Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing

by Norm Stamper

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN AMERICA Nearly one in every three adult women experiences at least one domestic violence assault as an adult. Four million American women are victims of a serious assault by an intimate partner during an average 12-month period. Every year about 600,000 men are arrested for violence against women. Women are six times less likely to report violence by an intimate partner than by a stranger. At least 1,300 women are killed each year by an intimate partner (mostly by handguns); spotty reporting leads some experts to put the number at between 1,500-4,000. Every year approximately 3 million cases of child abuse are reported to official agencies such as child protective services. Approximately 1,300 children die of child abuse or neglect every year. Fifty-seven percent of children under 12 who are murdered are killed by a parent. In a given year, 3.3 million kids are exposed to violence by male family members against their mothers or female caretakers. Sixteen to 34 percent of girls and 10 to 20 percent of boys are sexually abused, most by a family member or trusted family friend. A family member is involved in nearly one-third of the murders of people aged 60 or older.