Domestic Violence Information

What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence (also referred to as intimate partner violence or IPV, dating abuse, or relationship abuse) is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.

Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. People of any race, age, gender, sexuality, religion, education level, or economic status can be a victim — or perpetrator — of domestic violence. That includes behaviors that physically harm, intimidate, manipulate or control a partner, or otherwise force them to behave in ways they don’t want to, including through physical violence, threats, emotional abuse, or financial control.

source: National Domestic Violence Hotline

Did you know?

• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the United States have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner.

• In 2018, domestic violence accounted for 20% of all violent crime.

• 65% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 96% of the victims of these crimes are female.

Domestic Violence In South Dakota

• 27.8% of South Dakota women and 23.6% of South Dakota men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking.

• Half of South Dakota intimate partner homicides in 2020 were committed with firearms

• On one day in 2020, 55% of the domestic violence programs in South Dakota served 367 victims and received 62 hotline calls. Twenty-five requests for services went unmet due to lack of resources.

source: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence