North Carolina

By the Numbers

Summary

  • In 2020, there were 134 domestic violence related homicides in North Carolina.1
  • In 2015, there were 10,751 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for North Carolina, 7,205 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.2

Fatalities

There were 1,100 domestic violence related homicides between 2011 and 2020 in North Carolina.

In 2020, there were 134 domestic violence related homicides. Fifty-seven percent of the victims were female (n=77).3

Domestic Violence Related Homicides
Domestic Violence Related Homicides in North Carolina, 2011-2020

Notes:

  1. Domestic violence related homicides include homicides where the victim is a current or former spouse of the perpetrator; a person of opposite sex who currently lives or previously lived with the perpetrator; related as parent and child, including others acting in loco parentis to a minor child, or as grandparent and grandchild; a parent of a child in common with the perpetrator; a current or former household member of the perpetrator; a person of the opposite sex who is in a dating relationship or has been in a dating relationship with the perpetrator. A dating relationship is one wherein the parties are romantically involved over time and on a continuous basis, during the course of the relationship. A casual acquaintance or ordinary fraternization between persons in a business or social context is not a dating relationship.
  2. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety annually releases a report on domestic violence related homicides.

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 North Carolina is:

Females

35.2% Experienced IPV
64.8% No IPV

Among female victims in North Carolina who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 57.0% were concerned for safety, 40.9% were injured, 13.1% needed medical care, and 27.1% needed legal services.4

Males

30.3% Experienced IPV
69.7% No IPV

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

There were 10,751 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for North Carolina in 2015, 7,205 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.
  • Domestic violence related homicides: In North Carolina, domestic violence related homicides include homicides where the victim is a current or former spouse of the perpetrator; a person of opposite sex who currently lives or previously lived with the perpetrator; related as parent and child, including others acting in loco parentis to a minor child, or as grandparent and grandchild; a parent of a child in common with the perpetrator; a current or former household member of the perpetrator; a person of the opposite sex who is in a dating relationship or has been in a dating relationship with the perpetrator. A dating relationship is one wherein the parties are romantically involved over time and on a continuous basis, during the course of the relationship. A casual acquaintance or ordinary fraternization between persons in a business or social context is not a dating relationship.
  • 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 4, 2021. Please note that data used are the most recent available data.