NCJ Number
163639
Date Published
1995
Length
41 pages
Annotation
Data from national surveys and other sources were used to estimate the immediate and long-term medical, dental, psychiatric, and other health-related costs of violence against women in Canada.
Abstract
The analysis revealed that 76,160 Canadian women sought medical attention as a result of violence in 1992; this number amounted to an estimated 28 percent of the 272,000 women who were injured. The total cost for initial medical assistance was $7.6 million, while the estimated dental costs for nonsexually assaulted women was $1.3 million. The cost of 1 day of time off from work for each victim amounted to $36.3 million. The violence also produced long-term effects, including medical problems, psychological problems, alcohol and drug abuse, and days missed from work. Women and all of society pay additional costs, including the costs of shelters, rape crisis centers, prevention and treatment initiatives, welfare, support groups and networks, transportation, child care, repairs to homes, research, stress on workers providing victim services, and deaths. The total measurable costs relating to health and well-being amount to $1.5 billion per year, but additional unmeasurable costs would undoubtedly make the total many times greater than this amount. Footnotes, case stories, appended methodological information, and 121 references