Studies show, on average, nearly twenty people per minute are physically abused by a significant other in the United States. Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime. This annually equates to more than ten million women and men.
In the state of California, special rules are applied when dealing with a domestic violence crime. The term “domestic violence” can consist of threatening, stalking and damaging the property of or inflicting some kind of physical injury on the victim. California law distinguishes between certain types of domestic violence.
Police reports and emergency room records across the country indicate that women are seventy-five to ninety percent the victims in reported domestic abuse cases. But studies show that this statistic distorts the truth and could be explained by the fact that men are reluctant to report being the victims of domestic abuse for the fear of humiliation and ridicule.
Also, courts and police tend to not believe male victims and men who call for assistance during domestic disputes are more likely to be the one arrested when the police arrive.
In relationships where violence was non-mutual, almost seventy percent of the violence was perpetrated by the woman. In almost seven out of ten cases of mutual violence, the instigator was a woman.
Mutually violent relationships were most likely to result in injuries to females. But women who were involved in mutually violent behavior with their male partners were more likely to display a pattern of repeated violence than the men. Male violence was more likely to be isolated and not likely to be repeated.
Do Males Initiate More Domestic Violence Than Females?
A study in 2006 of psychological and physical aggression between four hundred fifty-three cohabiting couples with young children indicated that there were instances of minor aggression initiated by males in 23.3% of the cases, while there were instances of minor aggression ignited by females in 33.8% of the cases.
Females also lead the males in cases of severe aggression with male-initiated aggression in 8.4% of the cases and female-initiated aggression in 11.5% of the cases.
The study also revealed that the most often cited reason for male-initiated aggression was female physical aggression. The reason for female-initiated aggression was verbal aggression from males.
Is Female Domestic Violence Done Most Often In Self-Defense?
In half of all reported domestic abuse cases it is not possible to find out who initiated the violence and in the other half of reported domestic violence cases, men and women instigate physical aggression at an equal rate. This is true around the world.
From these studies, we can safely conclude that the rate of female-on-male violence is equal to the rate of male-on-female violence. Domestic violence doesn’t have anything to do with gender. Society is not informed about the nature of domestic violence and prosecution is based on myth rather than reality.
Women instigate domestic violence as often as men. When the authorities arrive, it is oftentimes the man who gets arrested, regardless of the situation.
If you have been accused and arrested for domestic violence in the state of California, click here to contact our experienced California Domestic Violence Defense Lawyers to preserve your innocence.
