Domestic violence is any act of violence against one family member by another.   Family can include current and former spouses, parents who have children in common, adults who live in the same household, as well as parents and their children.  Domestic violence offenses may or may not result in the arrest of a perpetrator.  The rate is the number of offenses per 1,000 people in the county.

As reported by DSHS, the rate of offenses in Pierce County has been fairly flat since 1999 from 9.60 per 1,000 people (6,467 offenses) to a ten-year low of 8.80 (6,342 offenses) in 2003, but has reached as high as 10.58 offences per 1,000 people in 2005 (7,830 offenses).  Since 1996, Pierce County has had a higher rate of domestic violence offenses than both the state as a whole and “counties like ours”, which includes Spokane County and Snohomish County combined.