• 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime
• 1 in 5 high school girls reports being physically assaulted and/or sexually abused by a dating partner
• 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime
  
  

Domestic Violence

• According to the FBI, a woman is beaten in this country every 15 seconds.
• Each year, intimate partner violence results in an estimated 1,200 deaths and 2 million injuries among women and nearly 600,000 injuries among men.
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women ages 15-44 in the United States - more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined.
• Almost one-third of female homicide victims that are reported in police records are killed by an intimate partner.
• Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.
• Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children as adults.
• 50% of girls who grow up in an abusive home will go on to be victims of abuse themselves.
• Domestic violence is the leading predictor of child abuse - 30 to 60 percent of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household.
• Family violence costs the nation from $5 to $10 billion annually in medical expense, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity.
• The annual cost of lost productivity due to domestic violence is estimated as $727.8 million, with more than 7.9 million paid workdays lost each year.
• Every year domestic violence results in almost 100,000 days of hospitalization, almost 30,000 emergency room visits, and almost 40,000 visits to a physician according to WomenKind Inc.
  
  

Sexual Assault

• 17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.
• 60 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police.
• College age women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted.
• 15 percent of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.
• Victims of sexual assault are 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.
• More than 50% of all sexual assaults involved acquaintances or friends. A close person friend, family member, or family friend is the offender in 14% of cases reported.
• In 71% of sexual assaults, the offender made a plan to sexually assault a person or a specific person. The offender often takes advantage of a person in a vulnerable situation.
• 90% of all sexual assaults involve threats of physical harm or the actual use of physical force.
  
  

Abuse in Texas

• In 2006, there were nearly 187,000 incidents of family violence in Texas.
• 120 Texas women were killed by their intimate partner in 2006.
• More than 226,000 children and 104,000 adults become victims of sexual assault every year in Texas.
• Statewide 12,000 adults and 17,000 children received shelter from abuse in 2006.
• According to a 2002 study from the Texas Council on Family Violence, 74 percent of all Texans have either experienced family violence themselves or have a family member or friend who has experienced family violence.

Definitions of Domestic Violence

"Family Violence" is defined in the Texas Family Code (Section 71.004) as (1) An act by a member of a family or household against another member of the family or household that is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault or that is a threat the reasonably places the member in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, but does not included defensive measures to protect oneself; (2) Abuse by a member of a family or household toward a child of the family or household; or (3) Dating violence as defined by Section 71.0021.

"Dating Violence" is defined in the Texas Family Code (Section 71.0021) as (a) "Dating violence" means an act by an individual that is against another individual with whom that person has or has had a dating relationship and that is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault or that is a threat that reasonably places the individual in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, but does not include defensive measures to protect oneself. (b) For the purposes of this title, "dating relationship" means a relationship between individuals who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on consideration of: 1. the length of the relationship; 2. the nature of the relationship; and 3. the frequency and type of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. (c) A casual acquaintanceship or ordinary fraternization in a business or social context does not constitute a "dating relationship" under Subsection (b).

The Texas Council on Family Violence defines "battering" as a pattern of coercive control that one person exercises over another. Battering is a behavior that physically harm, arouses fear, prevents a woman from doing what she wishes or forces her to behave in ways she does not want. Battering includes the use of physical and sexual violence, threats and intimidation, emotional abuse, and economic deprivation. 

National Expert on Family Violence, Barbara Hart, defines Domestic Violence as, "Domestic violence involves a continuum of behaviors ranging from degrading remarks to cruel jokes, economic exploitation, punches and kicks, false imprisonment, sexual abuse, suffocating actions, maiming assaults, and homicide. Unchecked, domestic violence usually increases in frequency and severity. Many victims suffer all forms of abuse. Verbal and emotional abuse may be subtler than physical harm, but this does not mean that it is less destructive to victims. Many have said that the emotional scars take much longer to heal than the broken bones."

Definitions of Sexual Assault

According to the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, "Sexual assault, or rape, is a violent crime, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually deprived or pathological is being dispelled and replaced with the understanding that rape is more of an act of power and control than lust."

The Texas Penal Code states that a sexual assault is without consent if the perpetrator compels the other person to submit or participate by the use of physical force or violence or threatening to use force or violence, the victim has not consented and the perpetrator knows that the person is unconscious or physically unable to resist, the perpetrator knows that the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of the at or resisting it because of a mental disease or defect, the victim has not consented and the perpetrator knows that the victim is unaware that the sexual assault is occurring, the perpetrator has intentionally impaired the victim's power to appraise or control their conduct by administering any substance without the victim's knowledge, the perpetrator threatens to use force or violence against another individual to compel the victim to submit or participate, the perpetrator is a public servant who coerces the victim to submit or participate, the perpetrator is a mental health services provider or health care services provider who causes a patient or former patient to submit or participate by exploiting their emotional dependency or the provider, the perpetrator is a clergyman who exploits the victim's emotional dependency on the clergyman in their professional character as spiritual advisor, or the perpetrator is an employee of a facility where the victim is a resident.

The Texas Penal Codes adds that the offense becomes an aggravated sexual assault if the person causes serious bodily injury or attempts to cause the death of the victim or another person in the course of the same criminal episode; by acts or words places the victim in fear that death, serious bodily injury or kidnapping will be imminently inflected on any person; the acts or words occurring in the presence of the victim threatens to cause the death, serious bodily injury or kidnapping of any person; uses or exhibits a deadly weapon in the course of the same criminal episode; acts in concert with another who engages in an aggravated sexual assault directed toward the same victim and occurring during the course of the same criminal episode; administers or provides flunitrazepam (rohypnol), gamma hydroxybutyrate or ketamine to the victim of the offense with the intent of facilitating the commission of the offense; the victim is younger than 14 years of age; or the victim is an elderly individual or a disabled individual.