Victims of intimate partner violence doubt criminal justice system, study says.

Most victims of violent intimate partners believe the criminal justice system can do little to protect them or resolve their conflicts. This is according to a recent study that found that only 20 percent of rapes, 25 percent of assaults, and 50 percent of stalkings perpetrated against women by intimate partners are reported to police. The majority of those who have not reported those crimes claimed they thought police would not, or could not, do anything on their behalf.

The National Violence Against Women Survey, sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surveyed 8,000 women. Of these, 25 percent said they had been raped or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some time in their lives, and 5 percent reported being stalked by an intimate partner.

The study's findings show that women whose partners were jealous, controlling, or verbally abusive were most likely to have been raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by that partner. Verbal abuse, the researchers said, is the strongest predictor that a woman will be victimized by a partner. They also learned that intimate partner assaults against women are more chronic and injurious than those against men.

The study's findings show that 4.8 million intimate partner rapes and assaults are committed against U.S. women annually, and 2.9 million are perpetrated against U.S. men each year. Almost 8 percent of 8,000 men surveyed said an intimate partner had raped or assaulted them. While nearly 8 percent of the men who were married or lived with a woman as a couple said that they had been raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by her, 15 percent of men who lived with a man as a couple reported the same sort of intimate partner violence.

Women who lived with female intimate partners reported less victimization than women who lived with male intimate partners. About 11 percent of the women in all female households said they had been raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by their partner. Of the women who lived with a husband or male partner, 30 percent experienced intimate partner violence.

Women are also more likely than men to report violent incidents. The study suggests that intimate partner violence is committed primarily by men against both male and female partners.

"Despite the statistics showing the pervasive nature of intimate violence, the survey shows that intimate partner assaults, rapes, and stalkings go unreported," said Cindy Kanusher, an attorney at Pace University's Battered Women's Justice Center in White Plains, New York.

"The study shows that of the reports made, a majority are never prosecuted. We must continue to work to ensure that victims of intimate partner violence have more confidence in the police and criminal justice system. Comprehensive training of law enforcement personnel and those involved with the prosecution of intimate partner violence needs to be undertaken to make this happen," said Kanusher, director of the center's sexual assault programs.

The report of the survey, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence, can be downloaded from the NIJ's Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.