Domestic Violence is a serious crime. It includes behaviors like pushing, grabbing, poking, pinching, hitting, punching and threats to harm. Persons who may be included in domestic violence cases are: wife or husband, girlfriend, boyfriend or domestic partner, parent or your child, family member, someone you have lived with as if in the same family.

Domestic violence occurs when one person does whatever is necessary to have power and control over his or her partner. It can happen to anybody, and it does. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, where you live, or whether you are educated or not. It doesn’t matter what your age, race, culture or religion happens to be. It happens in both male and female relationships, and with partners of the same gender.

Florida Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-500-1119

Florida DV Hotline TTY Number
1-800-621-4202

Click here to see a list of domestic violence shelters in Miami.

Domestic Violence is an Epidemic:

• One-quarter to one-half of women around the world have suffered violence from an intimate partner. UNICEF, The Progress of Nations, 1997 

• In 1999, persons age 12 or older experienced 791,210 violence crimes by an intimate partner. Women were victims of 85% of the crimes. National Crime Victimization Survey, 1999 

• From 1993 to 1999, intimate partners killed 45% of all female murder victims age 20-24. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001 

• Women age 35-49 were the most vulnerable to intimate partner murder. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001 

• A study of public school girls found that 1 in 5 girls surveyed reported physical or sexual abuse by a date. Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2001 

• In Florida, there were 120,697 acts of domestic violence reported to law enforcement in 2003. Florida Department of Law Enforcement website 

• In fiscal year 2003-2004, Florida's domestic violence centers responded to 132,629 crisis calls, provided counseling services to 197,787 individuals, and provided emergency shelter to 14,467 individuals, primarily women and children. Florida Department of Children and Families and Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence statistics, July 2004.

This information has been excerpted from Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence publications.