December 21, 2020 (Anchorage, AK)— The Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA) and the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Justice Center have completed the phone survey portion of the quinquennial Alaska Victimization Survey (AVS). This year’s phone survey included 2,100 Alaskan women over the age of 18 who answered questions related to their experiences with physical and psychological intimate partner violence, stalking, and sexual violence.
Results from the survey are used to guide planning and policy development, effectively evaluate the impact of prevention and intervention services, and provide greater empirical support for preventing and responding to violence against women. Past iterations of this statewide survey were done in 2010 and 2015.
“Eliminating the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault in our state has been a top priority for my administration since I took office,”
said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “The results from this survey will help us chart a path forward to improve our statutes, to hold perpetrators accountable, and to bolster services and justice for victims.”
“I am very proud and humbled that victims and survivors of abuse are choosing to lend their voices to help guide us toward a better future,”
said Commissioner Amanda Price, Department of Public Safety. “Far too many Alaskans have been hurt by their own family members and loved ones. The wisdom survivors share with us in these surveys is our best shot of better understanding how to prevent future violence.”
“This survey helps give voice to the hundreds of victims of violence across our diverse state,
” said Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Executive Director L. Diane Casto. “With this data, policy makers are able to better align resources and effort to the areas most needed to end domestic and sexual violence in our state. We are indebted to the 2,100 women who invested time and re-lived these traumatic experiences by completing this survey to help all of us better understand the extent of intimate partner and sexual violence in Alaska.”
The UAA Justice Center will begin to analyze the data and expects to release results in late spring 2021. In collaboration with CDVSA, the UAA Justice Center will develop multiple reports and analyses, as well as opportunities for this critical data to be available to all Alaskans, in an effort to better understand the lasting impact of violence on victims, their families, and their communities.
"There is an overwhelming amount of violence against women that go unreported to the police. That's where these victimization surveys come in,"
said Dr. Ingrid Johnson, UAA Justice Center assistant professor and principal investigator for the survey. "They give us the most accurate estimates of these experiences that will then allow us to track our prevention efforts. We saw a decline in experiences with violence between 2010 and 2015, so our hope is to see those rates to continue to decline."
The 2015 and 2010 statewide survey results, along with several regional surveys done between 2010 and 2015, can be viewed at:
www.uaa.alaska.edu/justice/avs.
The Intimate Partner Violence Interactive Data Dashboard (including AVS data from 2010 ad 2015) is available at:
https://public.tableau.com/profile/ajic.uaa#!/vizhome/AVSDashboard-CDVSA-AJIC/Introduction?:render=false.
If you or a loved one is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or child abuse, the following resources are available to you at no cost:
- For immediate response call 911
- Alaska 2-1-1 for assistance, referrals, resources
- Alaska’s CARELINE at 877-266-4357
- National Domestic Violence Hotline
- National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673)
- To report child abuse at 800-478-4444 or online at ReportChildAbuse@alaska.gov
- For a listing of local victim services 24/7 hotlines go to: https://dps.alaska.gov/CDVSA/Services/VictimServices