While all the other articles you have read so far are only about domestic violence statistics by state, we narrowed the topic even more and determined 15 cities with the highest domestic violence rates in the US. To clear things from the start, you should know our domestic violence statistics by a city aren’t based on the number of women homicides per state (which has too often been quoted as the most reliable indicator).
The reason why we decided to deal with such an alarming and pressing issue isn’t to cause some decrease in city tourism, but to raise the awareness about domestic level on several levels. Domestic violence is one of the worst and most disturbing experiences a person can have, particularly due to the “domestic” attribute. A family is supposed to make you feel safe and protected, not the other way around. Secondly, while one would never put up with such behavior and abuse if it came from a friend, it is a completely different story when it comes to a family member. A parent or a partner is someone you have a strong emotional bond with, and it is hard to break, no matter how simple and straightforward it may seem. To a neutral observer, everything seems obvious, and the warning signs are more than transparent. But a victim’s vision is usually blurred by strong emotions coming from mutual past.
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Nevertheless, after a certain amount of time, even the most optimistic sufferers realize it’s time to run for your life, (and life of the children, too). This breaking point usually comes too late. That’s why we have that unfortunate domestic violence statistics nowadays. As we are told by the Huffington Post, every minute there are 20 people who are becoming victims of partner violence. A woman has 70% more chance to be murdered after leaving her intimate partner. From 2003 to 2014, a total of 10,018 were murdered, and more than half of those murders were intimate partner violence-related. Sadly, black women population is more vulnerable than the others. Why is this all happening? One of the culprits is the feeling of great shame. How can one admit to herself what horror she is going through? Then again, it’s not as if the awareness of how horrible domestic abuse is has always been on this level. Domestic violence 1950s statistics are hilarious. What else could be said when proper spanking was highly recommendable to keep the “peace” at home.
In order to determine the highest rates of domestic violence in the US cities, we read a report by Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) in which we found an interesting relation between homelessness and domestic violence. Namely, according to different studies, more than 80% of mothers with children became homeless in order to run away from domestic abuse. Bearing in mind that most victims of domestic violence are women, and having this huge number of homeless women and children, the connection was clear. American cities with the biggest number of homeless people are also the cities with the highest domestic violence rates in the US. Along with the facts, it’s actually pretty logical. The majority of victims have a problem that they don’t have anyone to turn to. Most of them lose friends and family in the process hiding and denying their torture. Shockingly, in just one day in 2015, there were over 30,000 people and children begging for shelter and running away from abuse. Over 12,000 appeals couldn’t be solved. Where do you think those poor people ended up? Probably in the streets.
Once we concluded homelessness was the best indicator, it was time to put together our original domestic violence statistics for the US. For that reason, we took the numbers of homeless people from the Washington Post, Daily Forest, The Sacramento Bee, ABC30, Pacific Standard and American Council on Science and Health. However, simply ranking them from the lowest to the highest figure wasn’t good enough since we’re talking about domestic violence rates. Therefore, we divided the number of the homeless and the population number to see what percentage of the city population lives on the streets (the population numbers were obtained from World Population Review and Moving).
To see how this problem has escalated globally, and learn more about highest domestic violence rates in the world read 15 Countries with Highest Rates of Domestic Violence in the World in 2018.
Finally, here are 15 cities with the highest domestic violence rates in the US. Ironically, they are all wonderful touristy places (so much different from Alaska, the state which has the highest domestic violence rates).
15. Fresno
Fresno County had 6,000 calls to 911 in 2016, which is worrying. What is an even bigger problem is how many cases aren’t reported at all. This is probably just a tip of the iceberg, just as is the case with all the other cities. As we have mentioned before, victims are usually too embarrassed, petrified or desperate to officially report the abuse.
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