NCJ Number
226316
Date Published
2006
Length
133 pages
Annotation
This report provides statistics on the nature and extent of domestic violence in South Carolina for the years 1991 through 2004, including data on victims, offenders, and circumstances of the cases.
Abstract
Domestic violence accounted for 41.1 percent of violent crime statewide, a percentage that remained consistent over the data-collection period. With the exception of robbery, domestic violence composed a major percentage of each violent-crime category. Among homicides, 29.9 percent involved a domestic relationship. For sexual-violence offenses, 29.3 percent involved a domestic relationship. For aggravated assaults, 36.6 percent involved domestic relationships, as did 50.6 percent of simple assaults. Although the number of domestic-violence victims was almost evenly divided between Blacks and Whites, victimization rates were significantly higher among Blacks; and victimization rates for females were much higher than for males. Young adults (ages 18-34) had the highest risk for domestic-violence victimization. Although domestic violence was most frequent within marital relationships, rates for family and romantic relationships were only slightly lower. Slightly more than 25 percent of incidents involved the offender using either alcohol or drugs, with alcohol use reported significantly more often than illicit drugs. Domestic violence offenders were poorly educated and had a high rate of unemployment. The percentage of dual arrests (arrests of both parties in a domestic-violence incident) has decreased each year since peaking at 10.6 percent in 1997. The report recommends that future research and intervention programs highlight the overrepresentation of racial minorities among domestic-violence victims and offenders. Also, continuing research on dual arrests is needed, possibly incorporating incident data from the local levels as well as case studies. Extensive tables and figures and 4 references