California

By the Numbers

Summary

  • In 2019, there were 90 reported homicides in California where the contributing circumstance was a domestic violence argument.1
  • In 2015, there were 109,494 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for California, 22,847 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.2

Fatalities

There were at least 1,126 reported homicides where the contributing circumstance was a domestic violence argument between 2010 and 2019.3

Note: Homicides where the Contributing Circumstance was a Domestic Violence Argument is defined as any homicide listed in the Homicide in California 2019 report that listed Argument, Domestic Violence as a contributing circumstance of the homicide.

Homicides Where the Contributing Circumstance was a Domestic Violence Argument
Homicides where the Contributing Circumstance was a Domestic Violence Argument in California, 2010-2019

Intimate Partner Violence* Victimization and Related Impacts*

The lifetime prevalence* of any contact sexual violence*, physical violence,* and/or stalking victimization* by an intimate partner* in California is:

Females

34.9% Experienced IPV
65.1% No IPV

Among female victims in California who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 49.7% were concerned for safety, 30.2% were injured, 16.7% needed medical care, and 15.2% needed legal services.5

Males

31.1% Experienced IPV
68.9% No IPV

Among male victims in California who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 18.4% were concerned for safety, 10.1% were injured, and 9.9% needed legal services. Statistically reliable estimates of the percentage of male victims who needed medical care are not available.6

Domestic Violence Protection Orders

Protection Orders Active in the National Crime Information Center for California, 2006-2015

There were 109,494 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for California in 2015, 22,847 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.7

Note: State participation in the National Crime Information Center protection order file is voluntary, thus the extent to which states enter the orders into the system varies. Regardless of how each state refers to such orders, these records are uniformly referred to as “protection orders” in the National Crime Information Center database.

Protection Orders in the National Crime Information Center
Protection Orders with Disqualifying Brady Indicator

Definitions

  • Contact sexual violence: Combined measure that includes rape, being made to penetrate someone else, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact.
  • Homicides where the Contributing Circumstance was a Domestic Violence Argument: Any homicide listed in the Homicide in California 2017 report that listed Argument, Domestic Violence as a contributing circumstance of the homicide.
  • Intimate partner: Romantic or sexual partner and includes spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, people with whom they dated, were seeing, or “hooked up.”
  • Intimate partner violence: The five types of intimate partner violence measured in the NISVS include sexual violence, stalking, physical violence, psychological aggression, and control of reproductive/sexual health. Sexual violence includes rape, being made to penetrate someone else, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact, and non-contact unwanted sexual experiences.
  • Intimate partner violence related impacts: For each perpetrator of domestic violence, the NISVS survey asks victims about specific direct impacts related to intimate partner violence to better understand the consequences of contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner.
  • Lifetime prevalence:Proportion of a population who, at some point in life, have ever experienced the characteristic or condition.
  • Protection orders with a disqualifying Brady Indicator: Protection orders related to domestic violence that have been identified as those that prohibit the individual from receiving or possessing firearms under federal law.
  • Physical violence: A range of behaviors from slapping, pushing, or shoving to severe acts that include being hit with a fist or something hard, kicked, hurt by pulling hair, slammed against something, tried to hurt by choking or suffocating, beaten, burned on purpose, or used a knife or gun.
  • Stalking victimization: Pattern of harassing or threatening tactics used by a perpetrator that is both unwanted and causes fear or safety concerns in the victim.

This page was updated March 31, 2021. Please note that data used are the most recent available data.