Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men

• NCJ Number: 250298
• Author(s): Terri Henry
• Date Published: October 2016
• Length: 2 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-PJ-BX-K001
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Statistics; Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Award: National Institute of Justice Fellowship: Violence Against Indian Women Research Program

Annotation

This video and accompanying transcript present the findings of a NIJ-supported study of the prevalence of violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and men.

Abstract

The study found that the vast majority of American Indian and Alaska Native women and men have experienced violence in their lifetime, and one in three have experienced violence in the past year. Women and men have similar rates of violent victimization. Almost 3 million American Indian and Alaska Native women and men have been victims of violence. These prevalence levels are higher than in the general population. The NIJ study identified four categories of violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives: stalking, sexual assault, domestic physical violence, and psychological aggression. Just over 1.2 million American Indian and Alaska Native women and men have been stalked. American Indian and Alaska Native women are almost two times more likely to experience sexual violence with penetration compared to non-Hispanic White women. Approximately one in every two women and one in every three American Indian and Alaska Native men have experienced physical violence by intimate partners in their lifetimes. This is much higher than the physical victimization rates over the lifetimes of non-Hispanic Whites. Psychological aggression affects just over one in every two American Indian and Alaska Native women and men. The study also determined that almost 40 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women violence victims who need services can't get them, compared with only 15 percent of non-Hispanic White female victims. The study involved 3, 978 American Indian and Alaska Native women and men, who volunteered for the study.