ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996                 TAG: 9603250063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The following statistics - from the 1994 National Crime Victimization Survey and a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Violence Against Women - helped persuade Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Act:

* MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS of violent crimes committed against women are committed by someone known to them.

* MORE THAN 1 MILLION women a year are victims of violence perpetrated by husbands or boyfriends.

* EVERY YEAR, NEARLY 500,000 women 12 years old or older are victims of rape or attempted rape.

* DATA FROM 1992 SHOW that one-third of all female murder victims older than 14 were killed by an intimate, such as a boyfriend, spouse or ex-spouse.

* LESS THAN HALF of all violent crimes against women are reported to law enforcement officials.

* MORE THAN ONE-FIFTH of those convicted of violent sexual offenses have reported having been physically or sexually abused during childhood.

* MORE THAN ONE-THIRD of those incarcerated for harming an intimate had a previous conviction for a violent offense. - Staff

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