Domestic violence rates drop sharply

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Domestic violence rates fell sharply between 1993 and 2004, the Justice Department said Thursday, while noting that American Indian women and native Alaskan women are far more likely to be victimized than whites and other minorities.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics said "intimate partner violence" rates fell by more than 50 percent, a decline that some domestic violence experts attributed to increased training and awareness among law enforcement officials.
"For the first time, there are entire domestic violence units in law enforcement," said Lonna Stevens, director of the Sheila Wellstone Institute, a Minnesota-based domestic violence organization. "We've had protocols and policies developed for responding to this."
In 1993, there were about 5.8 incidents of nonfatal violence for every 1,000 U.S. residents above the age of 12. By 2004, that number had fallen to 2.6, the agency said. Homicides fell by about 30 percent, from 2,269 in 1993 to 1,544 in 2004.
The Justice Department defines intimate partner violence as violence by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend or a same-sex partner.
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