Domestic Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusivebehavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.
It includes:

  • physical violence
  • sexual violence
  • threats
  • emotional abuse

The frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically.

Statistics

20

People per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner

8.0

Million days of paid work are lost by victims due to domestic violence each year

20,000

Phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines daily

19%

Of domestic violence involves a weapon

34%

Of people injured by an intimate partner receive medical care

1 in 4

women experience domestic violence by an intimate partner

1 in 7

women have been injured by an intimate partner

1 in 7

women have been stalked by an intimate partner

1 in 15

children are exposed to domestic violence each year

90%

of children are eyewitnesses to domestic violence

1 in 9

men have experienced violence by an intimate partner

1 in 25

men have been injured by an intimate partner

1 in 18

men have been stalked by an intimate partner

Georgia is ranked 17th in the nation for the rate at which women are killed by men

Of Children Witnessed Domestic Violence Homicide

Of Victims Began Their Relationships Between Ages 13-24

Of Firearms Were The Cause Of Death In The Recorded Incidents

Signs of Domestic Violence

Economic Abuse

Economic abuse is the purposeful controlling of resources to make the victim financially limited. 

It can include:

  • Refusing to give you money for necessities
  • Making you ask for money rather than allowing you continual access
  • Forcing you to turn over money you’ve earned or spend it in a way that you disagree with
  • Refusing to support your children
  • Not letting you be involved in money decisions that affect you and/or your children
  • Interfering with or preventing your opportunities for education, job training and the ability to find and keep a job
  • Interfering with your work performance through harassing activities, such as frequent phone calls or unannounced visits
  • Stealing from you, defrauding your money or assets and/or exploiting the your financial resources or property
  • Requiring you to use your credit in a way that you disagree with

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse is the intentional use of physical force with the potential for causing death, disability, injury or harm. 

It can include, but is not limited to:

  • Pushing, hitting, choking, kicking, biting, cutting, burning, spitting, shaking, slapping, pinching, force-feeding
  • Holding you down or preventing you from leaving the room
  • Throwing objects at you
  • Threatening you with a weapon
  • Locking you in or out of the house
  • Abandoning you in dangerous places
  • Preventing you from getting sleep or waking you up out of sleep
  • Denying help when you are sick, injured or pregnant
  • Endangering you by driving wildly or recklessly

Psychological Abuse

Psychological abuse is the use of verbal and non-verbal communication with the intent to harm another person mentally or emotionally, and/or to exert control over another person.  

It can include:

  • Expressive Aggression
    • Name-calling
    • Putting you down by telling you that you’re stupid, dumb, fat, ugly, etc.
    • Intentionally humiliating you
    • Making fun of your beliefs
    • Degrading women as a group
    • Constantly criticizing you
    • Threatening to take your children
    • Threatening to sexually assault you
    • Threatening to hurt your family
    • Threatening to leave or make you leave
    • Making fun of your friends and family
    • Hurting your pets to upset you
    • Hurting your children to upset you
    • Ignoring your feelings
  • Coercive Control
    • Limiting your access to transportation, money, friends and family
    • Excessively monitoring your whereabouts
    • Refusing to use birth control
    • Insisting upon pregnancy termination
  • Exploitation
    • Leveraging your vulnerabilities, such as illegal immigration status, disability, etc.
  • Manipulation
    • Presenting false information to make you doubt your own memory or perception 
    • Gaslighting to make you question your own sanity
    • Presenting false information to mislead others about you