Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Transitions is a crisis center that provides advocacy, empowerment, and education to victims, survivors, families and communities to end patterns of violence and abuse. We are looking to build safer families and communities by combating domestic violence, sexual assault, and other serious crimes. Our services are primarily focused in Union County as well as other surrounding areas.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. Our goal through this series of blog posts is to educate as well as bring awareness of the severity of these issues. These are some of the shocking nation-wide facts about how common domestic violence is.

·        Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crimes

·        19% of domestic violence involves a weapon

·        Only 34% of people who are injured by intimate partners receive medical care for their injuries.

·        1 and 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence.[1]

Often, many incidents of domestic violence have fatal consequences. In Pennsylvania alone, there have been an alarming number of fatalities. These are some of the statistics regarding domestic violence fatalities in Pennsylvania.

·        In the last 10 years, more than 1,600 people have died from domestic violence-related incidents in Pennsylvania.

·        In 2017, 117 people were killed as a result of domestic violence

·        Among the 117 deaths, 60% were killed by a current of former intimate partner, and 66% were killed by a firearm.

·        The following quote captures a small sample of police accounts and media stories related to the 117 victims that lost their lives in 2017:

o   “A 25 year old York County woman died when her 35 year old husband attacked her with a sword. She was pregnant at the time of the attack. The couple’s two year old son was at home during the incident, but was unharmed. The husband called 911 and reported that he had struck and killed his wife with a sword. Police found the victim’s body on the rear deck of the home”[2]

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and we hope to raise awareness, specifically on college campuses, regarding these issues. Within the next few week we will share stories and accounts of victims and survivors of domestic violence, as well as provide help for how to handle these issues. If you ever find yourself needing assistance, please call the 24 hour hotline at 1-800-850-7948.

Written by Emily Hompe and Clare Kelly, Bucknell University

              

---

[1] https://ncadv.org/statistics

 

[2] Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence 2017 Domestic Violence Fatality Report