[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] reported Thursday that incidents of intimate partner violence [CDC backgrounder] in the United States have declined in recent years [press release]. The study was conducted by the DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics [official website], and analyzed crime rates [JURIST news archive] from 1993 to 2004. While the overall rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence was 5.8 victimizations per 1,000 US residents 12 years old and older in 1993, by 2004 the rate had reduced to 2.6.

The study, entitled Intimate Partner Violence in the United States [text], showed that crime trends differed with respect to numerous factors, including gender, income, and ethnicity. For example, while there was a 26% decrease in female victims from homicide by intimates (from 1571 in 1993 to 1159 in 2004), there was a 45% decrease (698 to 385) in male victims. There is, however, no expert consensus as to what has slowed the instance of crime. AP has more.