Three to four million American women are battered each year. Battering often starts, or becomes worse, during pregnancy. Once violence begins, it tends to increase over time and becomes more severe. Two-thirds of men who are violent toward their partners commit acts of violence toward their children. Most people, even survivors, do not know these basic facts about domestic violence.
Perpetrators can attend batterers' intervention programs.
Domestic violence is a complex and often cyclical pattern of abusive behavior within an intimate relationship where one partner feels entitled to have power and control over the other. Domestic violence is one of the most serious problems in our society today. Domestic violence can go unrecognized or unacknowledged. It can result, and often does, in serious injury or death. Children who witness violence are at a higher risk for becoming the next generation of abusers.