SALT LAKE CITY?A new U.S. Justice Department report shows that overall domestic violence against women in the United States has plummeted by 41 percent between 1993 and 1999.

But Utah officials say domestic violence cases in the state are climbing.

“Our numbers [of battered women] increased during that time,” said Jennifer Mackenzie, chief program officer at the YWCA women’s shelter in Salt Lake City.

Nearly 5,000 women and children stayed at Utah shelters last year, a 32 percent hike from the previous year, according to figures from the state’s Division of Child and Family Services.