Statistics Surrounding Black Women and Domestic Violence

Currently, a Vine of a Black woman being slapped out of her chair by a Black male is going viral around #BlackTwitter (the Vine is purposely not linked). Now normally, we at unchose don’t normally go the route of shameless relevancy, but the statistics behind Black women and domestic violence are extremely troubling and need to be displayed. Though some are dated, the underlying message is extremely clear—domestic violence is an issue that we have to deal with more than women of other races. The stats below display that.

• African-American women experience significantly more domestic violence than White women in the age group of 20-24. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
• The number one killer of African-American women ages 15 to 34 is homicide at the hands of a current or former intimate partner. (Tufts University)
• In a study of African-American sexual assault survivors, only 17% reported the assault to police. (Tufts University)
• Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
• Black women are they are less likely than whites women to use social services, battered women’s programs, or go to the hospital because of domestic violence. (Feminist Campus)
• Black females historically have experienced intimate partner violence at rates higher than white females. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
• Approximately one in three African American women are abused by a husband or partner in the course of a lifetime. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
• Black females were four times more likely than white females to be murdered by a boyfriend or girlfriend. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
• In 2007, Black female victims of intimate partner homicide were twice as likely as white female homicide victims to be killed by a spouse. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)

The Department of Justice defines domestic violence as the following:

A pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.  Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone.

For more information about domestic violence and how to get help, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline or call at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY).