Crime Committee Report e.indd - New York State Senate

XVI.
2009-2010 New York State Senate
Majority Task Force on Domestic Violence
Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, as Chairwoman of the
New York State Majority Task Force on Domestic Violence,
has led the Task Force in taking a leadership position on domestic
violence policy for the New York State Senate. The
legislation passed will provide significant increases in safety,
services and rights for the survivors of domestic violence.
Domestic Violence is still a crime of enormous magnitude
in New York. It affects people of all races, ages and
economic status. Each year, an estimated 400,000 domestic
incidents are reported to law enforcement in New
York; approximately 300,000 calls are received by hotlines
throughout the State; nearly 165,000 orders of protection
were issued in domestic violence cases in family, criminal
and supreme courts in 2007 alone.
• z Rates of domestic violence across New York State hover around 85 criminal incidents per
10,000 residents, but vary across counties. By contrast, the rate of violent crime is about
59 incidents per 10,000 population and crimes against property is about 272 incidents
per 10,000 population.
• z Eighty-nine intimate partner homicides were reported in 2009; forty-three were in NYC.
All victims were female. In 2008, 50% of females aged 16 and older who were victims
of homicide were killed by an intimate partner. Four percent (4%) of male homicide
victims were killed by an intimate partner. 35
• z In 2008, there were 86,805 assaults reported by police agencies outside of New York City,
representing 11% of overall crime. Twenty percent (20%) of the total assaults outside of
New York City were committed by intimate partners in 2008 (for a total of 17,777 assaults
by intimate partners).
• z In 80% of the intimate partner assaults outside of New York City, the victims were female.
• z One in two teens report that they have been personally victimized by controlling behaviors
from a boyfriend or girlfriend. According to a 2009 study commissioned by Liz Claiborne,
Inc. and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, American teens across the country
are experiencing alarmingly high levels of abuse in their dating relationships and the
economy appears to have made it worse. Almost half of all teens whose families have
experienced economic problems in the past year report having witnessed their parents
abusing each other.
• z 80% of teens know someone who has been a victim of controlling behaviors from a boyfriend
or girlfriend.
• z 60% of teens know someone who has been the victim of sexual abuse, physical abuse or
threats of physical abuse by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
35 DCJS
Standing Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction | 2009-2010 Report 31