Geographic concentration of violence between intimate partners.

Abstract

To explore geographic patterns of violence between intimate partners in a metropolitan area with one of the highest injury mortality rates in the nation-Duval County, Florida, which includes the city of Jacksonville. Using police reports of all serious violent incidents in Duval County in 1992 excluding robberies, the authors analyzed patterns in the location of the incidents. Only cases for which the relationship between the offender and victim was recorded were used. Thematic maps reveal that census tracts with rates above the 75th percentile of assaultive violence between intimates are clustered in certain parts of the city. Concentrated poverty tracts had median rates of violence between intimate nine times higher than other tracts. The finding that violence between intimate partners is concentrated in central city poverty neighborhoods opens up avenues for prevention.