Wisconsin Department Of Justice Releases 2006 Domestic Abuse Statistics

November 21, 2007 -- MADISON - The Wisconsin Department of Justice - Office of Crime Victim Services has released the 2006 Domestic Abuse Incident Report (DAIR). The annual report is compiled from data submitted by district attorneys' offices throughout the state and analyzes homicide statistics gathered by the Office of Justice Assistance.

Key findings of the report include:

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* Wisconsin prosecutors reported 25,531 domestic abuse incidents referred to their offices by law enforcement during 2006.
* The typical victim was an 18-29 year old female battered by a spouse or ex-spouse.
* Both within Milwaukee County and outside of Milwaukee County, there was an increase over the previous year in the percentage of law enforcement responses to incidents that resulted in arrest.
* The most common charge issued by prosecutors outside Milwaukee County was disorderly conduct. In Milwaukee County, the most common charge issued was battery.
* There were forty domestic homicides reported in 19 Wisconsin counties during 2006. Victims of these homicides were most often females killed in their residence by a family member who used a firearm or a knife.
* One-fourth of all domestic homicide victims were children, the majority of whom were killed by a parent or someone their parent was dating.

"Domestic violence is a serious threat to public safety that knows no geographic boundaries," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said. "These annual reports provide government officials and members of the public with the recent data on domestic violence, to better understand the scope of the problem and the affected populations."

Under Wisconsin Statutes, s. 968.075 (9), each county is required to provide data regarding domestic abuse incidents to the Department of Justice. The purpose of the report is to provide a snapshot of reported domestic abuse in Wisconsin. It does not include incidents that were not reported to law enforcement or incidents that were not referred for prosecution. For a variety of reasons, domestic abuse is often not reported to law enforcement. Therefore, the data in the report should be used as a significant representation of domestic violence in Wisconsin, but not as complete representation of all domestic abuse incidents occurring in the state.

The 2006 Domestic Abuse Incident Report, which contains both statewide and county data, is available online at: www.doj.state.wi.us/cvs.

Source: Wisconsin Department of Justice