Domestic abuse statistics in New Jersey

It’s a disturbing way of life for many, too many. Getting abused on daily basis by someone you love. You blame yourself for the abuse and fear for your safety, your family’s safety, and more importantly, your child’s safety. The sad part is this abuse is on the rise.

Here are some disturbing numbers from the New Jersey State Police’s 2011 Domestic Violence Offense Report:

• More than 70,000 domestic violence offenses were reported in 2011, a 5 percent increase from the previous year. That’s a domestic abuse occurrence happening once every 7 minutes in New Jersey.
• Harassment was 44 percent of the cases reported while assaults made up 42 percent of the cases.
• However, out of those offenses, 31 percent led to arrests, a 5 percent decrease.
• 18 percent of the domestic abuse cases were wives of the attackers, 3 percent were ex-wives, and 14 percent of the cases came from dating couples.
• The most frequent hours of abuse are between 8 p.m. and midnight and the most frequent day is Sunday.
• Children were either involved or present in 31 percent of the abuse cases.

For a complete look at the report, click here.

A recent study has found that 51 percent of intimate partner homicide victims were foreign-born, while 45 percent were born in the United States. If you have been a victim of domestic abuse, do not hide and hope that it goes away. Help your family and yourself. Contact us today and let us help you.

What These Numbers Actually Tell Us

Statistics about domestic violence in New Jersey are important, but they are also incomplete by their nature. The numbers above come from reported offenses. The actual scope of domestic abuse in the state is considerably larger than what finds its way into official reports. Researchers and advocates who study intimate partner violence consistently find that the majority of incidents are never reported to law enforcement at all. Survivors stay silent for reasons that are deeply understandable: fear of retaliation, financial dependence on the abuser, concern about immigration status, uncertainty about whether what is happening qualifies as abuse, and a belief, reinforced by the abuser, that no one will help them or believe them.

The figure showing that only 31 percent of domestic violence offenses led to arrests in 2011, itself a decrease from prior years, reflects a system that many survivors rightly perceive as an imperfect safety net. An arrest does not guarantee protection, and many victims who do call for help find that the legal process moves far more slowly than the danger they are facing. Understanding what the law actually provides, and what protections are immediately available, is part of why having informed legal guidance matters so much in these situations.

The Relationship Between Harassment, Assault, and the Law

The breakdown showing harassment at 44 percent of reported cases and assault at 42 percent reflects a reality of domestic violence that is often misunderstood. Many people associate domestic violence with physical violence alone. But harassment, under New Jersey’s Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, is a recognized predicate act that qualifies as domestic violence and can support a restraining order just as a physical assault does.

New Jersey defines harassment broadly. Repeatedly making communications in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm, using offensive language with the purpose of alarming or seriously annoying another person, and engaging in a course of alarming conduct all qualify. Repeated unwanted text messages, phone calls at all hours, showing up uninvited at a victim’s workplace, and monitoring a person’s movements are all behaviors that can be documented and addressed through the legal process, even when they have not escalated to physical contact.

The significance of this distinction is that victims do not have to wait until they are physically injured before the law can help them. A pattern of harassing behavior, documented and brought before a court, can result in a temporary restraining order that puts immediate legal distance between the victim and the abuser. That restraining order can prohibit the abuser from contacting the victim, from coming within a specified distance of the victim’s home or workplace, and from possessing firearms during the period the order is in effect.

Restraining Orders in New Jersey: How They Work in Practice

When someone calls law enforcement after a domestic violence incident in New Jersey, one of the first things that typically happens is the issuance of a temporary restraining order, also called a TRO. Law enforcement has the authority to issue a TRO at the scene of a domestic violence incident, or a judge can issue one at any time, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, through the Municipal Court or Superior Court on-call system. The victim does not need an attorney present to obtain a temporary restraining order.

The TRO goes into effect immediately and typically remains in place until a final restraining order hearing, which is scheduled within ten days of the TRO’s issuance. At that hearing, both parties have the opportunity to present their case to a judge, who then decides whether to enter a final restraining order. A final restraining order in New Jersey has no automatic expiration date. It remains in effect unless and until a court vacates it, which requires a formal legal proceeding and a finding that there is no longer a reason to maintain the order.

Violating a restraining order in New Jersey is a criminal offense. A person who contacts a victim in violation of a restraining order, who comes within the prohibited distance of the victim’s home or workplace, or who otherwise fails to comply with the terms of the order can be arrested, charged with contempt of court, and face additional criminal consequences. The existence of the restraining order and its terms are entered into law enforcement databases so that officers responding to any future incident can immediately identify that an order is in place.

The Children in These Statistics

The fact that children were involved or present in 31 percent of the abuse cases from the 2011 report is a number that carries weight far beyond the statistic itself. Children who witness domestic violence experience it as trauma whether or not they are physically touched. The research on the effects of childhood exposure to intimate partner violence is extensive and consistent: children who grow up in households where domestic violence occurs show higher rates of anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, academic difficulties, and in many cases, involvement in violent relationships of their own as adults.

New Jersey courts are acutely aware of this. In family court proceedings involving custody and parenting time, a history of domestic violence is a factor that judges are required to consider under the state’s child custody statute. The law recognizes that a parent who has been abusive toward a partner may present risks to the child even if the child was not the direct target of the violence. Courts can limit, condition, or in some cases prohibit unsupervised parenting time when domestic violence is established in the record.

For survivors who are navigating both a domestic violence situation and a custody matter, the two legal proceedings can affect each other in significant ways. Evidence presented in a restraining order hearing can become part of the record in a family court case. The terms of a custody order can intersect with the terms of a restraining order in ways that need careful legal attention to ensure they do not conflict or create gaps in protection.

The Foreign-Born Victim Population and the Barriers They Face

The finding that 51 percent of intimate partner homicide victims were foreign-born is a statistic that reflects a specific set of vulnerabilities that are compounded by immigration status, language barriers, and cultural factors that can make it harder for victims to access help.

Foreign-born survivors of domestic violence in New Jersey often face the additional burden of an abuser who uses immigration status as a tool of control, threatening to report the victim to immigration authorities if they seek help, threatening that seeking help will result in deportation and separation from children, or claiming that the victim has no legal rights in this country. These threats are often exaggerated or entirely false, but they are effective precisely because the victim may not have access to reliable information about what immigration law actually provides.

The federal Violence Against Women Act created specific immigration protections for foreign-born victims of domestic violence. Self-petition options allow certain survivors to apply for immigration status independently of an abusive citizen or permanent resident spouse. The U visa provides a path for crime victims, including domestic violence survivors, who have cooperated with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of the crime. These are real legal protections that an abuser who is wielding immigration threats does not want the victim to know about.

Language access is a related issue. New Jersey courts and law enforcement agencies are required to provide language access services to individuals who are not proficient in English, including in the context of seeking a restraining order or reporting a domestic violence incident. The process for obtaining a TRO does not require the victim to speak English, and interpreter services should be available. In practice, the quality and availability of those services varies, and having an attorney who can navigate these systems on behalf of a non-English-speaking client provides meaningful support.

The Gap Between Reporting and Arrests

The drop in the arrest rate to 31 percent of reported offenses is worth examining because it illustrates the distance between a call for help and an actual legal consequence for the abuser. Several factors contribute to this gap.

Domestic violence cases present evidentiary challenges that other criminal cases do not. The incident occurs in a private setting, often without independent witnesses. Physical evidence may be limited. The victim may recant or become reluctant to cooperate with prosecutors out of fear, financial dependence, emotional attachment to the abuser, or concern about the consequences for children in the household. Prosecutors who handle domestic violence cases work in an environment where the complaining witness sometimes becomes the biggest obstacle to prosecution, not because the abuse did not happen, but because the dynamics of abusive relationships are complex and victims’ needs are not always aligned with the criminal justice system’s goals.

New Jersey has adopted mandatory arrest policies for certain domestic violence situations. When law enforcement responds to a domestic violence call and finds probable cause to believe that a domestic violence offense has been committed, including when the victim has visible injuries, the officer is required to arrest the alleged abuser. This policy was implemented specifically to address the historical pattern of officers treating domestic calls as private matters that did not require a law enforcement response.

Even with mandatory arrest policies, the gap between arrest and conviction remains significant. Prosecutors decide which cases to pursue. Defense attorneys challenge evidence and credibility. Judges make evidentiary rulings that shape what a jury sees. The criminal process is long, uncertain, and conducted in a public forum that many victims find retraumatizing. The civil restraining order process, running in parallel, gives victims a separate mechanism to obtain protection that does not depend on criminal prosecution moving forward.

What to Do If You Are in This Situation

The statistics above represent real people. Each occurrence happening once every seven minutes in New Jersey represents a person in a moment of fear, pain, and uncertainty about what comes next. The legal system in New Jersey provides mechanisms for protection, but those mechanisms work better when the person seeking help understands what is available and how to access it.

Documenting the abuse as it occurs, including saving text messages and voicemails, photographing visible injuries, keeping a written record of incidents with dates and details, and identifying any witnesses who are aware of the situation, creates evidence that supports a restraining order application and any subsequent legal proceedings. This documentation does not need to be perfect or comprehensive to be useful. Courts that hear domestic violence cases understand that survivors are not operating in ideal circumstances.

A New Jersey Domestic Violence Attorney can help a survivor understand their legal options, prepare for a final restraining order hearing, navigate the intersection of a domestic violence matter with a custody case, and address the immigration questions that arise for foreign-born survivors. The legal system has real tools to offer people in this situation. Knowing what those tools are and how to use them is the first step toward safety.

If you have been a victim of domestic abuse, do not hide and hope that it goes away. Help your family and yourself. Contact us today and let us help you.

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