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Cost of Domestic Violence
Stats and Facts:
A 2004 study estimated the cost of intimate partner violence against women from national data collected from 1995. Costs incurred were as follows:
• $32 million for rapes
• $4.2 billion for physical assault
• $342 million for stalking
• $893 million for murders
Calculations took into account direct and indirect costs: medical care, mental health services, and productivity lost. When updated to 2003 dollars, the cost of intimate partner violence against women total over $8.3 billion.
Health care costs for victims of IPV are almost twice that of age-matched non-victims.
Author / Date of Study |
Costs Included |
$ Estimate |
Straus, 1986 |
Intrafamily violence |
$1.7 billion |
Daro, 1988 |
Medical costs
Rehabilitation & special education
Foster care
Lost productivity |
$20 million
$7 million
$7.1 billion
$.6 - 1.3 billion |
Meyer, 1992 |
Medical treatment / lost productivity |
$5-10 billion |
Dayaranta, 1992 |
National health care costs |
$6.5 billion |
Zorza, 1994 |
National health care costs |
$31 billion |
Miller, Cohen, & Wiersema, 1994 |
Medical bills, out-of-pocket expenses, property losses, productivity losses, pain, suffering, lost quality of life |
$67 billion |
The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control estimates the direct medical and mental health care costs exceed $4 billion.
References:
1. Max, W., Rice, D.P., Finkelstein, E., Bardwell, R.A. & Leadbetter, S. (2004). The economic toll of intimate partner violence against women in the United States. Violence and Victims, 19, 259-272.
2. Wisner, C.L., Gilmer, T.P., Salztman, L.E. & Zink, T.M. (1999). Intimate partner violence against women: do victims cost health plans more? The Journal of Family Practice, 48(6), 439-43.
3. National Research Council & Institute of Medicine (1998). Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs. National Academy Press, Washington: DC.
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