than by a non-intimate offender (40 percent).