Connecticut

By the Numbers

Summary

  • In 2019, there were 26 reported family violence homicide victims in Connecticut.1
  • In 2019, eight of the reported family violence homicide victims died by firearm.2
  • In 2015, there were 46,325 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Connecticut, 22,882 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.3

Fatalities

There were 222 reported family violence homicide victims * in Connecticut between 2010 and 2019, 35% (n=78) of whom died by firearm.4

Family Violence Homicide Victims
Family Violence Homicide Victims, Firearm
Family Violence Homicides in Connecticut, 2010-2019

Notes:

  1. Connecticut Department of Public Safety defines family or household member as “(A) Spouses or former spouses; (B) parents or their children; (C) persons related by blood or marriage; (D) persons other than those persons described in subparagraph (C) of this subdivision presently residing together or who have resided together; (E) persons who have a child in common regardless of whether they are or have been married or have lived together at any time; and (F) persons in, or who have recently been in, a dating relationship.”
  2. Family violence homicide victims does not include offender suicides.

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 Connecticut is:

Females

37.7% Experienced IPV
62.3% No IPV

Among female victims in Connecticut who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 43.9% were concerned for safety, 32.3% were injured, and 24.5% needed legal services. Statistically reliable estimates of the percentage of female victims who needed medical care are not available.5

Males

33.9% Experienced IPV
66.1% No IPV

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

Domestic Violence Protection Orders

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

There were 46,325 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Connecticut in 2015, 22,882 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.7

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

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.

Definitions

  • Contact sexual violence: Combined measure that includes rape, being made to penetrate someone else, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact.
  • Family or household member: Any of the following persons, regardless of the age of such person: (A) Spouses or former spouses; (B) parents or their children; (C) persons related by blood or marriage; (D) persons other than those persons described in subparagraph (C) of this subdivision presently residing together or who have resided together; (E) persons who have a child in common regardless of whether they are or have been married or have lived together at any time; and (F) persons in, or who have recently been in, a dating relationship.
  • Family violence homicide victim: In Connecticut, an individual is a family violence homicide victim if the victim and perpetrator are “spouses, former spouses; parents and their children; persons eighteen years of age or older related by blood or marriage; persons sixteen years of age or older; persons who have a child in common regardless of whether they are or have been married or have lived together at any time; and persons in, or have recently been in, a dating relationship.” Family violence homicide victims does not include offender suicides.
  • 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 May 24, 2021. Please note that data used are the most recent available data.