SPECIAL REPORT

Thirty-Years of Domestic Violence Half-Truths,
Falsehoods, and Lies

Copyright © 2021, Coalition to End Domestic Violence. www.EndtoDV.org A pre-publication
copy of this Special Report was provided to the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women to assure
the report’s factual accuracy. No reply was received from the OVW.

COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
On October 19, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder made this statement at a Domestic
Violence Awareness Month event: “Disturbingly, intimate partner homicide is the
leading cause of death for African-American women ages 15 to 45.”
The claim met with a wave of criticism1 and was later refuted by the Washington Post
Fact-Checker.2 As a result, the Department of Justice appended this correction to the
Holder statement:3
“PLEASE NOTE: These remarks, as originally delivered in 2009, cited a statistic
naming intimate partner homicide as the leading cause of death for AfricanAmerican women ages 15 to 45….However, recent figures indicate other causes
of death—including cancer and heart disease—outrank intimate partner homicide
for this age group.”
The process to correct the Attorney General’s erroneous claim consumed over five
years.4
Hundreds of studies have probed the extent of domestic violence.5 With remarkable
consistency, research demonstrates the following:
•

Each year, men are more likely than women to be the victims of domestic
violence:6
o Males: 4.2 million victims
o Females: 3.5 million victims

•

Each year, men are more likely than women to be victims of coercive control by
their partners:7
o Males: 17.3 million victims
o Females: 12.7 million victims

•

Same-sex lesbian couples have higher lifetime rates than same-sex gay couples
for domestic violence, rape, and/or stalking:8
o Lesbian: 44%
o Gay: 26%

In about half of all cases, the physical aggression is mutual.9,10 And women acting in selfdefense account for only 10-20% of female aggression cases.11 Similar findings have
been reported in international studies12,13
But over the past 30 years, domestic violence activists have promoted a series of halftruths, distortions, and lies that ignore this body of research. The false claims play on
women’s fears, and on men’s sense of chivalry. These efforts have served to secure
passage of controversial legislation, increase financial support for domestic violence
programs, deprive abusive women of help, and promote negative stereotypes of men.
This Special Report documents these falsehoods and their harmful effects on society.

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HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
Patriarchal Power and Control
“Patriarchy requires violence, or the subliminal threat of violence, in order to maintain
itself….The most dangerous situation for a woman is not an unknown man in the street,
or even the enemy in wartime, but a husband or lover in the isolation of their home.” –
Gloria Steinem14
Scientists have long known that domestic violence is associated with substance abuse,15
mental health problems,16 relationship problems,17 marital separation,18 and other
factors.19 But domestic violence activists view the problem differently: Domestic
violence is seen as arising solely from a power imbalance between the sexes, with men
posited as the beneficiaries of the imbalance. This conceptualization is often referred to
as the “patriarchal power and control” model of domestic violence.
Domestic violence activists do not define “patriarchy,” provide any evidence of its
existence, or offer scientific support for the posited imbalance of “power and control.”
But these concerns didn’t dissuade feminist Susan Schechter from issuing this
invective:20
“Since male supremacy is the historical source of battering, and class domination
perpetuates male privilege, a long-range plan to end abuse includes a total
restructuring of society that is feminist, anti-racist, and socialist.”
Beginning in the early 1990s, domestic violence activists sought to enact a law that
would reflect this ideological outlook. They enlisted this assistance of then-Senator Joe
Biden to draft a bill titled the “Violence Against Women Act.” To promote its passage,
activists began to circulate a series of alarming domestic violence claims to counter the
objections of skeptical lawmakers.
Most prominent was the claim, made in 1993, that “More women are victims of domestic
violence on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day of the year.” But the fact-checking
group Snopes labeled the claim as categorically “False,” noting that “nearly every cause
will encompass a sub-group of advocates who, either through deliberate
disingenuousness or earnest gullibility, end up spreading ‘noble lies’ in the furtherance of
that cause. The myth of Super Bowl Sunday violence is one such noble lie.”21
The Independent Women’s Forum identified other domestic violence “factoids” that were
deployed to support passage of the controversial VAWA bill:22
1. According to the FBI, a woman is beaten every [fill in the blank] seconds.
2. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15
and 44 in the United States-more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes
combined.
3. The March of Dimes reports that battering during pregnancy is the leading cause
of birth defects and infant mortality.

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COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
4. Family violence has killed more women in the last five years than the total
number of Americans who were killed in the Vietnam War.
5. Women who kill their batterers receive longer prison sentences than men who kill
their partners.
Such inflammatory claims are lacking in factual accuracy.
For example, Steinem’s pronouncement that “The most dangerous situation for a woman
is …a husband or lover in the isolation of their home” easily can be shown to be false.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading causes of injury deaths for
women are falls, poisonings, and traffic accidents, in that order.23 Domestic violence
injuries do not appear on the list.
The Violence Against Women Act was approved by Congress and signed into law in
1994 by Bill Clinton. Approval of the Violence Against Women Act by a strong majority
of mostly male lawmakers can be seen as a refutation of the “patriarchal oppression”
theory. Nonetheless, the existence of a federal law named the “Violence Against Women
Act” served as a powerful reinforcement of the men-as-abuser stereotype.
The establishment of the Office on Violence Against Women in 1995 multiplied the
funding for domestic violence programs that typically included education, training, and
public awareness efforts. For example, VAWA funding was deployed to fund a technical
assistance effort of the Domestic Abuse International Programs,24 which promoted the
widely criticized Power and Control Wheel that highlighted the controversial notion of
“Male Privilege.”25
In conclusion, family violence researcher Richard Gelles has noted that domestic
violence “policy and practice seemed to be more influenced by ideologies and political
values than actual research and evidence.”26
The following sections evaluate the statements by five leading groups to assess whether
they are disseminating information that is consistent with the scientific research:
Department of Justice, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National District
Attorneys Association, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the
American Bar Association. The analysis reveals that overall, the most egregious
misrepresentations are being disseminated by the International Association of Chiefs of
Police and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. In contrast, the
National District Attorneys Association is providing generally accurate information.
Department of Justice
The introduction to this Special Report highlights the highly publicized statement by
Attorney General Eric Holder, which the DOJ later conceded was false. Holder was not
alone in promoting abuse misinformation.

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HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
Office of Violence Against Women
In the past, domestic violence fact sheets and similar publications listed on the website of
the DOJ Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) contained major factual errors. For
example, the four-page Facts about Domestic Violence summarized OVW’s
understanding of the problem.27 But a careful review reveals that every statement in the
OVW “fact sheet” is misleading, one-sided, outdated, and/or false – see Appendix A.
A 2011 analysis found that overall, less than one in 10 of the domestic violence
educational materials posted on or linked from the Office of Violence Against Women
website were found to meet basic standards of accuracy, balance, and truthfulness.28
Fortunately, a 2021 review of the OVW website revealed that all of its inaccurate “fact
sheets” had been removed.
Office for Victims of Crime
Other DOJ components continue to promote domestic violence myths. For example, the
website of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) features a sidebar titled, Facts About
Domestic Violence, which makes the following claims:29
•

Intimate partner violence made up 22 percent of the violent crimes against women
and 5 percent of the violent crimes against men in 2010.

•

In 2010, 407,700 women and 101,530 men were victimized by an intimate
partner.

•

In 2010, 37.5 percent of all female murder victims were killed by a current or
former spouse or boyfriend.

•

From 2001 to 2005, one-half of female intimate partner violence victims were
physically injured and 18.5 percent were treated for their injury.

•

Approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of
physical, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner.

A perusal of these OVC “facts” reveals that all of them are based on findings from the
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) or are otherwise untrue. Because of the
NCVS’s focus on persons’ experience of “crimes,” and because most domestic violence
incidents are not viewed as crimes, the NCVS underestimates and distorts the problem of
domestic violence – see Appendix B.
International Association of Chiefs of Police
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) sponsors a number of programs
that are supported by the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women:

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COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
1. A National Law Enforcement Leadership Initiative on Violence Against Women, which
is described as assisting law enforcement “in developing proactive strategies to enhance
their response to violence against women crimes.”30
2. A train-the-trainer program, Considerations for Small Agency and Rural Response to
Violence Against Women, which is touted as an “interactive virtual training for law
enforcement instructors [that] will instill deeper understanding of response to violence
against women crimes” 31
3. A Violence Against Women Library.32
Ironically, the IACP does not offer any leadership initiatives, train-the-trainer programs,
or libraries devoted to male victims of domestic violence.
One IACP publication, Intimate Partner Violence Response: Policy and Training Content
Guidelines, begins with these “Facts” about domestic violence:33
“Experts estimate that a woman has between a one-in-three and a one-in-four
chance of being physically assaulted by a partner or ex-partner during her
lifetime. On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an
intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than
10 million women and men.”
All three of these statements are flawed:
1. The first sentence neglects to mention domestic violence against men.
2. The “nearly 20 people per minute” claim is a good example of a “factoid from
nowhere” that cannot be verified.
3. The “more than 10 million women and men” statistic is wrong because it comes
from an outdated version of the National Intimate Partner and Violence Survey.
Such one-sided programs serve to promote harmful stereotypes of men. One law
enforcement officer described the local domestic violence training he attended as “so
dripping with male hatred that everyone in the class felt uncomfortable, male and female
officers alike.”34 Not surprisingly, male victims of domestic violence are less likely than
female victims to summon law enforcement for help.35
National District Attorneys Association
The National District Attorneys Association is the leading trade organization of elected
district attorneys across the nation, and is a long-term recipient of funding from the
Office of Violence Against Women.
The NDAA website correctly states, “anyone can be a victim of domestic violence
irrespective of age, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or economic status.” The

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HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
NDAA then goes on to make this unsupported -- and incorrect -- statement: “However,
studies support the fact that the majority of the victims are females.”36
The NDAA offers a number of publications on “Violence Against Women.” One of these
publications, titled National Domestic Violence Prosecution Best Practices Guide,
states:37
“Nationally, about 31.5% of women and 27.5% of men have experienced physical
violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes. Of these, about 22.3% of
women and 14% of men have experienced severe physical violence. In addition to
immediate physical injuries, victims of domestic violence suffer long-term social
and psychological harms such as being fearful or concerned for their safety;
developing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder; missing school; and
finding themselves in need of housing, legal services, and medical care. About
47.1% of women and 46.5% of men have experienced psychological aggression
by an intimate partner during their lifetimes.”
Although this information is more accurate than the “facts” provided by the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, it relies on lifetime numbers, which are distorted by
problems of memory retention and selective recall.
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Judges play a pivotal role in the interpretation, implementation, and enforcement of the
nation’s laws.
Another recipient of DOJ funding has been the National Council of Juvenile and Family
Court Judges, an association of over 1,800 judges and judicial officers. In 1999 the
NCJFCJ released Effective Interventions in Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment
Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice,38 a publication that gave rise to the decadelong Greenbook Initiative. The Greenbook Initiative engendered countless training
programs, practice guidelines, protocols, position papers, and general readings for judges,
child welfare service providers, and domestic violence service providers.
One Greenbook publication, Bringing the Greenbook to Life: A Resource Guide for
Communities, explains its purpose is to “serve battered mothers and their children more
effectively.”39 Indeed, the words, “battered mothers” and “battered women” appear 27
times in this publication. The phrases, “battered fathers” or “battered men” do not appear
once in the 72-page document.
Such one-sided portrayals call to mind the Yiddish proverb, “A half-truth is a whole lie.”
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association, the national trade organization for the legal profession,
has published domestic violence documents that reveal pronounced sex bias.

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COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The ABA report, When Will They Ever Learn? Educating to End Domestic Violence,
opened with this claim: “Experts estimate that 2 to 4 million American women are
battered every year.”40 But family violence researcher Richard Gelles derided the “2 to 4
million battered women” statistic as an unverifiable “factoid from nowhere.”41
In 2006, the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence published a two-page flyer, 10
Myths about Custody and Domestic Violence and How to Counter Them. A detailed
critique of the ABA document concluded, “of the 19 claims, only 2 [10.5%] are
correct… Overall, the great majority of assertions and conclusions in the CODV flyer
were found to be unsupported, misleading, or wrong.”42
To its credit, the American Bar Association has removed these two documents from its
website. But the propaganda-style 10 Myths about Custody and Domestic Violence has
now been posted on the website of the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and
Interpersonal Violence.43
Child Abuse and Parental Alienation
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that women commit the majority
-- 53% -- of all child abuse incidents.44 Regarding child homicides committed by a
parent,45 71% involved the mother, with the remaining 29% involved the father.*
Child abuse may become more pronounced if the parents undergo a divorce and one of
them seeks to gain the allegiance of the children, a well-documented syndrome known as
“parental alienation.”46 Common forms of parental alienation include:47
-- Criticizing the targeted parent in front of the child
-- Limiting contact with the targeted parent;
-- Attempting to erase the other parent from the child’s life;
-- Creating the impression that the targeted parent does not care for the child;
-- Forcing the child to “choose sides”
But domestic violence activists insist that parental alienation is rare. And when it occurs,
they claim, ignoring the DHHS statistics shown above, that the father is engaging in child
abuse, and then alleging parental alienation to cover up the abuse.48
Attorney Joan Meier took the argument even farther, claiming that mothers who alleged
their children were abused were more likely to lose custody of their children than were
fathers.49 But an exhaustive review of 967 appellate cases failed to confirm Meier’s
implausible claims.50

*

In 2019, 584 child homicides were perpetrated by the Mother Only or Mother and a Nonparent, and 238
homicides were perpetrated by the Father Only or Father and a Nonparent.

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HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
Researchers
Even family violence researchers have been targeted by domestic violence activists, with
leading expert Murray Straus revealing seven tactics used to conceal, deny, and distort
the domestic violence research:51
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Suppress evidence
Avoid obtaining or analyzing data on female perpetration
Cite only studies that show male perpetration
Conclude that results refute abuse symmetry when they do not
Create “evidence” by citation
Obstruct funding of research that might contradict the idea that male dominance is
the cause of domestic violence
7. Harass, threaten, and penalize researchers who produce evidence that contradicts
feminist beliefs
Regarding the seventh tactic, Straus cited this troubling example:
“Suzanne Steinmetz made the mistake of publishing a book and articles which
clearly showed about equal rates of perpetration by males and females. Anger
over this resulted in a bomb threat at her daughter’s wedding, and she was the
object of a letter writing campaign to deny her promotion and tenure at the
University of Delaware.”
Coronavirus Abuse Hoax
On March 23, 2020 the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
(NTF) issued an Alert with this alarming coronavirus claim: “Survivors of domestic
violence and sexual assault are facing extreme danger and risk.”52 The NTF Alert did not
provide any evidence to support its claim. Subsequently, a plethora of media accounts
predicted an imminent “spike” and “spurt” of abuse, often featuring heart-rending — but
unsubstantiated — anecdotes.
But the predicted catastrophe never came to pass. Four separate studies concluded that
overall, there was no increase in domestic violence or sexual assault. And some locales
saw a significant decrease:
1. The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice concluded, based on
reports from 11 cities, that “Domestic violence did not increase in the first quarter of
2021 over the first quarter of 2020.”53
2. The Marshall Project found declines in domestic violence cases in Chicago, IL, Austin,
TX, and Chandler, AZ, ranging from 13% to 23%.54
3. The Coalition to End Domestic Violence compiled police reports from 33 police
departments around the country, which revealed steady numbers of domestic violence

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COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
calls in 19 departments, small increases in three departments, and modest decreases in 11
jurisdictions.55
4. In 67 large cities across the country, the Major Cities Chiefs Association reported that
during the first 9 months of 2020, the number of rapes dropped from 32,234 to 27,273,
compared to 2019. This change represents a 15% decrease.56
Harm to African-American Men
It is difficult to overstate the harmful effects of this sustained misinformation campaign
on the workings of our criminal system. “Police, prosecutors, judges, social workers,
psychologists, parenting evaluators, counselors, et al, have been indoctrinated…that men
commit 95 per cent of all domestic violence, [and] are more likely to abuse their
children,” according to one Washington State attorney.57
In addition, male victims often are unable to get help, as reflected in these disparities in
the provision of victim services:58
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Legal Assistance: 6% male, 94% female (Page 162)
Rural Assistance: 10% male, 90% female (Page 174)
Sexual Assault Services: 4% male, 96% female (Page 184)
Transitional Housing: 1% male, 99% female (Page 204)
Indian Tribal Governments: 5% male, 95% female (Page 222)
Tribal Sexual Assault: 14% male, 86% female (Page 237)
Services to Underserved Populations: 14% male, 86% female (Page 248)

The gender profiling that arises from one-sided and false claims has been especially
harmful to Black men. Each year, Black men are more likely than Black women to be
victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking committed by a partner:59
•
•

Black men: 1.47 million victims
Black women: 1.38 million victims

But even though Black men are more likely to be victims of partner abuse, inexplicably,
Black men are also more likely to be arrested for domestic violence.60 The
“criminalization of social problems has led to mass incarceration of men, especially
young men of color,” reveals the Ms. Foundation for Women.61 According to a recent
report to Congress, domestic violence mandatory arrest policies may “produce
disproportionate arrest rates among marginalized populations, including people of color,
and particularly African American men.”62
These palpable injustices have created collateral consequences in terms of employability,
family stability, and the willingness of minority victims to seek police assistance.63

9

HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
Rediscovering the Truth?
During its 2013 reauthorization, the language of the Violence Against Women Act was
amended to be sex-inclusive.64 As a result, groups commendably began to update their
fact sheets and issue reports on domestic violence against men:
•
•
•
•
•
•

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence offers a three-page fact sheet
on Male Victims of Domestic Violence that features the accurate NISVS
numbers.65
Safe and Together Institute sponsored a podcast on The Male Victim.66
WomensLaw.org website has a page on Male Victims.67
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence published a report on Serving
Male-Identified Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence.68
Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence includes a chapter in
its Sheltering with Care Manual on the topic of Serving Male Survivors in
Shelter. The Coalition also offers a video on the topic.69
New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence features a
report on Violence Against Men in New Hampshire70 and has a webpage titled,
Unique Challenges Faced by Male Victims.71

But these reports appear to be the exception to the rule. More often, groups continue to
promote misinformation that serve to confuse the public and downplay male
victimization in several ways:
1. Depict images and provide training examples of only female victims.
2. Use vague-sounding statements, e.g., “About one in three….” when precise
numbers are available.
3. Rely on lifetime rather than annual incidence rates – lifetime numbers are less
reliable because of problems with selective memory and biased recall.
4. Misrepresent CDC statistics on male sexual victimization, which needs to
assessed by asking whether the man was “made to sexually penetrate.”72
5. Aggregate data on sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking into a single
number, even though the relationship among these offenses is tenuous.73
Mass Incarceration of Men
“When I grow up, I will beat my wife.” and “One day my husband will kill me.” – Bus
placards promoted by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system74
Researcher Denise Hines has pointed out that domestic violence programs are “unlikely
to work if they have little basis in objective information about the problem.”75 The
accuracy of this prediction is borne out by the fact that there is little or no evidence that
VAWA-funded programs have succeeded in reducing rates of domestic violence:76
•

“Between 2000 and 2010, rates of domestic violence actually fell less than the
drop in the overall crime rate – at a time when VAWA was pumping hundreds of

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COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
millions of dollars into the criminal system.” — Leigh Goodmark, Professor,
University of Maryland Law School
•

“We have no evidence to date that VAWA has led to a decrease in the overall
levels of violence against women.” — Angela Moore Parmley, Office of Justice
Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Since the 1980s, scientific studies have shown that women are at least as likely as men to
engage in domestic violence.77 This Special Report documents that the disinformation
effort, which began in the early 1990s, has been systematic, well-organized, and
widespread, with intentions that may be less-than-honorable.78 As a result, men are no
longer regarded as the protectors of women; instead, men are now widely viewed as
potential abusers and predators.
Commentator Christina Villegas argues that protecting persons from partner abuse “has
never been the primary intention of VAWA.” Instead, the domestic violence campaign
has been a “political movement that seeks to change social norms and redistribute
resources, power, and control to women, with the long-term aim of a genderless, socialist
society.”79
One analysis concludes that the domestic violence policies arising from this
disinformation campaign have been a major contributor to the mass incarceration of
men:80
“More aggressive criminalization of more broadly defined domestic violence is
central to the extraordinary growth in incarceration in the U.S. since about 1980.
Domestic violence policies have contributed significantly to increasing the
number of persons living in violent places: prisons and jails.”
Professor Murray Straus ominously concludes, “History is full of atrocities carried out in
the service of a moral agenda.” 81

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HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
Appendix A

Analysis of OVW’s “The Facts about Domestic Violence”
Page
Number
1

1

Statement

Assessment

“Domestic violence is a gender-based
crime with women being more likely to
experience domestic violence than men.”

Regarding nonfatal violent victimizations:
“Of these, 85% were against women.”

1-2

“The NVAWS [National Violence Against
Women Survey] also found that 22.1
percent of women surveyed, compared to
7.4 percent of men, reported being
physically assaulted by a current or former
partner in their lifetime.”

2

“Women are 2 to 3 times more likely to
report minor physical attacks (pushing,
grabbing, shoving) than men. By
comparison, women are 7 to 14 times
more likely than men to report serious
physical attacks (beating, strangulation,
threats of weapons or use of weapons).”
“The NVAWS found among women over
the age of 18, ‘[a]pproximately one-fifth of
all rapes, one-quarter of all physical
assaults, and one-half of all stalking
perpetrated against female respondents by
intimates were reported to the police.’”
“Existing small-scale studies report that
nearly 40% of women with disabilities
report being victims of domestic violence”

2

2

2

“The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
reported that African-American women
experienced domestic violence at a rate
35% higher than Caucasian women.”

12

False.

False.

Outdated and
biased.

False.

One-sided and
false.

One-sided,
possibly false.

One-sided and
misleading.

Explanation
Many studies show
women are more
likely to instigate
partner aggression
than men.
Crime statistics are
not a valid source of
information on
domestic violence.
The NVAWS was
published in 1998.
Lifetime estimates
are invalid due to
selective memory
and biased recall
effects.
The NISVS shows
for both minor and
serious violence,
women are more
likely to be the
offenders.
Reporting by
victims of spousal
domestic violence:82
Males: 53.8%
Females: 60.1%
Similar studies have
not been replicated
with male
populations.
African-American
men are more likely
than AfricanAmerican women to
be victims of
domestic violence,
sexual assault, and
stalking. (NISVS:

COALITION TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

3

4

4

“Statistics demonstrate only ‘39% of such
crimes against women age 50 or older
were reported to the police. In contrast,
between 1993 and 1999, 57% of the
violence sustained by females age 25-34
and those age 35-49 was reported to the
police.’”
“A 2003 survey found that 1 in 4 homeless
mothers reported being physically abused
by an intimate partner in the last year.”
“The CDC found that victims of intimate
partner physical assault lost 7.2 days from
paid work, while victims of intimate
partner rape lost 8.1 days.”

13

False.

One-sided.

Misleading.

2010-2012 State
Report. Tables 5.3
and 5.6)
Statement is onesided and not
confirmed by the
2005 DOJ report.70

Statement does not
comment on
homeless fathers.
Misrepresents the
study results, which
only apply to
female victims.

HALF-TRUTHS, FALSEHOODS, AND LIES
Appendix B

Shortcomings of the National Crime Victimization Survey
The National Crime Victimization Survey is the premier survey of persons’ experiences of
crime in the United States. The NCVS is administered to a nationally-representative
sample of persons regarding the types of crime they have experienced.
The NCVS instructions repeatedly remind the respondent that the survey’s purpose is to
study criminal actions:83
•
•
•

The survey begins with this introduction: “The Census Bureau is conducting a
survey here and throughout the Nation to determine how often people are
victims of crimes.”84
Question 33 starts, “Before we get to the crime questions, I have some questions
that are helpful in studying where and why crimes occur.”
Question 36 begins, “I’m going to read some examples that will give you an idea
of the kinds of crimes this study covers.”

A single question identifies acts of domestic violence. Question 42a asks if the
respondent was “attacked or threatened by…a relative or family member.”
But most persons do not consider actions such as a slap on the face to be an attack or a
crime. These distortions are compounded when a male is a victim of the aggression.
Most men do not consider a shove to be an “attack,” especially if the act is perpetrated
by a wife or girlfriend.85 As a result, the NCVS states that each year, fewer than 1% of
persons are victims of domestic violence:86
•
•

Males: 0.9/1,000 persons
Females: 4.2/1,000 persons

Far more reliable is the CDC National Intimate Partner and Violence Survey, which does
not limit its scope to self-identified “crimes.”87

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following persons provided helpful comments on draft versions of this Special
Report: John Hamel, PhD, Joan Kloth-Zanard, and Rebecca Stewart.

References
1

SAVE (Feb. 22, 2011), AG Eric Holder Needs to Put an End to Domestic Violence Myths.
https://www.saveservices.org/2020/12/ag-eric-holder-needs-to-put-an-end-to-domestic-violencemyths/
2
Glen Kessler (Dec. 18, 2013), Holder’s 2009 claim that intimate-partner homicide is the
leading cause of death for African American women, The Washington Post. https://www.
washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/12/18/holders-2009-claim-that-intimate-partnerhomicide-is-the-leading-cause-of-death-for-african-american-women/
3
Department of Justice (Oct. 19, 2009), Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at Domestic
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