Maine Voices: Everyone Can Take Part in Efforts to Reduce Domestic Violence - the Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Here is some information about how the issue of domestic violence is affecting our community and the state of Maine:
• Nationally, intimate partner violence accounts for 15 percent of all crime, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. In contrast, in Maine in 2013, domestic violence assaults represented nearly half (47 percent) of all assaults reported to law enforcement. And it is safe to assume that many assaults that occur between family members and domestic or dating partners are not reported.
• Twenty-one homicides were committed in Maine in 2014. Fourteen were domestic homicides. This shows a significant increase in the decades-long trend in Maine whereby about half of the homicides each year are domestic crimes - a 32 percent increase, from 50 percent to 66 percent. Tragically, six of the 14 victims were children.
• Last year, Maine’s domestic violence resource centers served 12,399 people, answering over 40,000 hotline calls. We provided almost