Essay - Intimate Partner Violence the National Center for Injury Prevention and...

Intimate Partner Violence

***** National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) is a department within the Center for Disease Control (CDC) - and both of these agencies are under the umbrella ***** the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Within all that bureaucracy *****re are very good statistics given by the NCIPC, and a wealth of worthwhile information about what some people call "domestic violence," others call "violence between cohabitating couples," and the government refers to as "intimate partner *****" (IPV).

***** its section called "Intimate ***** Violence: Overview," the NCIPC defines IPV in four different ways. First, there is "physical violence" (the "intentional" use of physical force which has the possibility of causing "death, disability, injury or harm"). Physical ***** in a relationship can include such things as shoving, pushing, scratching, grabbing, slapping, shaking, burning, and all the way in***** serious violence such as using a weapon or using restraints and beating with a blunt instrument.

The second category of IPV is "sexual violence," which is broken down into three categories; one, using force to engage in sex against someone's will (***** it doesn't have to have been carried out to the fullest); two, having sex ***** a person who is not capable of ********** the nature of the act, because of mental retardation or use of drugs; and three, "abusive ***** contact."

The third IPV ***** "threats of physical or sexual violence," ***** as, picking up a b*****eb***** bat ***** saying, "...if you don't stop going out w*****h your friends I'll smash your head in..."

The fourth IPV ***** is "psychological/emotional violence" - causing "trauma" to someone by humiliating them, controlling them, *****olating them, denying ***** access ***** money ***** food or other basic needs. The NCIPC added a fifth, called "stalking," which is another way of causing an individual great fear and discomf*****t.

Meanwhile, the NCIPC has another section on their Web site, a fact sheet that is called "Occurrence." It ***** the ***** - probably as reliable as are available anywhere in ***** U.S. - on the incidents of intimate partner violence, and it is frightening to realize not ********** how much of this violence goes on, but how much goes unreported. In other words, there are clearly many men (and some wo*****) who comm***** violent acts against ***** partners, and get a***** with it.

In fact, "most ***** ***** are not reported to the police," the NCIPC Web site explains (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm).Only 20% of IPV rapes or sexual *****saults are reported; just 25% ***** physical assaults, and one-half of *****s directed toward women ***** actually reported to the police. ***** is estimated that al***** 5.3 millions IPV incidents happen each year "among women ages 18 and older," and 3.2 million occur among men. ***** good news is that most of those assaults "are relatively minor" and are in ***** category of pushing ***** grabbing or *****.

Each year, according to the ***** fact sheet, about 1.5 million women, and more than 800,000 men, are