Statistics on
Divorce and Domestic Violence
Part of the Divorce
Reform Page, sponsored by Americans for Divorce
Reform
Polls
| Legislation
| Statistics | Articles/Opinion
| Quotations | Other
family-related articles
(See also Does divorce reduce children's exposure
to family conflict?)
Domestic violence inversely related
to marriage
Domestic assault & urban "community disinvestment",
nonmarriage/divorce
"The more one learns about the crime of domestic violence, the less
likely
it seems that the formal mechanisms of divorce law have much influence one
way
or another in helping women escape their batterers. For one thing, most
batterers are not husbands. A 1991 Justice Department survey, for example,
found that more than two-thirds of domestic violence offenders were boyfriends
or ex-spouses, while just 9 percent were spouses. Cohabitating women,
according to one review of the literature, are four times more likely to
suffer severe violence than married women."
Gallagher in "End
No-Fault Divorce?" (Maggie Gallagher debates Barbara Dafoe Whitehead)
in First Things 75 (August/September 1997)
A recent study for the journal Criminology has revealed that "neighborhoods
with larger portions of adults who are less 'invested' in marriage and residential
stability are more likely to see higher rates of assault by African-American
males." Analysis of the data reveals that "the proportion of residents
without married couples...maintains the strongest relationship with intimate
assault rates for African-Americans..." This leads to the conclusion
that "lower levels of marital commitments and stable residents constitute...significant
barriers to the development of social capital [an important determinant
of healthy community life] among minorities."
Woodredge, J. and Thistlethwaite, A. (2003) Neighborhood structure and race-specific
rates of intimate assault. Criminology, v41. Retrieved from The
Family in America, April 2004.
Polls
| Legislation
| Statistics | Articles/Opinion
| Quotations | Other
family-related articles
Part of the Divorce
Reform Page, sponsored by Americans for Divorce
Reform
divorcereform@usa.net
John Crouch, Executive Director
Colleen Fannin Arnold, President
(703) 528-6700
To join, send $25.00 to Americans for Divorce Reform
1300 N. Utah St.
Arlington, Virginia 22201