In a 2015 survey, more than half of survivors of domestic violence said calling police would make things worse. The women named multiple obstacles, including distrust of law enforcement and fear of retaliation from their partner. TK Logan and Rob Valente authored the report based on conversations with women who used the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

The Collective Healing and Transformation (CHAT) Project is one of the few programs in the nation to offer a restorative justice approach to domestic violence. This report shares findings from a pilot program in Contra Costa County, California.

A 2024 study by the University of California San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health and Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute has quantified the economic impact of intimate partner violence in California, with a shocking economic burden of $73.7 billion annually.

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In a 2017 survey of victim advocates and attorneys, 78% of advocates reported that immigrant survivors expressed concerns about contacting the police.

Between 22 and 57% of all women experiencing homelessness report that domestic violence was the immediate cause.

According to 2016-17 CDC data, up to 20% of women and up to 15.5% of men first experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner before they turned 18.

Teen dating violence is widespread: the CDC’s 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that 1 in 12 U.S. high school students experienced physical violence, and the same amount experienced sexual violence in a dating relationship.

DVROs are California courts’ most frequently issued protective order, according to a 2024 report from Attorney General Rob Bonta. From 2020 to 2023, judges issued 361,980 DVROs.  

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In this same period, the attorney general’s report found a 12% increase in DVROs issued throughout California. Within this amount, there was an 8% rise in temporary DVROs and a 22% increase in longer-term final DVROs.

One study found that nearly one third of mass shooters had a history of domestic violence.

Of the 82 people killed in a domestic violence homicide in California during 2021, 60 victims were identified as female and 22 as male. Communities of color were disproportionately impacted, with 35% of those murdered reported as Hispanic, 15% Black, 6% “other” and 26% white.

Black women are twice as likely to be shot and killed by an intimate partner compared to white women.

A 2024 study by UC San Diego School of Medicine's Center on Gender Equity and Health and Tulane University's Newcomb Institute found that every year in California, each victim of intimate partner violence pays $88,000 for “health care, lost productivity and income, and criminal justice and other response program spending.”

According to a 2020 FreeFrom survey, people experiencing domestic violence in Los Angeles and Orange County reported that their partners harming them stole $1,280 per month.

Recent guidance issued by the Administration of Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services advised that “while exposure to domestic violence is associated with many challenging outcomes for children, learning a child has witnessed domestic violence does not inherently warrant a report to child protective services.”

A recent study found that 53% of Black children will be subject to an investigation by child protective services by the time they turn 18. Native and Indigenous children are also over-represented in the child welfare system; the percentage of Native and Indigenous children in foster care is 2.66 times higher than their share of the population. 

Child removal deters survivors from seeking help. In a 2015 survey of 900 advocates, service providers, and attorneys, a majority of respondents said that survivors frequently told them that they were afraid that reporting sexual or domestic violence to police would result in the removal of their children. Eighty-nine percent of respondents also indicated that contact with the police resulted in involvement with child protective services, either sometimes or often.

There is a strong relationship between experiencing domestic violence and becoming involved in the child welfare system. According to the UCLA Pritzker Center, in 2020, of more than 38,000 open child welfare cases referred to Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, 51.6% involved allegations of domestic violence.