New Jersey

By the Numbers

Summary

  • In 2019, there were 39 domestic violence homicide offenses in New Jersey.1
  • In 2015, there were 5,994 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for New Jersey, all of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.2

Fatalities

From 2010-2019, there were 428 domestic violence homicide offenses in New Jersey.3

In 2019, there were 39 domestic violence homicide offenses in New Jersey.4

New Jersey stopped reporting victim relationships in 2017 however, in 2016, of the 52 domestic violence homicide offenses, the victim-offender relationships were as follows: 25% wife (n=13), 2% husband (n=1), 8% female co-parent (n=4), 13% male relative (n=7), 23% female relative (n=12), 13% male friend (n=7), 12% female friend (n=6), 2% male ex-friend (n=1), and 2% female ex-friend (n=1).5

Domestic Violence Homicide Offenses
Domestic Violence Homicide Offenses in New Jersey, 2010-2019

Notes:

  1. Domestic violence homicide offenses are counted as such when victim-offender relationships are spouse, ex-spouse, co-parent, relative, friend, ex-friend, and civil union partner.
  2. The New Jersey State Police releases an annual Domestic Violence Report that includes domestic violence data and analysis based on on the domestic violence offense reports submitted to the New Jersey Uniform Crime Reporting System by every New Jersey law enforcement agency.
  3. 2017-2019 data are from those individual year reports; 2012-2016 data are from the 2016 Domestic Violence Report; 2010-2011 data are from the 2011 report.

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 New Jersey is:

Females

35.8% Experienced IPV
64.2% No IPV

Among female victims in New Jersey who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 53.7% were concerned for safety and 28.8% were injured. Statistically reliable estimates of the percentage of female victims who needed medical care or needed legal services are not available.5

Males

27.4% Experienced IPV
72.6% No IPV

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

There were 5,994 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for New Jersey in 2015, all 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 violence homicide offenses: In New Jersey, domestic violence homicide offenses are counted as such when victim-offender relationships are spouse, ex-spouse, co-parent, relative, friend, ex-friend, and civil union partner.
  • 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 26, 2021. Please note that data used are the most recent available data.