STATISTICS

• Nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%) and 1 in 71 men (1.4%) have been raped in their lifetime.
• Nearly 1 in 10 women (9.4%) in the US have been raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
• 81% of women who experienced rape, stalking, or physical violence from an intimate partner reported significant impacts (short-term or long-term) like injuries or symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
• 35% of men reported the same significant impacts from experiences of rape, stalking, or physical violence from an intimate partner.
• More than half (51.1%) of female victims of rape reported being raped by an intimate partner; 40.8% reported being raped by an acquaintance.
• For male victims, 52.4% reported being raped by an acquaintance; 15.1% reported being raped by a stranger.
• Estimates suggest 13% of women and 6% of men will experience sexual coercion (unwanted sexual penetration after being pressured in a non-physical way) in their lifetime; 27.2% of women and 11.7% of men experience unwanted sexual contact.

• 40% of stalking victims are stalked by current or former intimate partners.
• 57% of intimate partner stalking victims are stalked during the relationship.
• 74% of those stalked by a former intimate partner report violence and/or coercive control during the relationship. 
• 81% of women stalked by a current or former husband or cohabitating partner were also physically assaulted by that partner.
• 31% of women stalked by an intimate partner were also sexually assaulted. 
• 41% of victims stalked by a current intimate partner and 35% stalked by a former intimate partner experience threats of harm, compared to 24% stalked by a non-intimate partner.
• The average length of partner stalking is 2.2 years (longer than the average of just over 1 year for nonintimate partner cases).

STALKING & PARTNER HOMICIDE

• Stalking increases the risk of intimate partner homicide by three times.
• The most common use of the criminal justice system prior to attempted or completed intimate partner homicide was reporting intimate partner stalking.
• Among female victims of attempted and completed intimate partner homicide by male partners, in the 12 months prior to the attack: 85% of attempted and 76% of completed homicide victims were stalked.
• 91% of attempted and 89% of completed homicide victims who had been physically abused during the relationship had also been stalked.
• 46% of attempted and 54% of completed homicide victims reported stalking before the attack, most commonly to police.

INTIMATE PARTNER STALKING OFFENDERS

• Abusive partners who stalk are more likely (than abusive partners who do not stalk) to verbally degrade, threaten, use a weapon to attack, sexually assault, and/or physically injure their victims.
• Intimate partner stalkers are more likely (than stalkers who are not intimate partners) to:
  • Use the widest range of stalking tactics.
  • Contact and approach victims more frequently.
  • Assault their victims.
  • Be insulting and interfere in the victim’s life.
  • Escalate the frequency and intensity of pursuit more often.
  • Threaten victims with weapons or actually use weapons on their victims.
  • Be threatening to their victims and reoffend.
  • Follow through on threats of violence.
  • Assault third parties.
  • Reoffend after a court intervention and reoffend more quickly.
• The risk of physical violence is heightened when the intimate partner stalker:
  • Issues direct threats of violence
  • Expresses jealousy of the victim’s relationships with others during the relationship
  • Uses illegal drugs.
• One study found that among stalking victims threatened, 71% of intimate partner victims were actually assaulted compared to 33% of non-intimate partner victims.

STALKING & SEPARATION

• Victims stalked by violent partners report more separation attempts than partner violence victims who were not stalked.
• Intimate partner stalking made victims more likely to want to leave the relationship than other factors, including psychological aggression and injury.
• Stalking after a separation may increase the risk of violence.

• Intimate partner (physical, sexual and psychological) and sexual violence cause serious short- and long-term physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health problems for women. They also affect their children’s health and well-being. This violence leads to high social and economic costs for women, their families and societies. Such violence can:
  • Have fatal outcomes like homicide or suicide.
  • Lead to injuries, with 42% of women who experience intimate partner violence reporting an injury as a consequence of this violence (3).
  • Lead to unintended pregnancies, induced abortions, gynaecological problems, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. WHO's 2013 study on the health burden associated with violence against women found that women who had been physically or sexually abused were 1.5 times more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection and, in some regions, HIV, compared to women who had not experienced partner violence. They are also twice as likely to have an abortion (3).
• Intimate partner violence in pregnancy also increases the likelihood of miscarriage, stillbirth, pre-term delivery and low birth weight babies. The same 2013 study showed that women who experienced intimate partner violence were 16% more likely to suffer a miscarriage and 41% more likely to have a pre-term birth (3).
• These forms of violence can lead to depression, post-traumatic stress and other anxiety disorders, sleep difficulties, eating disorders, and suicide attempts. The 2013 analysis found that women who have experienced intimate partner violence were almost twice as likely to experience depression and problem drinking.
• Health effects can also include headaches, pain syndromes (back pain, abdominal pain, chronic pelvic pain) gastrointestinal disorders, limited mobility and poor overall health.
• Sexual violence, particularly during childhood, can lead to increased smoking, substance use, and risky sexual behaviours. It is also associated with perpetration of violence (for males) and being a victim of violence (for females).