October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impacts of domestic violence. Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) was launched nationwide in October 1987 as a way to connect and unite individuals and organizations working on domestic violence issues while raising awareness. Over the past 30+ years, much progress has been made to support domestic violence victims and survivors, to hold abusers accountable, and to create and update legislation to further those goals. 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence data shows that:

• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the United States have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. 
• On a typical day, local domestic violence hotlines receive approximately 19,159 calls, an average of approximately 13 calls every minute.
• In 2018, domestic violence accounted for 20% of all violent crime.
• 65% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 96% of the victims of these crimes are female.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence data for Domestic Violence in Georgia shows that:

• 37.4% of Georgia women and 30.4% of Georgia men experience intimate partner physical violence, sexual violence and/or stalking in their lifetimes.
• In 2019, Georgia domestic violence programs answered 52,282 crisis calls.
• Georgia domestic violence shelters provided shelter to 7,214 victims of domestic violence in FY 2019. An additional 4,176 were turned away due to lack of bed space.
• In 2017, there were 149 domestic violence-related fatalities. 
• In 2017, Georgia had the 10th highest rate in the US of women murdered by men.
• As of December 31, 2019, Georgia had submitted one misdemeanor domestic violence and no active protective order records to the NICS Index.

Safe Shelter of Savannah statistics show that in 2021:

• 3,723 domestic disturbance calls were received and 144 domestic disturbance reports were written by Savannah Police Department.
• 1,169 domestic disturbance calls were received by Chatham County Police Department.
• 1,445 crisis calls were received by Safe Shelter.

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