The harms of violence are unevenly distributed: how does the harm caused to victims of violence vary by victim–perpetrator relationship?

It is not disputed that crime harms victims. Violence specifically can cause physical and emotional harms to victims’ health (McManus et al, 2022; Chandan et al, 2020). The outcomes of violent victimisation can be attributed to multiple factors such as sex, repetition, and victim–perpetrator relationship. For example, acts by men against women are reported as having greater potential for harm than the same act perpetrated by a woman against a man (Walby and Towers, 2017). However, studies that compare the harms of violence by sex, victim–perpetrator relationship, and the interaction between them are rare. Studies which discuss the impacts of violence against women often look at this in isolation from other violence (Koss, 1990; Stark, 2007). This article uses data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales to analyse violence against women in the context of all violence. By investigating the outcomes of violent crime, this article suggests: the odds of experiencing harm increases as the distance to the perpetrator decreases; the gendered aspects of violence are important for understanding the harms inflicted by perpetrators; and including emotional harms shows how violence without injury is still harmful.