Domestic violence needs attention

Domestic violence is an ongoing problem that affects millions of women worldwide. In the U.S. alone.

A staggering 31 percent of women have reported being physically abused by their intimate partners. What is even worse is that women ages 16-24 are three times as likely to be victims.

Not only is domestic violence a problem because of the emotional and physical damage it causes to the women, as well as other family members who witness it, but it also affects taxpayers financially. Domestic violence costs more than $1 billion annually in medical costs.

While searching for recent articles on the topic, of which I expected more, the only somewhat recent article was published in July entitled “Fresno police unit lowers numbers of domestic violence cases.”

The author was not very clear in reporting data on local domestic-violence assaults. In the article, a Sgt. Chris Serrano is quoted saying “There has been a 43 percent increase in domestic violence assaults since January.” Overall, this topic deserves more attention, possibly informing women what help is available to them if they face this type of situation.

This story was originally published November 13, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Domestic violence needs attention."