The Violence Against Women Act provides funding to help victims and prosecute offenders of crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking.
Domestic violence
• One in four U.S. adult women is a victim of domestic violence in her lifetime.
• Three women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in America.
• In 2011, Colorado’s domestic violence crisis centers responded to more than 61,000 crisis calls, a 58 percent increase since 2006.
• Nearly 7,000 domestic abuse victims in Colorado were turned away from emergency shelters in 2011 due to lack of space.
• Since VAWA passed in 1994, reporting of domestic violence increased as much as 51 percent.
Sexual assault
• 1 in 4 women in Colorado — and 1 in 17 men — experience a sexual assault in their lifetimes.
•
Two-thirds of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.
• Nearly 80 percent of female rape victims experience their first rape before the age of 25.
• Victims of sexual assault are six times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.
• Rape survivors supported by advocates were 59 percent more likely to file police reports.
At risk
• Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
• 45 percent of LGBT victims seeking help from domestic violence shelters in the U.S. are turned away.
• 34 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes.
• 83 percent of developmentally disabled women have been sexually assaulted.
— Compiled by Lisa Wirthman
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Moving to End Sexual Assault; National Coalitition of Anti-Violence Programs; National Instutute of Justice, Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network; Violence Against Women Research and Outreach Initiative;
Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Violence; Colorado Coalition Aginst Domestic Violence
