Editorial: Survey shows 'stunning' data about domestic violence

Tuesday, January 25, 2011  

"A joint hearing by two state Senate committees revealed grim numbers on Monday.

• More than 47 percent of Alaska women report that they've been the victims of either threats and/or actual physical domestic violence in a romantic or intimate relationship at some time in their lives.

• More than 44 percent have suffered physical violence in a close relationship, from slapping to severe beatings.

• More than 9 percent report either physical violence or the threat of it in the last year.

• More than 37 percent report that they've suffered some form of sexual assault in their lives.

• More than 4 percent report that they've suffered sexual assault in the last year.

• More than 58 percent of Alaska women report that they've suffered either threats of violence or actual physical violence in an intimate relationship or sexual assault at some time in the lives.

Andre Rosay of the UAA Justice Center told the senators that these numbers are "astonishingly high." The numbers are based on a survey of 871 adult Alaska women in May and June of 2010, called the 2010 Alaska Victimization Survey. Both Rosay and Lauree Morton, interim director of the state Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, said even those staggering numbers are almost certainly conservative."

Get the Story:
Our view: Stunning numbers (The Anchorage Daily News 1/25)

Also Today:
Poll aims to get baseline data for Alaska domestic violence (AP 1/25)