Intimate-partner violence in the United States dove by 64 percent between 1993 and 2010 for both males and females, according to a report released Tuesday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Reported cases sank to 907,000 in 2010 from 2.1 million in 1993.
Intimate partner violence includes rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault committed by an offender who was the victim’s current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
About 85 percent of victims were female.
In 2010, the rate of female victimization by this crime fell to 6 out of 1,000 females age 12 or older; a 63 percent decrease from 17 years earlier when the rate was 16 per 1,000.
Male victimization decreased by a similar rate–64 percent–during the same period.
Women ages of 18-34 suffer the highest rates of victimization; between 12 and 10 per 1,000 women in 2010.
The estimates are based on data from the Bureau’s National Crime Victimization Survey.
The study finds that female victims–particularly those over 17–are often attacked by the same offender.
Women living in households with one female adult with children suffered a rate more than 10 times higher than households with married adults with children and six times higher than households with one female only.
Hajer Naili is a NewYork based reporter for Women’s eNews. She has worked for several radio stations and publications in France and North Africa and specializes in Middle East and North Africa.
