The District Attorney's office filed 2718 criminal domestic violence cases. Each month local battered women's shelters provided confidential safe housing for 82 women and children. Most people think of domestic violence as physical abuse between partners in a relationship. What is important to know is that domestic violence is not just between married persons. Domestic violence also occurs between non-married persons whether of the same or opposite sex, and between relatives such as elderly parents and their adult children.
Domestic violence cuts across all socioeconomic classes, ages, sexes, races, and religious groups.
Experts believe that domestic violence is more than just physical violence. It is one person's exercise of power and control over another. Some experts believe that there is a cycle to the violence which includes periods of remorse and reconciliation before the tension and violence once again begin. One thing that experts agree on is that without appropriate intervention, the violence will most certainly increase in frequency and severity. Imposing power and control over a partner or relative are common behaviors that exist prior to actual physical violence.