by John Klofas

About the author: John Klofas is a professor of criminal justice and chair of the criminal justice department at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

Domestic violence is a major social problem. Although we fear violence from strangers the most, it’s the people we live with that pose the greatest danger— and its women who suffer the most at the hands of their partners.

In about 15% of all murders that are not committed by total strangers, the killer is the spouse, former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend of the victim. When you look only at murders of women over 18 years old, fully half the victims are killed by their husband, former husband or boyfriend.

Look beyond murder and the statistics are still more alarming...