Some facts and figures on domestic violence in Mississippi

An aggravated domestic violence charge is a felony if the crime includes the intent to cause serious bodily harm or death through the use of a weapon or other means, including strangulation or choking.Penalties: Up to six months in jail and a $500 fine if it's a misdemeanor. Aggravated domestic violence is a felony punishable by five to 20 years.

Statistics

-- In fiscal year 2015, Mississippi law enforcement officers responded to 10,411 domestic violence calls, an increase of more than 170 calls over fiscal year 2014.

-- Nearly 4,000 protection orders were issued in the state in fiscal year 2015.

-- Domestic violence shelters in Mississippi provided temporary housing and safety to 2,114 women, men and children and non-residential services to 1,593 women, men and children.

-- Domestic violence programs in Mississippi handled 40,317 calls for emergency assistance or referrals for help.

Other facts

-- Mississippi has dropped from the fifth highest in the nation to the 34th highest in the number of girls and women murdered by a man since the start of the Attorney General's Domestic Violence Unit in December 2006.

-- On a typical day nationwide, domestic violence hotlines receive 21,000 calls, or about 15 calls every minute.

-- Every 9 seconds, a woman is assaulted or beaten.

-- One woman in four will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

-- An average of 20 people are physically assaulted by intimate partners every minute, accounting for more than 10 million abuse victims annually.

-- One woman in three and one man in four has been physically abused by an intimate partner.

-- One woman in five and one man in seven have been severely injured by an intimate partner.

-- Intimate-partner violence accounts for 15 percent of all violent crimes statewide.

-- A gun in the home increases the risk of homicide in domestic violence by 500 percent.

-- 72 percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner; 94 percent of the victims of these crimes are women.For help: Call the Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence crisis hotline at 435-1968 or toll free at 1-800-800-1396 or call the center's Adrienne's House at 205-4502. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day.The center offers victims a variety of free services: domestic violence shelters, adults and children's counseling, case management, court advocacy, legal assistance, intervention programs, therapeutic preschool and sexual assault crisis response.

-- State Attorney General's Office and National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Some facts and figures on domestic violence in Mississippi ."