"Domestic" violence is ubiquitous and always has been, so much so that it isn't really possible to say just how common it is. It's hard to articulate historical rates of domestic violence and domestic murder. Researchers have tried to figure out the actual percentage of murders to be placed in the "domestic" category in the United States, but there is no consensus. The following neatly sums it up:
"According to studies, intimate violence exists in 16, 20, 33, 50, 60, 75, or 97 percent of American families; domestic homicides account for 8, 20, 30, or 70 percent of all U.S. murders; and alcohol or drugs are present in 30, 50, 70, or 100 percent of those murders."
-From the book Over the threshold: Intimate violence in early America. New York and London: Routledge, 1999.
Art: The Murderess by Edvard Munch, public domain.
Comments