Political Crossfire Forums

[ToonArmyIsComing]

# Nearly 1/3 of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.

http://womensissues.about.com/od/domesticviolence/a/dvstats1.htm

[ToonArmyIsComing]

An overwhelming majority of domestic violence victims in heterosexual relationships are women.

* 90 - 95% of domestic violence victims are women.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings: Violence Between Intimates (NCJ-149259), November 1994.

* as many as 95% of domestic violence perpetrators are male.
A Report of the Violence against Women Research Strategic Planning Workshop sponsored by the National Institute of Justice in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995.

* much of female violence is committed in self-defense, and inflicts less injury than male violence.
Chalk & King, eds., Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention & Treatment Programs, National Resource Council and Institute of Medicine, p. 42 (1998).

* during 1992-1993, women were 6 times more likely to experience violence by an intimate partner than men.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (NCJ-154348), August 1995, p. 1.

* the chance of being victimized by an intimate is 10 times greater for a woman than a man.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: National Crime Victimization Survey, Violence Against Women, 1994.

* 70% of intimate homicide victims are female.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings: Violence Between Intimates (NCJ-149259), November 1994.

* male perpetrators are 4 times more likely to use lethal violence than females.
Florida Governor's Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Florida Mortality Review Project, 1997, p.44, table 7.

SAME-SEX BATTERING
Domestic violence occurs within same-sex relationships with the same statistical frequency as in heterosexual relationships.

* the prevalence of domestic violence among Gay and Lesbian couples is approximately 25 - 33%.
Barnes, It's Just a Quarrel', American Bar Association Journal, February 1998, p. 25.

* battering among Lesbians crosses age, race, class, lifestyle and socio-economic lines.
Lobel, ed., Naming the Violence: Speaking Out About Lesbian Battering, 183 (1986).

* each year, between 50,000 and 100,000 Lesbian women and as many as 500,000 Gay men are battered.
Murphy, Queer Justice: Equal Protection for Victims of Same-Sex Domestic Violence, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 335 (1995).

* while same-sex battering mirrors heterosexual battering both in type and prevalence, its victims receive fewer protections.
Barnes, It's Just a Quarrel', American Bar Association Journal, February 1998, p. 24.

* seven states define domestic violence in a way that excludes same-sex victims; 21 states have sodomy laws that may require same-sex victims to confess to a crime in order to prove they are in a domestic relationship.
Barnes, It's Just a Quarrel', American Bar Association Journal, February 1998, p. 24.

* many battered Gays or Lesbians fight back to defend themselves - it is a myth that same-sex battering is mutual.
Murphy, Queer Justice: Equal Protection for Victims of Same-Sex Domestic Violence, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 335 (1995).

* by 1994, there were over 1,500 shelters and safe houses for battered women. many of these shelters routinely deny their services to victims of same-sex battering.
Murphy, Queer Justice: Equal Protection for Victims of Same-Sex Domestic Violence, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 335 (1995).

* same-sex batterers use forms of abuse similar to those of heterosexual batterers. they have an additional weapon in the threat of "outing" their partner to family, friends, employers or community.
Lundy, Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Assisting Victims of Lesbian and Gay Domestic Violence in Massachusetts, 28 New Eng. L. Rev. 273 (Winter 1993).

http://www.abanet.org/domviol/stats.html

[F'losrix]

Are crimes involving domestic violence among same-gendered couples being recorded as 'hate crime' targeting a person on the basis of sexual orientation? It appears this was the road Savannah Man was trying to lead us down. I don't buy it. Someone who is beaten by their partner is not being targeted because of their orientation - these are completely different types of crimes and I would be rather amazed to learn that a single one of the 'hate crimes' reported was actually a case of same-sex domestic violence.

If that is the assertion you're going to make Savannah Man, I demand that you submit to us documented proof of your claim or formally withdraw it and kindly STFU already.

[SavannahMan]

Skeptical Mystic wrote: Are crimes involving domestic violence among same-gendered couples being recorded as 'hate crime' targeting a person on the basis of sexual orientation? It appears this was the road Savannah Man was trying to lead us down. I don't buy it. Someone who is beaten by their partner is not being targeted because of their orientation - these are completely different types of crimes and I would be rather amazed to learn that a single one of the 'hate crimes' reported was actually a case of same-sex domestic violence.

If that is the assertion you're going to make Savannah Man, I demand that you submit to us documented proof of your claim or formally withdraw it and kindly STFU already.

That wasn't my assertion at all. Thanks for showing us what happens when one ASSumes.

My assertion is that the number of hate crimes perpetrated against homosexuals is incredibly small and that if a homosexual is assaulted it is more than likely BY another homosexual.

[F'losrix]

SavannahMan wrote: My assertion is that the number of hate crimes perpetrated against homosexuals is incredibly small and that if a homosexual is assaulted it is more than likely BY another homosexual.

Apples and oranges. It makes no sense to compare domestic violence with 'hate' crimes this way. You're only offering this as a distraction, and not a very good one at that.