Iowa

By the Numbers

Summary

  • In 2020, there were 17 reported domestic abuse homicides in Iowa.1
  • In 2015, there were 14,319 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Iowa, 11,531 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.2

Fatalities

There have been 348 reported domestic abuse homicides in Iowa between January 1, 1995 and March 31, 2021; 55% (n=190) of the domestic abuse homicide victims were shot to death.3

Note:  Domestic abuse homicide victims include women or men murdered by an intimate partner (spouse, former spouse, intimate partner previously lived with, dated, or had a child with) and bystanders killed at the scene of a domestic abuse murder or related to domestic abuse committed against a family member, friend, or another.

Domestic Abuse Homicides
Domestic Abuse Homicides in Iowa, 2011-2020

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 Iowa is:

Females

35.3% Experienced IPV
64.7% No IPV

Among female victims in Iowa who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 62.9% were concerned for safety, 32.1% were injured, 13.0% needed medical care, and 14.6% needed legal services.4

Males

29.3% Experienced IPV
70.7% No IPV

Statistically reliable estimates of the percentage of male victims in Iowa 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.5

Domestic Violence Protection Orders

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

There were 14,319 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Iowa in 2015, 11,531 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.
  • Domestic abuse homicide: For Iowa, domestic abuse homicide victims include women or men murdered by an intimate partner (spouse, former spouse, intimate partner previously lived with, dated, or had a child with) and bystanders killed at the scene of a domestic abuse murder or related to domestic abuse committed against a family member, friend, or another.
  • 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 April 7, 2021. Please note that data used are the most recent available data.