What is the annual cost to the nation of IPV against females? The Web site doesn't have updated numbers on that issue, but they report that for 1995, IPV against women cost around $5.8 billion - of which $4.1 billion was racked up in "the direct costs of medical and mental health care," and $1.8 billion was in the indirect costs of "lost productivity."

The total number of women, collectively who are victims of IPV lose "nearly 8 million days of paid work" every year, the government calculates. And what percentage of all IPV victims are in fact women? The National Crime Victimization Survey, quoted by NCIP, reports that 85% of victims of intimate partner violence are women. The ethnicities of women who are most often find themselves victims of IPV are "American Indians and Alaskan Natives and men, African-American women, and Hispanic women."

Finally, the actual "relationship factors" that are common to incidents of intimate partner violence include: "marital conflict - fights, tension, and other struggles"; "marital instability - divorces and separations"; "dominance and control of the relationship by the male"; the stress of negative economic situations; and "unhealthy family relationships and interactions." group called "Family Violence Prevention Fund" (http://endabuse.org) claims that "on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends" every day in America. As for teenage girls, about one in five has been physically or sexually abused by a boy she is dating or has dated, the family violence Web site reports. Also, other grim facts: 503,485 women are victims of a stalker every year; and eighty percent of women who are stalked by past husbands "are physically assaulted by that partner," and about one-third are "sexually assaulted by that partner."

What are the effects of an arrest on IPV? Is it more beneficial to have the perpetrator arrested, or required to undergo therapy? Research conducted by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, found conflicting results in six studies called the "National Institute of Justice's Spouse Assault Replication Program." But there were some data that could be used to promote the idea that the perpetrator should...

For example, a review of 314 incidents in Minnesota shows that when the man who assaulted the woman was arrested, "Statistically significant reductions in subsequent offending were reported in both victim interviews" and in the records kept by police.
Putting today's arrest procedures into historical perspective, the article points out that in 1968, New York City police began being trained to use "psychology to handle family crisis calls." Studies showed at that time that handling a domestic argument or incident with psychology was preferable to making an arrest. However, by the late 1970s, it was determined that "nonpunitive and therapeutic" handling of violence against women was not effective, so New York police went back to arresting men, even if the police did not witness the violence perpetrated against the woman. As time went on, in the 1980s and 1990s, police officers were trained to "calm down" situations of domestic violence, listen to both partners, and then make an arrest if necessary. But the bottom line is that no matter what strategies and psychological approaches are employed by police, between 3.3 and 10 million children are witnesses to some form of domestic violence in their homes each year, according to Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Works Cited

Family Violence Prevention Fund. (2005). Domestic Violence is a Serious, Widespread Social

Problem in America: The Facts. Retrieved 20 October 2006 at http://www.endabuse.org/resources/facts/.

Maxwell, Christopher D., Garner, Joel H., & Fagan, Jeffrey a. (2001). The Effects of Arrest on Intimate Partner Violence: New Evidence From the Spouse Assault Replication Program.

National Institute of Justice (Research in Brief) / U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved 30 Oct. 2006 at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/188199.pdf.

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2006). Intimate Partner Violence: Fact

Sheet. Occurrence. Retrieved 29 Oct. 2006 at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm.

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2006). Intimate Partner Violence: Overview Retrieved 29 Oct. 2006 at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvoverview.htm.