Statistics on Violence Against Women
Murder
Partners
Non-partners
Prevalence
Child sexual abuse
Against Women
Justice system
- An average of 14 women are murdered every year in family violence incidents (NZ Police statistics)
- Between 2000 and 2004, 56 women were murdered in family violence incidents - 45 of these women were murdered by their partner or ex-partner (compared to 26 men murdered in total, with 3 of those who were murdered by their female partner or ex partner) (NZ Police statistics)
Partners
- 33-39% of women experience intimate partner violence (physical and sexual) in their lifetime (Janet Fanslow & Elizabeth Robinson, Violence against Women in New Zealand; Prevalence and health consequences. New Zealand Medical Journal. 117(1206) 2004)
- 14-20% of women experience sexual violence from their partners in their lifetime (Janet Fanslow & Elizabeth Robinson 2004- as above)
- 19-23% of women experience severe physical violence from a partner (Janet Fanslow & Elizabeth Robinson 2004- as above)
Non-partners
- 9-12% of women experience sexual violence (including rape) by non-partners during their lifetime (Janet Fanslow & Elizabeth Robinson 2004- as above)
- 15-17% of women are beaten or physically assaulted by a non-partner in their life time
Prevalence
- 4% of women have experienced sexual violence in the previous year (Mayhew & Reilly, 2007)
- 24-28% of women said they experienced some form of sexual abuse in their childhood (Janet Fanslow, Elizabeth Robinson, Sue Crengle & Lana Perese, Child Abuse and Neglect, 2007)
- 26% of female high school students reported having unwanted sexual contact (Terry Fleming, Peter Watson, Elizabeth Robinson et al., Violence and New Zealand Young People: Findings of Youth 2000 – a national secondary school youth health and wellbeing survey, 2007)
- 40% of female high school students report being hit or physically hurt by others, on purpose, in the last year. Female students were most likely to be hurt at home by family members. 10% of females report being hit more 3 times or more in the last year (Terry Fleming, Peter Watson, Elizabeth Robinson et al, as above)
Child sexual abuse
- Compared with non-victims, victims of child sexual abuse were twice as likely to violence from partners and non-partners as adults (Janet Fanslow, Elizabeth Robinson, et al, as above)
- 14.3% of girls (and 2.9% of boys) have experienced child sexual abuse before the age of 17 (Alison Morris et al. The New Zealand National Survey of Crime Victims 2001, Ministry of Justice, 2003)
Against Women
- 92% of those who apply for a Protection Order under the Domestic Violence Act are women (Ministry of Justice statistics)19% of women (and 5% of men) say they have experienced sexual violence at some time in their lives (Alison Morris et al, as above)
- Young women and Maori women are at an even greater risk of becoming victims of sexual violence (Alison Morris et al, as above)
- 70% of those experiencing elder abuse are women (Age Concern, 2006)
Justice system
- 91% of sexual offences are not reported to Police (New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey, 2006)
- The conviction rate for all sexual offences in 2004-2006 was 46% compared with 55% of all violent crimes and 70% for total crime (Ministry of Justice statistics)
- Each murder costs New Zealand $3.9 million, each sexual violation offence costs $304,370 and each grievous assault costs the country $30,430 (Tim Roper & Andrew Thompson, Estimating the costs of crime in New Zealand in 2003/04, 2006)