Kentucky

By the Numbers

Summary

  • Between 2006 and 2011, there were an average of 24 reported intimate partner related homicides per year in Kentucky.1
  • In 2015, there were 7,171 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Kentucky, 5,382 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.2

Fatalities

There was an average of 24 intimate partner-related homicides in Kentucky between 2006 and 2011.

In 2010, there were 32 reported intimate partner related homicides, nearly 60% of which were committed with a firearm.3

Intimate Partner Related Homicides
Intimate Partner Related Homicides in Kentucky, 2006-2011

Note:

Homicides were considered intimate partner related when any relationship between the victim and any of the offenders was labeled as boyfriend, girlfriend, common-law husband, common-law wife, same-sex relationship, husband, wife, ex-husband, or ex-wife.

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 Kentucky is:

Females

45.3% Experienced IPV
54.7% No IPV

Among female victims in Kentucky who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 64.1% were concerned for safety, 46.7% were injured, 25.3% needed medical care, and 22.1% needed legal services.4

Males

35.5% Experienced IPV
64.5% No IPV

Statistically reliable estimates of the percentage of male victims in Kentucky 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 Kentucky, 2006-2015

There were 7,171 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Kentucky in 2015, 5,382 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.6

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.
  • Intimate partner: Romantic or sexual partner and includes spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, people with whom they dated, were seeing, or “hooked up.”
  • Intimate partner related homicide: For Kentucky, homicides were considered intimate partner related when any relationship between the victim and any of the offenders was labeled as boyfriend, girlfriend, common-law husband, common-law wife, same-sex relationship, husband, wife, ex-husband, or ex-wife.
  • 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.