Domestic Violence
Facts
- A woman is abused every 9-15 seconds.
- In the United States, six million women are beaten each year by their husbands and boyfriends - 4,000 are murdered.
- 30% of all murders in this country are committed within the family and 13% are committed by spouses.
- Children are present during 80% of the assaults against their mothers and three million children witness domestic violence each year.
- Many cases of domestic violence are not reported because of feelings of helplessness, fear, and shame.
- Domestic Violence transcends racial, age, and socioeconomic boundaries. Its victims are educated, uneducated, poor, middle class, and wealthy. They are Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American, and are of every ethnic origin.
- Children who witness violence in the home learn that violence is the answer and these children are 1000 times more likely to abuse as adults.
- In Richmond County, Georgia, more than 2500 cases are prosecuted annually by this office involving domestic violence.
What Is Domestic Violence?
Georgia law defines domestic violence as any felony, battery, simple battery, simple assault, assault, stalking, criminal damage to property, unlawful restraint, and criminal trespass between past or present spouses, persons who are parents of the same child, parents and children, stepparents and stepchildren, foster parents and foster children, and persons living or formerly living in the same household. You do not have to be married to someone to be a victim of domestic violence in Georgia.