Domestic (intimate partner) violence affects more than 12 million people every year. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the U.S. have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Two-thirds (66.2%) of female stalking victims were stalked by current or former intimate partners. Children witnessed violence in nearly 1 in 4 (22%) intimate partner violence cases filed in state courts. One study found that children exposed to violence in the home were 15 times more likely to be physically and/or sexually assaulted than the national average.

According to a Pew Research Study, roughly 3 in 10 or more online dating users say someone through a dating site or app continued to contact them after they said they were not interested (37%). 35% of users said that someone sent them a sexually explicit message or image that they didn’t request. 28% of users were called an offensive name. Around 9% of users said that someone via a dating site or app threatened to physically harm them.

In a 2018 survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 47% of domestic violence (DV) or interpersonal violence cases are reported to law enforcement. Furthermore, when a citizen is assaulted or abused in one state, typically, the abuser is not extradited to face trial, nor do they face jail time.

Currently, no regulations exist for online dating applications. However, if a national registry of charged DV abusers were authorized---similar to the National Sex Offender Registry (https://www.nsopw.gov/ managed by the Department of Justice---online dating applications could be required to ensure their apps were free of DV abusers.

To ensure the safety of all U.S. citizens, individuals should have the right to know if a potential intimate partner has been charged with DV, and online dating apps should be accountable to ensure the safety of their users to the maximum extent possible.

This legislation authorizes and establishes a National Domestic Violence Registry within the Office of Inspector General to compile reports of all state-level domestic violence charges to enhance the security of all U.S. citizens and to reduce the epidemic of DV throughout our nation.