Violence Against Women: A National Crime Victimization Survey Report

• NCJ Number: 145325
• Author(s): R. Bachman
• Date Published: January 1994
• Length: 23 pages
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

Based on a nationally representative sample survey of women that entailed about 400,000 individual interviews, this report describes the nature and extent of violence experienced by women from 1987 to 1991.

Abstract

Results revealed that more than 2.5 million women experience violence annually. Women are about equally likely to experience violence perpetrated by a relative or intimate, an acquaintance, or a stranger. Thus, nearly two-thirds of the female victims of violence were related to or know their attacker. About one-fourth of the attacks on females involved the use of a weapon; about one-third of these involved a firearm. About three-fourths of the victims resisted the offender's actions either physically or verbally. About one-third were injured in the crime. About half the victims reported the crime to the police. Among those who did not report the crime, about 60 percent said that they considered the matter a private or personal one or that they felt that the offense was minor. Nearly half the rape victims perceived the offender to have been under the influence of alcohol, other drugs, or both at the time of the offense. Tables