Domestic and Sexual Violence in Virginia - Virginia Attorney General

Table 1: Children Present During Familyand Intimate Partner Homicides, 2005Saw the homicide 8Attacked by perpetrator and survived 5Heard the injury inflicted 5Found the homicide victim 4Other 21 34Total present during homicide events 56Source: Virginia Department of Health,Office of the Chief Medical Examineroccurred in 2006 and 2007, according to data releasedby the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in July2007, a total of 56 children were present during the 147family or intimate partner homicide events that occurredin 2005. This figure includes children who saw or heardthe homicide occur; children who were also attacked bythe alleged perpetrator and survived; and children whofound the homicide victim.According to offense reporting statistics, a majority offorcible sex offenses occurred outside of a domesticviolence context. A sizeable percentage of the incidents(41%), however, were committed by perpetrators knownby or acquainted with the victim. Of the remainingoffenses reported, 21% were committed by unknownassailants and 8% were committed by strangers. 26(Figure 3) The majority of forcible sex offenses (71%)were nonstranger offenses, emphasizing the significanceof interpersonal relationships in sexual assault cases. 27There were 1,430 arrests in 2007 for sexual offensesincluding forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assaultwith an object, forcible fondling, incest, and statutory rape,representing approximately one percent of all recordedarrests by law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth.Arrests of juveniles accounted for 20% of theserecorded arrests. Ninety-one percent of the arrests forsexual offenses were for forcible offenses. 28 (Table A-1,Appendix A)Domestic violence also plays a role in other violent crimes,including aggravated assault, simple assault, and forciblesex offenses. In 2007, approximately 13% of 22,792violent crimes committed in Virginia and reported to lawenforcement agencies were committed against family orhousehold members, or intimate dating partners. 22 Ofthe 22,792 violent crimes reported, 9,689 were aggravatedassault incidents involving 11,125 victims. Theseaggravated assault crimes include assaults, attemptedmurder, poisoning, assault with a deadly weapon, maiming,mayhem, assault with explosives, and assault with disease(knowledge of infection and attempt to infect another).Of the total aggravated assaults reported, 19% werecommitted against family members, household members,or dating partners. 23 (Figure 2)The total number of violent crimes reported in 2007also includes 5,009 forcible sex offenses involving 5,317victims. Forcible sex offenses reported include forciblerape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, andforcible fondling. Of the reported victims of forciblesex offenses, 87% were female. Nearly two-thirds (61%)of reported victims, both male and female, were underthe age of eighteen. 24 Approximately 1,497, or 28%, ofthe forcible sex offenses involved offenses committedagainst family or household members or intimate datingpartners. 25Source: Crime in Virginia, Virginia State Police3