World Violence… and How the US stacks up.

• Worldwide, an estimated 1.6 million people lost their lives to violence in 2000. About half were suicides, one-third were homicides, and one-fifth were casualties of armed conflict. (World Report on Violence and Health, World Health Organization, 2002)

• In 1992, handguns killed 33 people in Great Britain, 36 in Sweden, 97 in Switzerland, 60 in Japan, 13 in Australia, 128 in Canada, and 13,200 in the United States. [Handgun Control Inc., cited in The Washington Post, 1998]

• In the U.S., youth homicide rates are more than 10 times that of other leading industrialized nations, on par with the rates in developing countries and those experiencing rapid social and economic changes. The youth homicide rate in the U.S. stood at 11.0 per 100,000 compared to France (0.6 per 100 000), Germany (0.8 per 100 000), the United Kingdom (0.9 per 100 000) and Japan (0.4 per 100 000). [World Report on Violence and Health, World Health Organization 2002]

• The World Health Organization declared that violence is a leading worldwide public health problem. [World Report on Violence and Health, World Health Organization 2002]

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The Costs of Violence

• A recent World Health Organization report estimated the cost of interpersonal violence in the U.S. (excluding war related costs) at $300 billion a year. [The Economic Dimensions of Interpersonal Violence, World Health Organization, 2004]

• A 1992 study in the United States put the annual cost of treating gunshot wounds at $126 billion. Cutting and stab wounds cost an additional $51 billion. (Miller TR, Cohen MA.,. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 1997, 29:329–341.)

• The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide committed by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of that amount, nearly $4.1 billion are for direct medical and mental health care services, and nearly $1.8 billion are for the indirect costs of lost productivity or wages. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, April 2003.)

• A 1992 study estimates that direct and indirect costs of gunshot wounds $126 Billion. Cutting and stab wounds cost an additional $51 billion. [Accident, Analysis and Prevention, 1997, 29:329–341.]

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Cost to keep a Minor in Prison = 100,000/year ...or "1 in Jail = 2 in Yale” 

• Nearly 16 children a day died in 1997 as a result of a firearms homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting. [Children’s Defense Fund, 1998]

• Between 1986 and 1992, the total number of children killed by firearms rose by 144 percent. [National Campaign to Reduce Youth Violence]

• From 1985 to 1993, murders committed by people over age 25 dropped 20 percent; but they increased 65 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds and increased 165 percent among 14- to 17-year-olds. [Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice]

• Children in adult jails commit suicide eight times as often as their counterparts in juvenile facilities. In addition, children in adult facilities are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, and twice as likely to be beaten by jail staff. [Children’s Defense Fund, 1998]

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Violence against Women

• Domestic Violence is the single greatest cause of injury to women. [Journal of Amer. Med. Assoc.]

• 22% of women in the U.S. have reported being physically assaulted by an intimate partner. [Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, 1999 (Population Reports, Series L, No. 11)]

• In the year 2001, more than half a million American women (588,490 women) were victims of nonfatal violence committed by an intimate partner. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003)

• In 2001, 41,740 women were victims of rape/sexual assault committed by an intimate partner. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003.)

• As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. (Gazmararian JA, Petersen R, Spitz AM, Goodwin MM, Saltzman LE, Marks JS. “Violence and reproductive health; current knowledge and future research directions.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 2000;4(2):79-84.)

• 37% of women treated in emergency rooms for violent injuries were hurt by a current or former partner. ["Violence Related Injuries Treated in Hospitals." US Dept. of Justice, August 1997]

• 44 - Percentage of women murdered by an intimate partner who vistied an emergency room in the two years prior to their deaths. ["Predicting Future Among Women in Abusive Relationships." The Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection and Critical Care, 2004.]

• $48,000,000 - Amount by which federal family violence prevention services program were under funded in 2005. [Campaign for funding to end violence againt women. FY Budget Briefing Book. www.ncadv.org/files/compiledbriefingbookandchartsfy06.pdf]

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