This year I'm running the Manchester 10k for Refuge. It should be obvious why Domestic Violence is wrong, but here are some Facts & Figures to make it explicit;
- 2 women are killed each week by a current or former partner (Homicide Statistics, 1998) – 1 woman killed every 3 days.
- An analysis of 10 separate domestic violence prevalence studies by the Council of Europe showed consistent findings: 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence over their lifetimes and between 6-10% of women suffer domestic violence in a given year. (Council of Europe, 2002)
- 1 woman in 9 is severely beaten by her male partner each year. (Stanko et al, 1998)
- Domestic violence has a higher rate of repeat victimisation than any other crime. (Home Office, July 2002)
- Every minute police in the UK receive a domestic assistance call – yet only 35% of domestic violence incidents are reported to the police. (Stanko 2000 & Home Office 2002)
- The 2001/02 British Crime Survey (BCS) found that there were an estimated 635,000 incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales. 81% of the victims were women and 19% were men. Domestic violence incidents also made up nearly 22% of all violent incidents reported by participants in the BCS. (Home Office, July 2002)
- On average, a woman is assaulted 35 times before her first call to the police. (Jaffe 1982)
- In 90% of domestic violence incidents, children were in the same or the next room. (Hughes, 1992)
- In over 50% of known domestic violence cases, children were also directly abused – NSPCC (1997) found a 55% overlap; Farmer & Owen (1995) found 52% overlap.
- 30% of domestic violence either starts or will intensify during pregnancy (Department of Health report October 2004)
- Foetal morbidity from violence is more prevalent than gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia. (Friend 1998)
- In September 2004, Sylvia Walby of the University of Leeds estimated the total cost of domestic violence to services (Criminal Justice System, health, social services, housing, civil legal) amounts to 3.1 billion every year, while the loss to the economy is 2.7 billion. This amounts to over 5.7 billion a year.
- Professor Elizabeth Stanko estimated the cost in 1996 of providing services to women and children facing domestic violence in one London Borough to be about 90 per year per household & the total cost for Greater London to 276 million per year.
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Every penny counts, thank you.
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