New York City reports an alarming 12% spike in domestic violence cases last year.

Domestic violence against wives, girlfriends and ex-partners climbed by an even more troubling 17%.

Domestic violence against boyfriends and husbands also grew, but only by about a more modest 5%.

Eighteen percent of cases are for violating an existing domestic violence restraining order of protection.

Part of the rising statistics is a broadening of the definition of domestic violence to include violence between cohabiting intimate partners without children in common and dating couples, including teenagers and same-sex couples. But only part.

Many attribute the greater part of the increase in violence to the fallout of the recession.

Further jumps in the statistics are anticipated as a result of relaxation of the requirements to press criminal charges for choking an intimate partner.

Read more in this New York Daily News article: Domestic violence jumps 12.3% in NYC; Brooklyn is borough with most cases.