Intimate
Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended
Data Elements
Violence
against women (VAW) incorporates intimate partner violence (IPV),
sexual violence by any perpetrator, and other forms of violence
against women (e.g., physical violence committed by acquaintances or
strangers). Available data suggest that violence against women is a
substantial public health problem in the United States. Police data
indicate that 3,631 females died in 1996 as the result of homicide
(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1997). Thirty percent of these women
were known to have been murdered by a spouse or ex-spouse. Data on
nonfatal cases of assault are less easily accessible, but recent
survey data suggest that approximately 1.3 million women have been
physically assaulted annually and approximately 200,000 women have
been raped annually by a current or former intimate partner. Data on
lifetime experiences suggest that approximately 22 million women were
physically assaulted and approximately 7.8 million women were raped by
a current or former intimate partner (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998).
Although these and other statistics (Bachman & Saltzman, 1995;
Straus & Gelles, 1990) are sufficient to suggest the magnitude of
the problem, some people believe that statistics on VAW
under-represent the scale of the problem, and others believe that
reports of violence against women are exaggerated. Much of the debate
about the number of women affected by violence has been clouded by the
lack of consensus on the scope of the term "violence against
women." As indicated by the National Research Council’s report
on Understanding Violence Against Women, the term has been used to
describe a wide range of acts, including murder, rape and sexual
assault, physical assault, emotional abuse, battering, stalking,
prostitution, genital mutilation, sexual harassment, and pornography
(National Research Council, 1996). Researchers have used terms related
to violence against women in different ways and have used different
terms to describe the same acts.
Not surprisingly, these
inconsistencies have contributed to varied conclusions about the
incidence and prevalence of violence against women. The lack of
consistent information about the number of women affected by violence
limits our ability to respond to the problem in several ways. First,
it limits our ability to gauge the magnitude of violence against women
in relation to other public health problems. Second, it limits our
ability to identify those groups at highest risk who might benefit
from focused intervention or increased services. Third, it limits our
ability to monitor changes in the incidence and prevalence of violence
against women over time. This, in turn, limits our ability to monitor
the effectiveness of violence prevention and intervention activities.
Higher quality and more timely incidence and prevalence estimates have
the potential to be of use to a wide audience, including policymakers,
researchers, public health practitioners, victim advocates, service
providers, and media professionals.
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