WISCONSINREPORT.COM (11/23/07) - There were 25,531 domestic abuse incidents in the State of Wisconsin last year, according to a November 2007 report released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The DOJ Office of Crime Victim Services Domestic Abuse Incident Report (DAIR) is compiled from data submitted by district attorneys' offices throughout the state and analyzes homicide statistics gathered by the Office of Justice Assistance. The typical domestic abuse victim was an 18-29 year old female battered by a spouse or ex-spouse.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers of domestic abuse incidents reported in some counties around Wisconsin: Marathon County - 703; Wood - 252; Portage - 63; Sauk - 325; Columbia - 408; Waupaca - 297; Shawano - 99; Oneida - 96; Green - 158; Clark - 92; Lincoln - 86; Juneau - 139; Waushara - 112; Adams - 82; Langlade - 6; Green Lake - 86; and Forest - 25. There were additional incidents in other counties throughout all 72 counties in the state. Milwaukee County was the site of about one-third (8,347) of the more than 25 thousand domestic abuse incidents in Wisconsin.

Key findings of the report include:

Wisconsin prosecutors reported 25,531 domestic abuse incidents referred to their offices by law enforcement during 2006.

The typical victim was an 18-29 year old female battered by a spouse or ex-spouse.

Both within Milwaukee County and outside of Milwaukee County, there was an increase over the previous year in the percentage of law enforcement responses to incidents that resulted in arrest.

The most common charge issued by prosecutors outside Milwaukee County was disorderly conduct. In Milwaukee County, the most common charge issued was battery.

There were forty domestic homicides reported in 19 Wisconsin counties during 2006. Victims of these homicides were most often females killed in their residence by a family member who used a firearm or a knife.

One-fourth of all domestic homicide victims were children, the majority of whom were killed by a parent or someone their parent was dating.

"Domestic violence is a serious threat to public safety that knows no geographic boundaries," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said. "These annual reports provide government officials and members of the public with the recent data on domestic violence, to better understand the scope of the problem and the affected populations."

Under Wisconsin Statutes, s. 968.075 (9), each county is required to provide data regarding domestic abuse incidents to the Department of Justice. The purpose of the report is to provide a snapshot of reported domestic abuse in Wisconsin. It does not include incidents that were not reported to law enforcement or incidents that were not referred for prosecution.

For a variety of reasons, domestic abuse is often not reported to law enforcement. Therefore, the data in the report should be used as a significant representation of domestic violence in Wisconsin, but not as complete representation of all domestic abuse incidents occurring in the state.