California Domestic Violence Statistics [2024 Updated]

Domestic violence is something that usually happens in the home in the hopes of keeping it hidden. It can happen to both men and women, regardless of race, age, religious background, income, or social class. Unfortunately, violence in the home is more common than most people realize. Keep reading to learn more about California domestic violence statistics.

What Is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is purposefully intimidating someone else or physically hurting someone else. It can also involve an individual forcing sexual acts on another without consent. Domestic violence can also include emotional abuse, where one person consistently calls the other names, belittles, and shames them.

Financial abuse involves one person preventing their partner from accessing joint accounts or funds. Typically, all abuse involves threats and shaming the other person.

What Domestic Violence May Look Like

Domestic violence comes in many forms and can sometimes be difficult to spot. While many think of abuse as physical violence, and therefore, if there are no bruises or scars, they may think that nothing is wrong. However, sometimes, it comes in the form of verbal and emotional abuse. Some warning signs that abuse is taking place include:

• Not spending time or communicating with family or friends.
• Not having the ability to spend money freely or not having access to money.
• Having personal property taken or destroyed.
• Being criticized, shamed, blamed, or ridiculed in public (it often happens in private as well).
• Making excuses for their partner’s rude behavior.

Once it is discovered that a person is suffering at the hands of an abuser, people may ask why they don’t leave. While leaving may seem like the obvious answer, it is not always a simple task. When an abuser senses that their partner is about to leave them, an abuser can become even more violent. Because the abuser controls almost every aspect of the victim’s life, it can take multiple tries before the victim leaves for good.

In most cases, it takes an average of seven times before the victim permanently leaves their abusive partner. As mentioned before, there are several types of domestic abuse. Below are just a few types of domestic violence:

Physical Violence

Most people associate violence with domestic violence, and it is indeed one of the most common forms of domestic violence. Physical violence, or physical abuse, can include slapping, punching, choking, hitting, or throwing things at or in the general direction of someone else. Evidence of physical violence includes bruises and scars, but the emotional effects on the victim may not be visible and are long-lasting.

Isolation and Control

Abuse is all about power and control. The abuser gets something out of abusing their victim, and because they do not want to lose that victim, they isolate that person and control every aspect of their lives. This is so that the victim stays quiet about the abuse and stays with the abuser. Many times, the victim feels as though they would be nothing without their abuser, and so they stay in an unhealthy relationship.

Verbal Abuse

Verbal abuse is another form of domestic abuse. It can be harder to uncover this type of abuse because the victim may not display any signs of being abused, such as having scars or bruises. However, emotional abuse is just as damaging as being physically abused. Victims of verbal abuse can experience constant criticism, threats, name-calling, and belittling. This can result in extreme psychological and mental trauma.

Stalking

Stalking is something that is commonly associated with domestic violence. As the abuser tries to maintain control of their victim, they watch their victim’s every move without the victim’s knowledge or consent. This can include monitoring phone calls, texts, and emails. Sometimes, the abuser will even track their victim using tracking apps on cell phones or placing a tracking device on the victim’s vehicle.

Once a victim discovers that they are being stalked, it causes major anxiety, paranoia, and an overall sense of uneasiness. A victim just wants to feel safe, but it is almost impossible if they are being stalked.

FAQs

Q: What Is the Domestic Violence Rate?

A: The domestic violence rate in California includes 34.9% of women and 31.1% of men who experience some type of domestic abuse. It also includes men and women who have experienced sexual violence and stalking at some point in their lives. Domestic violence is much more prevalent than commonly believed, with one in three women and one in four men experiencing violence at the hands of their partner.

Q: Which State Has the Highest Domestic Violence Rate?

A: Currently, Oklahoma is the state with the highest domestic violence rate. As opposed to California’s rates of 34.9% of women and 31.1% of men, Oklahoma’s rates are 49.1% of women and 40.7% of men who experience domestic violence at some time in their lives. It ranks third in the nation for women who have been killed by their intimate partner.

Q: What Group Has Experienced the Most Violence?

A: Women have experienced the most violence in domestic violence cases. It is more commonly found that women who are between the ages of 18-24 and 25-34 are more likely to be abused by their intimate partner. Women are typically more likely to be raped by their partners, with 81% of women experiencing rape, physical violence, and stalking at some point in their lives.

Q: How Many Domestic Abuse Cases Go Unreported in the United States?

A: About half of domestic abuse cases go unreported in the United States. This is usually because the victim of abuse is afraid to come forward. Oftentimes, victims are told that they or a loved one will be harmed if they tell anyone about the abuse. So, it is no surprise that so many abuse cases go unreported.

Allow a Domestic Violence Lawyer to Help You

Domestic violence is usually kept quiet so that the abuser can continue to abuse their victim. It happens to men and women despite their race, age, religious background, income, or social class. Unfortunately, domestic violence is more common than people realize. If you are involved in a domestic violence case, contact the Law Offices of Hollie A. Lemkin, APC.