IPSPR: Electronic Publications

Definition: This indicator represents the extent of assaults on a husband, wife, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. This includes aggravated assaults, simple assaults, or intimidation. Aggravated assault is defined as an unlawful attack with the intent of inflicting serious bodily harm through the use or threatened use of dangerous weapons. It is not necessary that injury result for a crime to be considered an aggravated assault. Simple assault is the unlawful attack that does not involve the use of dangerous weapons and does not result in serious or aggravated injury. Intimidation is defined as one intimate partner putting another into reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or other conduct. Intimidation does not include use of a weapon or actual physical contact.

Significance: Domestic violence affects people in all communities, regardless of age, economic status, race, religion, nationality, or educational background. Not only has it proven to have damaging physical and psychological impact on victims and families, it also has far reaching implications on society. It has proven to impact detrimentally on business productivity, health care resources, and criminal justice resources.

Historical/Trend Analysis, Domestic Assaults Between Intimates per 10,000 Population

Note: The data for this measure was made available by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Uniform Crime Reports Department.

Definition: This indicator represents the percentage of murders in which the victim to offender relations are based on marriage, family ties, or romantic relationship. Both the South Carolina data and the United States data include spouse, parent, child, sibling, other family member, and boyfriend/girlfriend. The South Carolina data also include common law spouse.

Significance: Domestic homicide is the most extreme case of domestic violence. Although it is relatively rare, it devastates families. In cases where one spouse kills another, children often are left with neither parent to care for them with the state often becoming the custodian of the children.

Definition: The percent of children in single-parent households is the percentage of children under age 18 who live in households headed by a person (male or female), without a spouse present in the home. Children who live in group quarters (for example, institutions, dormitories, or group homes) are not included in this calculation.

Significance: Single-parent households confront unique, stressful circumstances, in addition to those already experienced by modern families.

Historical/Trend Analysis, Children Living in Households Headed by Single Parent

Data reflect values for South Carolina (SC), the United States (US), and the Southeast (SE). The Southeast region consists of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The data for this measure originally come from the American Community Survey (ACS), a special nationwide survey of households that the U.S. Census Bureau conducted monthly during each calendar year. Beginning in January 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau expanded the ACS sample to 3 million households. The data for this indicator reflect annual averages of monthly data. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not included in this data set.

Selected State Rankings, 2006 (“1” represents state with highest percentage of children living in households headed by single-parent. States are ranked using a standard competition ranking method that accounts for ties occurring when two or more states have the same percentage of children in single parent households.)

Definition: The indicator represents the percentage of child support that is owed and has been collected and distributed as reported by the States each year.

Significance: All recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) are eligible for paternity establishment and child support enforcement services with no charge. All other custodial parents may apply for the services for a $25 application fee. These services help to ensure that parents are held responsible for the support of their biological children and reduce the burden to the State.

Selected State Rankings, 2007 (“1” represents the state with the highest percentage of child support owed which has been collected and distributed. States are ranked from highest to lowest according to a competition ranking method that accounts for ties when two or more states share the same percentage of owed child support collected and distributed.)