GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence

United Sta s Government Accountability Office

Washingto , DC 20548 

te

n

November 13, 2006 

Congressional Committees 

Subject: Prevalence of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and 

Stalking 

In hearings conducted between 1990 and 1994, Congress noted that violence against 

women was a problem of national scope and that the majority of crimes associated 

with domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking were perpetrated against women. 

These hearings culminated in the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act 

(VAWA) in 1994 to address these issues on a national level.1

 VAWA established grant 

programs within the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services 

(HHS) for state, local, and Indian tribal governments and communities. These grants 

have various purposes, such as providing services to victims and training for law 

enforcement officers and prosecutors. The 2006 reauthorization of VAWA expanded 

existing grant programs and added new programs addressing, among other things, 

young victims, the housing and economic needs of victims, and the health care 

system’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.2

The total fiscal year 2006 appropriation level for violence against women programs is 

about $560 million—approximately $382 million for programs administered by DOJ 

and about $178 million for programs administered by HHS.3

 

Although criminal justice, health, and domestic violence experts believe that valid 

and reliable estimates have the potential to be of use to policy makers, service 

providers, and researchers, there are concerns that current crime statistics do not 

provide a full assessment of the problem. The Violence Against Women and DOJ 

Reauthorization Act of 2005, enacted January 5, 2006, requires GAO to conduct a 

study and report on data indicating the prevalence of domestic violence, dating 

violence, sexual assault, and stalking among men, women, youth, and children, as 

well as services available to these victims.4

 We developed two objectives to respond 

to this mandate. 

 

1

Pub. L. No. 103-322, §§ 40001-703, 108 Stat. 1796, 1902-55 (1994). 

2

Pub. L. No. 109-162, tits. I-VII, 119 Stat. 2960, 2972-3053 (2006). 

3

These amounts reflect the across-the-board rescission reductions of 1 percent for fiscal year 2006 

discretionary appropriations. 

4

Pub. L. No. 109-162, § 119, 119 Stat. 2960, 2989-90 (2006). 
1. To what extent do national data collection efforts report prevalence of 

men, women, youth, and children who are victims of domestic violence, 

sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking? 

2. What support services (e.g., counseling, medical, legal, etc.) are available to 

victims of these categories of crime and what are the number and 

characteristics of victims receiving these services by type of service? 

This report addresses the first objective. Our work on the second objective is 

ongoing. 

To assess the extent to which national data collection efforts report prevalence of 

victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, we 

obtained information from and interviewed officials at DOJ’s Office of Justice 

Programs’ Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, and Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office on Violence Against Women, and 

Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division. We 

also obtained information and interviewed officials at HHS’s National Institutes of 

Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury 

Prevention and Control—Division of Violence Prevention. Further, we gathered 

information from research and advocacy organizations related to the crimes under 

study, including the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council; 

Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting; Men’s Health Network; Rape, 

Abuse, and Incest National Network; National Center for Victims of Crime; National 

Domestic Violence Hotline; and Stalking Resource Center. We reviewed pertinent 

federal laws and conducted literature searches, focusing on reporting systems and 

surveys from which results were issued or reported since 2001.5

 However, we did not 

independently evaluate the methodology used in any of these studies and we are not 

making any assessments regarding their overall merit. 

In October 2006, we briefed your offices on the results of our work or provided a 

copy of our briefing slides to your staff. This report conveys the information provided 

during those discussions. 

We conducted our work from April through October 2006 in accordance with 

generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Results 

Since 2001, the amount of national research that has been conducted on the 

prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault has been limited, and even less 

research has been conducted on dating violence and stalking. No single, 

comprehensive effort currently exists that provides nationwide statistics on the 

prevalence of these four categories of crime among men, women, youth, and 

children. Rather, various national efforts address certain subsets of these crime 

categories among some segments of the population. For example, the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System, 

 5

Some of these systems and surveys obtain information about incidents not reported to police or other 

authorities. 

Page 2 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
which collects incident-based data from multiple sources, such as coroner/medical 

examiner reports, gathers information on violent deaths, including those resulting 

from domestic violence and sexual assaults. This system and the other national data 

collection efforts were not intended to provide comprehensive estimates on the 

prevalence associated with domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and 

stalking. Some of these national data collection efforts focus largely on incidence—

the number of separate times a crime is committed against individuals during a 

specific time period—rather than prevalence—the unique number of individuals who 

were victimized during a specific time period.6

 Obtaining both incidence and 

prevalence data is important for determining services to provide to victims of crimes. 

In addition, HHS noted that both types of data are important for determining the 

impact of violence and strategies to prevent it from occurring. Table 1 in the attached 

briefing slides (see enc. II, p. 29) shows the 11 national efforts we identified that have 

reported data since 2001 on certain aspects of domestic violence, sexual assault, 

dating violence, and stalking. More detailed information about these efforts is 

contained at the end of enclosure II. 

The national data collection efforts we reviewed cannot provide a basis for 

combining their results to compute valid and reliable nationwide prevalence 

estimates because the efforts use varying definitions. For example, CDC’s Youth Risk 

Behavior Surveillance System’s definition of dating violence included the intentional 

physical harm inflicted upon a survey respondent by a boyfriend or girlfriend. In 

contrast, the Victimization of Children and Youth Survey’s definition did not address 

whether the physical harm was intentional. Officials from the National Institute of 

Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) acknowledge that estimating 

prevalence in the absence of widely accepted and used uniform definitions is a 

challenge. 

Certain agencies have taken steps to build consistency in some of their collection 

efforts. For example, CDC, in collaboration with the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) 

and others, established uniform definitions for certain forms of domestic violence in 

1999 and for sexual assault in 2002, with the intent of promoting and improving 

consistency among the research community. CDC and OJP encourage but do not 

require grantees to use these definitions as part of their research efforts and cannot 

always use these definitions in their own work. Although CDC and OJP acknowledge 

that using standard definitions of these offenses may be advantageous, they believe 

there are circumstances that preclude such use. For example, CDC officials said that 

some of the current data collection efforts, such as the Youth Risk Behavior 

Surveillance System, were developed before CDC established the uniform definitions. 

They also said it would be difficult to alter the definitions used in these efforts 

because the efforts continue to be used to provide comparable data to measure 

trends over time in the United States. However, in 2004, the National Academy of 

Sciences’ National Research Council reported that top priority should be given to 

developing clear definitions and cautioned that without consistency in the use of 

terms across studies, accurate prevalence estimates will remain elusive. 

 6

The following hypothetical statement illustrates incidence and prevalence: 4,110 separate occurrences 

of domestic violence against women were reported during 1938 (incidence); whereas 2,500 women

were victims of these 4,100 occurrences (prevalence). 

Page 3 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Further, the national data collection efforts we reviewed cannot provide a basis for 

combining their results to compute valid and reliable nationwide prevalence 

estimates because the efforts have varying scopes in terms of the incidents and 

categories of victims that are included. For example, the National Child Abuse and 

Neglect Data System includes only reported sexual assaults against children, not 

unreported incidents. Furthermore, as noted earlier, CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior 

Surveillance System definition of dating violence includes intentional physical harm 

inflicted upon a survey respondent, but excludes youth who are not in grades 9-12 

and those who do not attend school. In contrast, the Victimization of Children and 

Youth Survey was addressed to youth ages 12 and older, or those who were at least in 

the sixth grade. 

Although perfect data may never exist because of the sensitivity of these crimes and 

the likelihood that not all occurrences will be disclosed, initiatives are under way to 

provide additional information related to the prevalence of these issues. For example: 

 

• Domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking initiatives: CDC, NIJ, and 

the Department of Defense are collaborating on a National Intimate Partner 

and Sexual Violence Survey to address certain forms of domestic violence, 

sexual assault, and stalking. CDC reported that it expects the survey to be fully 

administered by 2008. Although the survey will gather information regarding 

experiences that occurred during an individual’s life span, it will not be 

administered to people under age 18. 

• Other stalking initiatives: The Office on Violence Against Women and BJS 

told us that they collaborated to conduct the National Crime Victimization 

Survey—Stalking Supplement and expect to report results in the summer of 

2007. According to BJS, this survey will obtain information about the identity 

of the stalker, nature of the stalking incidents, consequences to the victim, and 

actions the victim took about the incident, including whether it was reported 

to the police. However, while this supplement will gather data on stalking 

incidents involving adult victims, it will not collect information on stalking 

associated with youth ages 12-17. 

• Other domestic violence and sexual assault initiatives: CDC began collecting 

data through a telephone survey on intimate partner violence and sexual 

violence as part of its ongoing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. In 

2005, CDC administered the intimate partner violence module to 

approximately 77,000 people in 16 states and administered the sexual violence 

module to about 115,000 people in 26 states. 

In addition to these efforts, under an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

Prevention (OJJDP) grant, the University of New Hampshire is planning to conduct 

the National Study on Children’s Exposure to Violence. DOJ officials told us the data 

will be collected from September 2007 to June 2008, and OJJDP officials said that the 

study will assess variations in incidence and lifetime prevalence of children’s 

exposure to a broad array of violence and abuse. Furthermore, NIJ recently 

sponsored two seminars aimed at identifying key issues related to measuring the 

Page 4 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
prevalence of dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault against women, 

improving interagency coordination on these issues, and highlighting the results of 

the latest efforts on domestic violence and sexual assault. 

If these efforts are completed as planned, CDC and DOJ will make progress in

collecting information needed to determine the extent to which men, women, youth, 

and children are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and 

stalking. However, some information gaps will remain, particularly in the areas of 

dating violence among victims age 12 and older and stalking among victims under age 

18. 

To cost-effectively address information gaps, it is important to consider additional 

costs that would be incurred in collecting new or different data as well as the 

usefulness of such data. It is equally important to consider the benefits resulting 

from the use of these data (different allocations of resources) and the availability of 

funds to collect such data (a cost-benefit analysis). According to DOJ officials, a 

cost-benefit analysis should precede any future large-scale effort aimed at national 

prevalence estimates. 

Conclusions 

Current national data collection efforts cover portions of domestic violence, sexual 

assault, dating violence, and stalking among different segments of the population. 

Because the efforts use different definitions and vary in scope, they cannot be 

combined and leveraged to determine the nationwide prevalence of these categories 

of crime. The absence of comprehensive nationwide prevalence information 

somewhat limits the ability to make informed policy and resource allocation 

decisions about the statutory requirements and programs created to help address 

these four categories of crime and victims. Although policymakers may never have 

perfect data, DOJ and HHS have collaborated to obtain more uniformity across 

research efforts and have initiatives in the early stages that could be used to collect 

information regarding the prevalence of certain crimes for some segments of the 

population. However, some information gaps will remain. DOJ and HHS have not yet 

determined to what extent they can cost-effectively revise current efforts or design 

new initiatives so as to collect more consistent data that can be combined to better 

build nationwide estimates. To decide on the cost-effectiveness of obtaining better 

data, policymakers would need to consider the marginal costs to collect more or 

different data, the utility of obtaining better data, benefits to be derived from the use 

of better data (different allocations of resources), and availability of funds to gather 

better data. 

Recommendations for Executive Action 

To provide Congress and agency decision makers with more comprehensive 

information on the prevalence of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, 

and stalking to assist them in making policy decisions on grants and other issues 

associated with these four categories of crime, we are recommending that the 

Page 5 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services collaboratively 

take the following four actions: 

• determine the extent to which initiatives being planned or under way can be 

designed or modified to address existing information gaps; 

• identify and evaluate alternatives for addressing any remaining gaps; 

• incorporate such alternatives deemed cost-effective in future budget requests;

and 

• to the extent possible, require the use of common definitions when conducting 

or providing grants for federal research to leverage individual collection 

efforts so that the results of such efforts can be readily combined to achieve 

nationwide prevalence estimates.

Agency Comments 

We provided a draft copy of this report with the attached briefing slides to HHS and 

DOJ for comment. HHS provided formal written comments on a draft of this report 

on October 25, 2006, which are presented in enclosure III. In commenting on the 

draft report, HHS concurred with the recommendations and stated that it will 

continue to expand its collaborations with DOJ to improve data collection and 

monitoring of violence. HHS also provided technical comments, which we have 

incorporated as appropriate. 

 

DOJ declined to provide formal written comments on a draft of this report. However, 

DOJ provided technical comments on the draft briefing slides, which we incorporated 

as appropriate. In its technical comments, DOJ expressed concern regarding the 

potential costs associated with implementing our proposed recommendations and 

suggested that a cost-benefit analysis be conducted. We agree that performing a costbenefit analysis is a critical step, as acknowledged by our recommendation that DOJ 

and HHS incorporate alternatives for addressing information gaps deemed costeffective in future budget requests. DOJ officials also expressed concern that our 

work was primarily focused on issues associated with prevalence data. As discussed 

in this report and the attached briefing slides, we believe obtaining information on 

both prevalence and incidence data is important for determining services to provide 

to victims of crime. However, we did not conduct a detailed analysis of incidence 

data because doing so was outside the scope of our review. 

- - - - - - - - - - 

We are sending copies to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, the House Committee on Government Reform, the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services, the Attorney General, the Director of the Office of 

Management and Budget, and other interested parties. We will also make copies 

available to others on request. 

Page 6 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
In addition, the report will be available on GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov. 

If your office or staff have any questions concerning this report, please contact me at 

(202) 512-8777 or by e-mail at Larencee@gao.gov. Other GAO contacts and key 

contributors to this report are listed in enclosure IV. 

Eileen Regan Larence, Director 

Homeland Security and Justice Issues 

 

Enclosures (4) 

Page 7 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure I 

List of Committees 

The Honorable Arlen Specter 

Chairman 

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy 

Ranking Minority Member 

Committee on the Judiciary 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Michael B. Enzi 

Chairman 

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy 

Ranking Minority Member 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

United States Senate 

The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. 

Chairman 

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. 

Ranking Minority Member 

Committee on the Judiciary 

House of Representatives 

The Honorable Joe Barton 

Chairman 

The Honorable John D. Dingell 

Ranking Minority Member 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

House of Representatives 

Page 8 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

1

Prevalence of Domestic 

Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating 

Violence, and Stalking

Briefing to Congressional Committees

Page 9 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

2

Introduction

• In hearings conducted between 1990 and 1994, Congress noted that

violence against women was a problem of national scope and that the

majority of crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual assault, and 

stalking were perpetrated against women. These hearings culminated in

the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 to

address these issues on a national level.

1

• VAWA established grant programs within the Departments of Justice (DOJ)

and Health and Human Services (HHS) for state, local, and Indian tribal

governments and communities. These grants have various purposes, such 

as providing services to victims and training for law enforcement officers

and prosecutors. The total fiscal year 2006 appropriation level for violence

against women programs is about $560 million―approximately $382

million for programs administered by DOJ and about $178 million for 

programs administered by HHS.2

1Pub. L. No. 103-322, §§ 40001-703, 108 Stat. 1796, 1902-55 (1994). 2 These amounts reflect the across-the-board rescission reductions of 1 percent for fiscal year 2006

discretionary appropriations. 

Page 10 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

3

Introduction (cont’d.)

• Although the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported a decline in

family violence3 between 1993 and 2002, some service providers

and advocacy groups do not believe current crime statistics provide 

a full assessment of the problem.

• For example, National Domestic Violence Hotline officials 

cautioned that statistical reports must be used carefully

because they do not account for all cases of violence, such as

those that are unreported.4

3The Bureau of Justice Statistics defines “family violence” as all types of violent crime committed by an offender

who is related to the victim either biologically or legally, through marriage or adoption. 4While some data collection efforts, such as the National Crime Victimization Survey, obtain information from

Page 11 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

4

Introduction (cont’d.)

• Criminal justice, health, and domestic violence experts believe that

valid and reliable estimates have the potential to be of use to 

policymakers, service providers, researchers, and others in

determining the success of programs to combat domestic violence,

sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking and the need for 

changes or additions to these programs. 

• The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice 

Reauthorization Act of 2005, enacted January 5, 2006, requires 

GAO to conduct a study and report on data indicating the

prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,

and stalking among men, women, youth, and children, as well as

the services available to these victims.

5

survey participants about crimes not reported to the police, some survey participants may not disclose all

incidents of crime during the survey. 5Pub. L. No. 109-162, § 119, 119 Stat. 2960, 2989-90 (2006).

Page 12 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

5

Objectives

In responding to this mandate, we outlined two objectives. We 

assessed:

1. to what extent national data collection efforts report

prevalence of men, women, youth, and children who are 

victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, 

and stalking and 

2. the support services (e.g., counseling, medical, legal, etc.)

available to victims of these categories of crime and the 

numbers and characteristics of victims receiving these 

services by type of service.

This briefing addresses the first objective. Our work on the second

objective is ongoing.

Page 13 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

6

Scope and Methodology

• To address the first objective, we obtained information from and 

interviewed officials of the following key federal entities because

they are involved in ongoing efforts to (1) collect and maintain

information or (2) conduct or fund research to address certain 

aspects of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and 

stalking:

• DOJ

• Office of Justice Programs’ BJS, National Institute of 

Justice (NIJ), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention (OJJDP)

• Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)

• Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Criminal Justice 

Information Services Division

Page 14 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

7

Scope and Methodology (cont’d.)

• HHS

• National Institutes of Health

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control–

Division of Violence Prevention

Page 15 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

8

Scope and Methodology (cont’d.)

• Through research efforts, we also identified the following research

or advocacy organizations and contacted them to obtain information 

related to the prevalence of these categories of crime:

• National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council

• Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting 

• Men’s Health Network

• Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network

• National Center for Victims of Crime

• National Domestic Violence Hotline

• Stalking Resource Center

• We reviewed pertinent federal laws related to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

Page 16 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

9

Scope and Methodology (cont’d.)

• We conducted literature searches of DOJ publications, HHS

publications, prior GAO reports, Congressional Research Service 

reports, and the Internet. As a result, we reviewed information on 

pertinent national health and crime reporting systems and surveys 

that are ongoing, episodic, and onetime efforts, from federal and 

non-federal sources. To obtain recent information, we focused on 

reporting systems and surveys from which results were issued or

reported since 2001.6 We did not independently evaluate the 

methodology used in any of these studies.

• We attended an NIJ workshop that gathered representatives from 

various program and research funding agencies to discuss the 

results of recent research and data collection efforts.

• We conducted our work from April through October 2006 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. 

6Some of these systems and surveys obtain information about incidents not reported to police or other authorities.

Page 17 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

10

Results in Brief

• No single, comprehensive effort currently exists that provides 

nationwide statistics on the prevalence of these four categories of 

crime for men, women, youth, and children. Designing a single

effort would be costly given the resources required to collect such

data and may be duplicative of some existing efforts.

• Available national data collection efforts contain information on 

various subsets of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating 

violence, and stalking among certain segments of the population 

and were not intended to provide comprehensive estimates. 

Page 18 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

11

Results in Brief (cont’d.)

• Some of these efforts collect data on incidence rather than 

prevalence. Both are important for appropriately determining 

resources needed to provide services to victims of crimes.

• Incidence refers to the number of separate times a crime is

committed against individuals during a specific time period.

• Prevalence is the unique number of individuals who were

victimized during a specific time period.

Page 19 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

12

Results in Brief (cont’d.)

• We cannot combine the results of the various collection efforts to 

estimate the prevalence of these four categories of crime 

nationwide among all segments of the population because the 

efforts 

• use different definitions to measure the various offenses, and

• have varying scopes such as including different categories of 

victims and not always including estimates of unreported 

incidents.

• Several initiatives are under way that could help address some 

information gaps if they are completed as planned, but other gaps

will remain, such as in the area of dating violence. 

Page 20 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

13

Results in Brief (cont’d.)

• To provide Congress with more comprehensive information on the 

prevalence of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, 

and stalking to assist in carrying out its legislative and oversight 

agenda, we are recommending that DOJ and HHS

• determine the extent to which initiatives being planned or under

way can be designed to address existing gaps in information on

domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and 

stalking,

• identify and evaluate alternatives to address any remaining 

gaps,

Page 21 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

14

Results in Brief (cont’d.)

• incorporate alternatives deemed cost-effective in future budget 

requests, and 

• to the extent possible, require the use of common definitions 

when conducting or providing grants for federal research to 

leverage individual collection efforts so that the results of such 

efforts can be readily combined to achieve nationwide

prevalence estimates.

Page 22 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

15

Background

• Domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking are 

complex subjects. They can include many forms of violence, such

as verbal threats, physical assaults, murder, and rape and a wide 

range of victims (e.g., spouses, intimate partners, children, and 

other family members). 

• Some of these forms of violence have not always been considered

crimes.

• The offenses involved in these forms of violence, like most violent 

crimes, generally are prosecuted at the state and local levels.

Page 23 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

16

Background (cont’d.)

• VAWA created a number of grant programs to address domestic

violence, sexual assault, and stalking as well as authorized 

additional funding for domestic violence shelters.

7

• In 2000, during the reauthorization of VAWA, language was added 

to the law to provide greater emphasis on dating violence in efforts 

to address violence against women.

• The 2006 reauthorization of VAWA expanded existing grant

programs and added new programs addressing, among other

things, young victims, the housing and economic needs of victims,

and the health care system's response to domestic violence, dating

violence, sexual assault, and stalking.8

7Pub. L. No. 103-322, §§ 40121, 40151-52, 40231, 40241, 40295, 40602, 108 Stat. 1796, 1910-16, 1920-21, 1932-35, 1940-42, 1951.

8Pub. L. No. 109-162, tits. I-VII, 119 Stat. 2960, 2972-3053 (2006).

Page 24 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

17

Limited National Data Are Available to 

Estimate Prevalence

• Since 2001, the amount of national research that has been 

conducted on the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual

assault has been limited, and even less research has been 

conducted on dating violence and stalking.

• No single, comprehensive data collection effort has been conducted 

to determine the prevalence of these four categories of crime 

among men, women, youth, and children. Rather, various national

efforts address certain subsets of these categories of crime among 

some segments of the population and were not intended to provide 

comprehensive estimates.

Page 25 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

18

Limited National Data Are Available to 

Estimate Prevalence

• Designing a single, comprehensive data collection effort to address

these four categories of crime among all segments of the 

population independent of existing efforts would be costly, given the 

resources required to collect such data. Furthermore, it would be 

inefficient to duplicate some existing efforts that already collect data 

for certain aspects of these categories of crime.

• Some of these efforts focus largely on incidence rather than 

prevalence. 

• Incidence refers to the number of separate times a crime is

committed against individuals during a specific time period.

• Prevalence is the unique number of individuals who were

victimized during a specific time period.

Page 26 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

19

Limited National Data Are Available to 

Estimate Prevalence (cont’d.)

• The following hypothetical statements illustrate incidence and 

prevalence

• 4,110 separate occurrences of domestic violence against 

women were reported during 1938 (incidence), whereas

• 2,500 women were victims of these 4,110 occurrences

(prevalence).

• Obtaining both incidence and prevalence data is important for 

determining services to provide to victims of crimes. In addition, 

HHS noted that both types of data are important for determining the 

impact of violence and strategies to prevent it from occurring.

Page 27 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

20

Limited National Data Are Available to 

Estimate Prevalence

• The National Violence Against Women Prevention Research

Center reported that to effectively measure rape, it is important 

to determine how many rape cases have occurred (incidence)

and how many women have ever been raped (prevalence) to 

determine the level of services that the state will need to 

provide to victims.

9

• As reflected in table 1, we identified 11 national efforts that have

reported data on certain aspects of these categories of crime. 

These efforts provide a mixture of prevalence and incidence data. 

Additional information on these efforts is provided in appendix I.

9National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, “Rape in South Carolina: A Report to the State,”

April 9, 2003.

Page 28 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure II 

Briefing to Congressional Committees 

21

Limited National Data Are Available to 

Estimate Prevalence (cont’d.)

aAlthough BJS collects data that could be used to determine prevalence related to domestic violence and sexual assault, BJS has declined to produce prevalence estimates

because of the difficulties and complexities associated with the task. bThis system contains data only on fatalities, thus, an individual is entered into the system one time upon death. Therefore, the prevalence and incidence rates for data in

this system would be the same. 

Source: GAO’s analysis of national data collection efforts.

Injury Control and Risk Survey-2 Stalking Yes Yes

Sexual assault, dating Yes Yes

violence

The Victimization of Children and Youth: A Comprehensive National

Survey

Domestic violence, sexual Yes No

assault

The Harris Poll® #50

Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization: Findings from Sexual assault Yes Yes

the National Violence Against Women Survey

Domestic violence, sexual No Yes

assault

National Electronic Injury Surveillance System –All Injury Program

National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Sexual assault Yes No

Sexual assault, dating Yes No

violence

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

Domestic violence, sexual Yes Yes

assault

National Violent Death Reporting Systemb

Potentially Yes Dom a estic violence, sexual

assault

National Crime Victimization Survey

Domestic violence, sexual No Yes

assault, stalking

National Incident-Based Reporting System

Summary Uniform Crime Reporting Program Sexual assault No Yes

Incidence

data

Prevalence

data

Categories of

crime

Data collection effort

Table 1: National Data Collection Efforts with Results Reported or Issued since 2001 Relevant to

Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking

Page 29 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Varying Definitions and Scope Make It Difficult 

to Combine Results for Nationwide Estimates

• In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research 

Council reported that currently available information on prevalence

was inadequate because it had been derived from efforts with 

varying definitions and scope.

• The national data collection efforts we reviewed cannot provide a 

basis for combining their results to compute valid and reliable

nationwide prevalence estimates because the efforts use varying 

definitions and have varying scopes. 

Page 30 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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23

Varying Definitions Make It Difficult to Combine 

Results for Nationwide Estimates

• National data collection efforts currently available use different 

definitions to measure these various forms of violence.

• For example, CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance 

System’s definition of dating violence included the intentional

physical harm inflicted upon a survey respondent by a boyfriend 

or girlfriend. In contrast, the Victimization of Children and Youth 

Survey’s definition did not address whether the physical harm

was intentional.

• NIJ and BJS officials acknowledge that estimating prevalence in the 

absence of widely accepted and used uniform definitions is a 

challenge.

Page 31 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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24

Varying Definitions Make It Difficult to Combine 

Results for Nationwide Estimates (cont’d.)

• Agencies have taken steps to build consistency into some of their 

collection efforts. 

• For example, CDC, in collaboration with OJP and others, 

established uniform definitions for certain forms of domestic

violence in 1999 and for sexual assault in 2002, with the intent

of promoting and improving consistency among the research

community. CDC and OJP encourage but do not require 

grantees to use these definitions as part of their research

efforts and report they cannot always use these definitions in

their own work when these efforts began before the definitions

were developed. 

Page 32 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Varying Definitions Make It Difficult to Combine 

Results for Nationwide Estimates (cont’d.)

• Although CDC and OJP acknowledge that using standard definitions of 

these offenses may be advantageous, they believe there are

circumstances that preclude such use. 

• For example, CDC officials said that some of the current data 

collection efforts, such as the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance

System, were developed before CDC established the uniform

definitions. They also said it would be difficult to alter the 

definitions used in these efforts because the efforts continue to be 

utilized to provide comparable data to measure trends over time in

the United States. 

• In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council 

reported that top priority should be given to developing clear definitions

and cautioned that without consistency in the use of terms across 

studies, accurate prevalence estimates will remain elusive.

Page 33 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

26

Varying Scopes Make It Difficult to Combine Results 

for Nationwide Estimates

• National data collection efforts also have varying scopes in terms of the

incidents and categories of victims and that are included. 

• For example, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System

includes only reported sexual assaults against children, not unreported

incidents. 

• Furthermore, as noted earlier, CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior 

Surveillance System’s definition of dating violence includes intentional

physical harm inflicted upon a survey respondent in grades 9–12. In

contrast, the question on dating violence included in the Victimization 

of Children and Youth Survey was addressed to youth ages 12 and

older, or those who were at least in the sixth grade, but its definition of

dating violence did not address if the physical harm was intentional. 

• Without comparable information, including both reported and unreported

incidents, it is not possible to combine prevalence estimates from national

data collection efforts, and these efforts likely underestimate the

prevalence of these categories of crime.

Page 34 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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27

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps

• Perfect data may never exist because of the sensitive nature of

these issues and the likelihood that all occurrences related to 

domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking

will not be disclosed. However, initiatives are under way to

provide additional information related to the prevalence of these 

issues.

• If these efforts are completed as planned, CDC and DOJ will

make progress in collecting information needed to determine the 

extent to which men, women, youth, and children are victims of

these four categories of crime. However, some information 

gaps will remain, particularly in the areas of dating violence 

among victims ages 12 and older and stalking among victims 

under age 18.

Page 35 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

28

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps (cont’d.)

• To cost-effectively address information gaps, it is important to

consider additional costs that would be incurred in collecting 

new or different data as well as the usefulness of such data. 

It is equally important to consider the benefits resulting from 

the use of these data (different allocations of resources) and

the availability of funds to collect such data (a cost-benefit

analysis). 

• According to DOJ officials, no cost-benefit analysis has been

performed, and such an analysis should precede any future

large-scale effort aimed at national prevalence estimates.

Page 36 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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29

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps (cont’d.)

Domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking initiatives

• CDC, NIJ, and the Department of Defense are collaborating on 

a National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey to

address certain forms of domestic violence, sexual assault, and

stalking. CDC reported that it expects the survey to be fully 

administered by 2008. Although the survey will gather

information regarding experiences that occurred during an 

individual’s life span, it will not be administered to victims under

age 18. 

Page 37 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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30

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps (cont’d.) 

Other stalking initiatives

• OVW and BJS told us that they collaborated to conduct the 

National Crime Victimization Survey―Stalking Supplement and 

expect to report results in the summer of 2007. 

• According to BJS, this survey will obtain information about 

the identity of the stalker, nature of the stalking incidents, 

consequences to the victim, and actions the victim took

about the incident, including whether it was reported to the 

police.

• However, while this supplement will gather data on stalking incidents involving adult victims, it will not collect information 

on stalking associated with youth ages 12–17.

Page 38 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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31

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps (cont’d.)

Other domestic violence and sexual assault initiatives 

• CDC began collecting data through a telephone survey on 

intimate partner violence and sexual violence as part of its 

ongoing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. In 2005, 

CDC administered the intimate partner violence module to

approximately 77,000 people in 16 states and administered the 

sexual violence module to about 115,000 people in 26 states.

Page 39 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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32

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps (cont’d.)

• Under an OJJDP grant, the University of New Hampshire 

is planning to conduct the National Study on Children’s 

Exposure to Violence. DOJ officials told us the data will

be collected from September 2007 to June 2008. 

• OJJDP officials said that the study will assess

variations in incidence and lifetime prevalence of

children’s exposure to a broad array of violence and 

abuse.

Page 40 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

33

Recent Initiatives May Address Some 

Information Gaps (cont’d.)

• NIJ recently sponsored two seminars aimed at identifying key

issues related to measuring the prevalence of dating violence, 

domestic violence, and sexual assault against women, improving 

interagency coordination on these issues, and highlighting the 

results of the latest efforts on domestic violence and sexual 

assault.

• In July 2006, NIJ sponsored an interagency seminar to discuss 

challenges associated with measuring the prevalence of dating 

violence. 

• In August 2006, NIJ sponsored a Violence Against Women 

seminar for program and research funding agencies to present 

the results of recent prevalence studies and to discuss 

unresolved questions that may guide future research efforts.

Page 41 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

34

Conclusions

• Current national data collection efforts cover portions of these four

categories of crime among different segments of the victim

population. Because the efforts use different definitions and vary in

scope, they cannot be combined and leveraged to determine the 

nationwide prevalence of these categories of crime. 

• The absence of comprehensive nationwide prevalence information 

somewhat limits the ability to make informed policy and resource

allocation decisions about the statutory requirements and programs

created to help address these four categories of crime and victims.

Page 42 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

35

Conclusions (cont’d.)

• Although policymakers may never have perfect data, DOJ and HHS

have collaborated to obtain more uniformity across research efforts

and have initiatives in the early stages that could be used to collect 

information regarding the prevalence of certain crimes for some 

segments of the population. However, some information gaps will

remain.

• DOJ and HHS must determine to what extent they can costeffectively revise current efforts or design new initiatives so as to

collect more consistent data that can be combined to better build 

nationwide estimates.

Page 43 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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36

Conclusions (cont’d.)

• Policymakers need to decide whether it is worth the cost to obtain

better data. This decision should be based on judgments about the

• marginal costs to collect more or different data,

• utility of obtaining better data,

• benefits to be derived from the use of better data (different 

allocations of resources), and

• availability of funds to gather better data.

Page 44 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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37

Recommendations for Executive Action

• To provide Congress and agency decision makers with more

comprehensive information on the prevalence of domestic violence, 

sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking to assist them in 

making policy decisions on grants and other issues associated with 

these four categories of crime, we are recommending that the 

Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services

collaboratively take the following four actions:

• determine the extent to which initiatives being planned or under

way can be designed or modified to address existing

information gaps, 

•

Page 45 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

38

Recommendations for Executive Action

(cont’d.)

• identify and evaluate alternatives for addressing any remaining 

gaps, 

• incorporate such alternatives deemed cost-effective in future 

budget requests, and

• to the extent possible, require the use of common definitions 

when conducting or providing grants for federal research to 

leverage individual collection efforts so that the results of such 

efforts can be readily combined to achieve nationwide

prevalence estimates.

Page 46 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

39

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

• We provided draft copies of these briefing slides to HHS and DOJ

for comment. 

• HHS concurred with the recommendations and stated that it will

continue to expand its collaborations with DOJ to improve data 

collection and monitoring of violence. 

• HHS and DOJ provided technical comments, which we have

incorporated as appropriate. 

Page 47 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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40

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 

(cont’d.)

• In its technical comments, DOJ expressed concern regarding the 

potential costs associated with implementing our proposed 

recommendations and suggested that a cost-benefit analysis be 

conducted. We agree that performing a cost-benefit analysis is a 

critical step, as acknowledged by our proposed recommendation 

that DOJ and HHS incorporate alternatives for addressing 

information gaps deemed cost-effective in future budget requests.

• DOJ officials also expressed concern that our briefing was primarily

focused on issues associated with prevalence data. As discussed in

the briefing, we believe obtaining information on both prevalence 

and incidence data is important for determining services to provide 

to victims of crime. 

Page 48 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

Appendix I: National Data Collection Efforts with Results Reported or 

Issued since 2001 

We identified 11 national data collection efforts that address various aspects of domestic 

violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking from which results were reported or 

issued since 2001. The national data collection efforts are discussed in table 2 and include 

information on (1) the agency or sponsor responsible for conducting the effort; 

(2) whether domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking was included in 

the scope of the effort; (3) the frequency in which the effort is conducted; and (4) the data 

limitations associated with the determination of reliable prevalence estimates related to 

domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking on a national basis. These 

efforts provide a mixture of prevalence and incidence data. 

Table 2: National Data Collection Efforts with Results Reported or Issued since 2001 Relevant to Domestic Violence, 

Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking

Data collection

efforts Agency/sponsor Description

Categories of 

crime 

Data Collection 

Frequency

Data limitations associated

with the determination of 

reliable nationwide

prevalence estimates 

Summary 

Uniform Crime 

Reporting 

Program (UCR) 

http://www.fbi.go

v/ucr/ucr.htm

http://www.fbi.go

v/ucr/05cius/

Federal Bureau of 

Investigation 

Summary UCR is a 

DOJ statistical program 

designed to measure 

the magnitude, nature, 

and impact of certain 

crimes in the United 

States. More than 

17,000 law 

enforcement agencies 

nationwide (about 94 

percent of the total 

population in 2005) 

voluntarily report crime 

data brought to their 

attention to the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation, 

and findings are 

published in a detailed 

annual report. 

Sexual assault Ongoing • Does not include crimes 

that are not reported to 

the police. 

• This effort does not 

include the full range of 

sexual assaults (i.e., 

male rapes, forcible 

groping). 

• Does not include data on

prevalence. 

National IncidentBased Reporting 

System (NIBRS) 

http://www.fbi.go

v/ucr/ucr.htm

http://www.fbi.go

v/filelink.html?file

=/ucr/cius_03/pdf

/03sec5.pdf 

See PDF file 

page 5 (report 

page 341) under 

center column 

heading labeled

“DATA”. 

Federal Bureau of 

Investigation 

NIBRS is an incidentbased reporting system 

designed to collect 

more detailed 

information than is 

reported under the 

traditional Summary 

UCR program. 

According to DOJ, to 

date about 33 percent 

of the 17,000 law 

enforcement agencies 

nationwide report crime 

information to the FBI 

using NIBRS. 

Domestic 

violence, sexual 

assault, stalking

Ongoing • Does not include crimes 

that are not reported to 

the police. 

• Currently, 30 states as 

well as the District of 

Columbia are NIBRS 

certified. Of these, 10 

have participation from all 

law enforcement 

agencies in their state. 

• Does not include data on

prevalence. 

Page 49 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

Data collection

efforts Agency/sponsor Description

Categories of 

crime 

Data Collection 

Frequency

Data limitations associated

with the determination of 

reliable nationwide

prevalence estimates 

National Crime

Victimization 

Survey (NCVS)

http://www.ojp.us

doj.gov/bjs/cvict.

htm

http://www.ojp.us

doj.gov/bjs/abstra

ct/cv05.htm

Bureau of Justice 

Statistics 

NCVS is a DOJ 

statistical program 

designed to measure 

the magnitude, nature, 

and impact of certain 

crimes in the United 

States, including crimes 

reported and not 

reported to the police. 

Twice a year, the U.S. 

Census Bureau

interviews household 

members ages 12 and 

over in a nationally 

representative sample 

of approximately 

42,000 households 

(about 75,000 people). 

Domestic 

violence, sexual 

assault 

Ongoing • Does not include 

individuals under age 12. 

• Does not include 

individuals not living in a 

household. 

• Does not include 

homicides. 

• Although BJS collects 

data that could be used 

to determine prevalence 

related to domestic 

violence and sexual 

assault, BJS has declined 

to produce prevalence 

estimates because of the 

difficulties and 

complexities associated

with the task. 

National Violent

Death Reporting

System (NVDRS) 

http://www.cdc.g

ov/ncipc/profiles/

nvdrs/facts.htm

http://www.cdc.g

ov/mmwr/preview

/mmwrhtml/mm5

415a1.htm

Centers for Disease 

Control and 

Prevention 

NVDRS collects

incident-based data 

from multiple sources, 

such as death 

certificates, 

coroner/medical 

examiner reports, and 

police reports. 

Information is collected 

about the relationship 

between victims and 

suspects as well as 

circumstances 

preceding the death, 

such as whether 

intimate partner 

violence was involved. 

Domestic 

Violence, 

sexual assault 

Ongoing • Does not include 

incidents other than 

violent deaths.

• NVDRS is used in 17 

states. 

Youth Risk 

Behavior 

Surveillance 

System (YRBSS) 

http://www.cdc.g

ov/healthyyouth/y

rbs/overview.htm

http://www.cdc.g

ov/mmwr/preview

/mmwrhtml/mm5

519a3.htm

Centers for Disease 

Control and 

Prevention 

YRBSS collects data 

through a nationally 

representative schoolbased survey of 

students in grades 9-12

that monitors priority 

health risk behaviors 

that contribute to the 

leading causes of 

death, disability, and 

social problems among 

youth and adults in the 

United States. Students 

are asked to complete 

a self-administered 

questionnaire covering

a variety of health risk 

behaviors and topics. 

Sexual assault, 

dating 

violence 

Biennial • Does not include 

individuals who do not 

attend school. 

• Excludes students in 

grades other than 9-12. 

• Respondents are asked 

only one question on 

physical dating violence 

and only one question on 

sexual assault. 

Page 50 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

Data collection

efforts Agency/sponsor Description

Categories of 

crime 

Data Collection 

Frequency

Data limitations associated

with the determination of 

reliable nationwide

prevalence estimates 

National Child 

Abuse and 

Neglect Data 

System 

(NCANDS) 

http://www.acf.hh

s.gov/programs/c

b/systems/

http://www.acf.hh

s.gov/programs/c

b/stats_research/

index.htm#can

Children’s Bureau, 

Administration on 

Children, Youth and 

Families, 

Administration for 

Children and 

Families 

NCANDS is a voluntary 

system that currently 

collects annual caselevel child abuse and 

neglect data from 

almost all states (48 

states and the District 

of Columbia for fiscal 

year 2005) as well as 

key aggregated child 

abuse and neglect 

statistics from all states’ 

child protective services 

agencies. 

Sexual 

assault 

Ongoing • Excludes data on abused 

children not reported to 

child protective service 

agencies. 

National 

Electronic Injury 

Surveillance 

System–All Injury 

Program (NEISSAIP) 

http://www.cpsc.g

ov/cpscpub/pubs/

3002.html

http://www.cdc.g

ov/mmwr/preview

/mmwrhtml/mm5

121a3.htm

Centers for Disease 

Control and 

Prevention and the 

Consumer Product 

Safety Commission 

NEISS-AIP collects 

data about all types and 

external causes of 

nonfatal injuries and 

poisonings treated in 

emergency 

departments in a 

subset of a nationally 

representative sample 

of 100 U.S. hospitals. 

The system collects 

data about the 

relationship of the 

perpetrator to the victim 

(e.g., spouse, parent), 

as well as the context 

of the crime (e.g., 

sexual assault). 

Domestic 

violence, sexual 

assault 

Ongoing • Does not include injuries 

that are not reported to 

an emergency room. 

• Does not include data on

prevalence. 

Extent, Nature, 

and 

Consequences of 

Rape 

Victimization: 

Findings from the 

National Violence 

Against Women 

Survey (January 

2006) 

http://www.ojp.us

doj.gov/nij/pubssum/210346.htm

Centers for Disease 

Control and 

Prevention and

National Institute of 

Justice 

This report was 

prepared using data 

collected in a telephone 

survey administered to 

a sample of 8,000 

women and 8,005 men. 

Although this report 

was issued in 2006, the 

data were originally 

collected from 

November 1995 to May 

1996 to obtain 

information about 

lifetime experiences 

with various types of 

violence. 

Sexual assault Onetime • Does not include 

individuals that do not live 

in a residential 

household. 

• Does not include 

individuals under age 18. 

• Data are over 10 years 

old. 

• Does not include 

individuals without a 

telephone. 

Page 51 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Briefing to Congressional Committees 

Data collection

efforts Agency/sponsor Description

Categories of 

crime 

Data Collection 

Frequency

Data limitations associated

with the determination of 

reliable nationwide

prevalence estimates 

The Harris Poll® 

#50 (June 2006) 

http://www.harrisi

nteractive.com/h

arris_poll/index.a

sp?PID=677

Harris Interactive An online survey of 

2,377 adult 

respondents ages 18 

and older was 

conducted to gauge the 

magnitude of domestic 

violence in the United 

States. 

Domestic 

violence, sexual 

assault 

Onetime • Does not include 

individuals under age 18. 

• Does not include 

individuals without a 

computer or Internet 

access. 

• Non-probability sample. 

The Victimization 

of Children and

Youth: A 

Comprehensive, 

National Survey

(February 2005) 

http://www.unh.e

du/ccrc/pdf/CV74

.pdf

University of New 

Hampshire and

University of North 

Carolina at Chapel 

Hill 

This survey examined a 

large spectrum of 

violence, crime, and 

victimization 

experiences in a 

nationally 

representative sample 

of about 2,000 children 

and youth ages 2 to 17 

years in the contiguous 

United States. 

Telephone interviews 

were conducted with 

1,000 children age 10

to 17 years and the 

caregivers for 1,030 

children age 2 to 9 

years. 

Sexual assault, 

dating violence

Onetime • Does not include 

individuals over age 17. 

• Does not include 

individuals without a 

telephone. 

Injury Control 

and Risk Survey2 (2006) 

http://www.ajpmonline.net/article/

PIIS0749379706

00167X/abstract

Centers for Disease 

Control and 

Prevention 

The first survey, 

conducted in 1994, 

involved a nationally 

representative 

telephone survey of 

5,238 individuals aged 

18 and older, and the 

results were reported in 

1999. The second 

national telephone 

survey, conducted from 

2001 to 2003, collected 

data from a nationally 

representative sample 

of 9,684 respondents 

(4,877 women and 

4,807 men). 

Stalking Episodic • Does not include 

individuals under age 18. 

• Does not include 

individuals without a 

telephone. 

Source: GAO analysis of national data collection efforts.

Page 52 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
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Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services 

Page 53 GAO 07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence
Enclosure IV 

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact: Eileen R. Larence, (202) 512-8777 

Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the contact named above, Debra B. Sebastian, Assistant Director; David 

P. Alexander; Frances Cook; Katherine M. Davis; Melissa Hermes; Varflay C. Kesselly; 

Deborah Ortega; and Clarence Tull made key contributions to this report. 

(440497)

Page 54 GAO-07-148R Prevalence of Domestic Violence