ILLUSTRATION OF THE PROBLEM:

•  The lifetime prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner was an estimated 31.5% among women. 

• An estimated 51.7% of American Indian/Alaska Native women will be victims of domestic violence in thir lifetimes.

• The rate of violent victimization for Native Americans was more than twice the rate for the Nation (124 versus 50 per 1,000 persons age 12 and older).

• One in 4 women (22.3%) have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner.

• One in 6 women (15.2%) have been stalked during their lifetime

• Every 9 seconds a woman is beaten or assaulted in this country.

• Most female victims of completed rape (78.7%) experienced their first rape before the age of 25 and almost half (40.4%) experienced their first rape before age 18 (28.3% between 11 and 17 years old and 12.1% at or before the age of 10)

•  About 35% of women who were raped as minors also were raped as adults compared to 14% of women without an early rape history.

• The cost of domestic violence is $8.3 billion dollars annually.

• 8.0 million work days are lost each year as a result of domestic violence nationally.