Relationship Violence Fact Sheet

While intimate partner violence (IPV) includes physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and verbal abuse, this fact sheet focuses on physical violence because it is more widely researched. IPV is violence perpetrated by current or former dates, boyfriends, girlfriends, cohabitating partners, or spouses.

IPV has also been referred to as battering, courtship violence, dating violence, domestic violence, and relationship violence.

How Widespread is It?

• 1-8 million incidents of IPV occur every year.
• About 32 million adult Americans have experienced IPV in their lifetimes.
• One in five young women reports being abused by a dating partner.

Who is at Greatest Risk?

Teen Sexuality: Any Questions?

There’s more to sexuality than having sex. Thoughts, feelings and relationships can also be part of your sexuality. You might be attracted to someone because she or he is cute, funny, smart, exciting, different or for some other reason that you can’t explain.People experience their sexuality in different ways, including: having a crush on a teacher; having fantasies about someone famous (like a singer or an actor); dating someone.You might start to have sexual feelings before you are ready to do anything about them (like holding hands, kissing, or having sex).

Take your time figuring out what is comfortable and natural for you. If you don’t feel ready to have sex, you are not alone. In fact, most teens do not have sex until they are out of high school.

Do You Ever Wonder ...

• Am I normal?
• Does any one else have sexual feelings like I do?
• How can I deal with the feelings I have?
• Are people going to judge me if I am different?

If you have questions and concerns about sexuality, you are not alone. Everybody has questions. Nobody has all the answers.

Stability and Change: Dynmic Risk Factors for Sexual Offenders

Sexual offences are among the most disturbing of crimes, and the public has considerable concern about the risk posed by sexual offenders in the community. Approximately 1% to 2% of the male population will eventually be convicted of a sexual offence. Follow-up studies, however, have found that once detected, most sexual offenders are never reconvicted for a new sexual offence, even when the follow-up period extends to 20 years. Some offenders, however, are much higher risk to sexually reoffend than others, with the observed recidivism rates varying between 10% and 50%.

There are different methods for distinguishing between the risk levels of offenders. One of my early supervisors recommended an offender assessment system based on two categories: workable, and “no good”. Most current risk assessments are more complicated. Sexual offender risk assessments typically consider a range of risk and protective factors, with the higher risk offenders having more of the risk factors than the low risk offenders.