Domestic violence in Las Vegas is a serious issue, and with good reason. For a time the city ranked among the states with the highest reported domestic violence cases across the country. Nevada itself was once fourth in domestic violence-related deaths, a grim distinction to have. It is no wonder that domestic violence advocacy has been ramped up in the past few months, and greater judicial focus on abuse cases is urged.
To an outside observer, domestic violence cases may just seem like any other criminal case you can hear on the news. However, there are a lot of numbers that give a rather chilling reminder as to why it is of major concern to Las Vegas law enforcement and criminal defense attorneys. Let’s take a look back at some domestic violence statistics in the United States.
1/5
Between 2003 and 2012, domestic violence accounted for one-fifth of all nonfatal assault cases reported and acted upon by the authorities across the country. This stands in stark contrast to other types of aggravated assault, like those related to theft, rape, or physical altercations between opposing individuals or groups. This is also not mentioning that this number was mostly from reported cases; it is possible that the number would’ve been higher if more domestic abuse incidents were reported.
10 Million Men and Women
This is the average number of men and women falling victim to domestic abuse in the United States annually. This number covers everything from intensive verbal abuse to outright battery or sexual violence. Unfortunately, not all of these get reported, and many of these cases conclude with either a badly-traumatized individual that has difficulty blending in with society, or a person dying either by their own hand or their partner’s.
20,000 Phone Calls
Emergency hotlines get, on average, 240 million calls across the country per year. These calls include missing persons reports, road accidents, communication regarding wanted individuals, and the like. Of all these, an average of 7,300,000 calls are related to domestic violence per year. That is roughly only 3% of all calls made to emergency services, a relatively small number for such a severe crime. The nature of domestic abuse makes it difficult for victims or concerned citizens to report such crimes; the partner may have become too domineering to be opposed, the victim is being passive due to several factors, or third parties consider the situation to be a family matter that outsiders should avoid and not report.
1 in 5 Children
Domestic violence can and will involve children, directly or indirectly. Sadly, that means that they regularly become part of the statistics as well. A whopping one in five children become involved in incidents of domestic abuse. Of this number, 90% would become first-hand witnesses to domestic abuse, if not the victim of such violence in the first place. Many of these first-hand witnesses eventually develop psychological trauma as they grow, or may even emulate the violence they witness in their teen and adult years.
These numbers are just a peek into how big a deal being involved in a domestic violence case is in the United States. There’s more to this crime than just what you see on television, and the implications are rough if one gets implicated in a domestic violence charge.