The primary concern of the courts and criminal justice system should revolve around the child. Consideration must be given as to how the abuser's violence is affecting every member of the household. The realities of battered women must be examined in order to comprehend fully how the law is being applied. The primary cause of violent injury to women is battery. 23 Women are more likely to be assaulted, killed or raped by a current or former intimate partner than by a stranger.
Abuse of women occurs in all socioeconomic levels, all races, and in all neighborhoods.
A woman who has been victimized initially has at least a 32 percent chance of being abused again in the next six months.