Tennessee

By the Numbers

Summary

  • In 2020, there were 90 domestic violence murder victims in Tennessee.1
  • In 2020, 60% (n=54) of the domestic violence murders in Tennessee involved a firearm.2
  • In 2015, there were 8,619 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Tennessee, 4,523 of which had a disqualifying Brady Indicator.3

Fatalities

In 2020, there were 90 domestic violence murder victims in Tennessee. There were 936 domestic violence murders between 2011 and 2020.4

Domestic Violence Murder Victims
Domestic Violence Murders in Tennessee, 2011-2020

Notes:

  1. Homicides are classified as domestic violence murders if they are flagged by law enforcement as being domestically related. Data was only included in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Domestic Violence reports if victim gender was known. Reports were cross-compared to extract single year domestic violence murder counts.
  2. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation releases an annual report on domestic violence reported by law enforcement agencies to the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System.

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 Tennessee is:

Females

39.6% Experienced IPV
60.4% No IPV

Among female victims in Tennessee who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 61.2% were concerned for safety, 41.3% were injured, 25.5% needed medical care, and 23.3% needed legal services.4

Males

36.8% Experienced IPV
63.2% No IPV

Among male victims in Tennessee who experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, 20% were injured. Statistically reliable estimates of the percentage of male victims who were concerned for safety, 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 Tennessee, 2006-2015

There were 8,619 active protection orders in the National Crime Information Center for Tennessee in 2015, 4,523 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 murder: In Tennessee, homicides are classified as domestic violence murders if they are flagged by law enforcement as being domestically related. Data was only included in these reports if victim gender was known. Reports were cross-compared to extract single year domestic violence murder counts.
  • 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 6, 2021. Please note that data used are the most recent available data.