Preventing murder by addressing
domestic violence
Case Western Reserve University
Victims of domestic violence are at
a high risk to be murdered -- or a victim of attempted murder -- according to a
Cuyahoga County task force of criminal-justice professionals, victim advocates
and researchers working to prevent domestic violence and homicides.
In the first year of the initiative,
the Cuyahoga County Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) partnered with
researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Police
Department in districts 1 and 5 (in the city's far-West and East Sides,
respectively) where officers surveyed victims in domestic-violence calls.
The survey, called the Danger
Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE), relied on an 11-question survey to
determine victims at the greatest risk for homicide and severe assault. More
than 95 percent of all victims volunteered to participate in the assessment
with the responding officers.
The team provided the information to researchers at Case Western Reserve's Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences to analyze the data.
The researchers found that between
October 2016 and September 2017, 45 percent of victims were at high risk for
homicide and severe assault out of 1,554 assessments taken.
Of those high-risk victims, the data
revealed that 88 percent had survived a previous strangulation attempt, 88
percent had already been threatened with murder and 89 percent believed their
attacker is capable of killing them.
"This shines a spotlight on a
serious issue that needs our full attention," said Jeff Kretschmar, a
research associate professor and managing director of the Begun Center, which
recently released the one-year report. Research associates Ashley Bukach and
Rebecca Bray we also a part of the team.
The Cuyahoga County Witness Victim
Service Center served as the lead agency, with the Domestic Violence and Child
Advocacy Center and the Cleveland Division of Police assisting as the main
partners.
Next steps
High-risk victims who agree to
participate in the program receive enhanced case monitoring, individualized
intervention plans and links to appropriate services and resources.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve
and members of the DVHRT hope to reduce fatal domestic violence cases
countywide by focusing on higher-risk cases, starting with Cleveland.
"Domestic violence is a
significant problem, and this project helps to address the most dangerous
cases," Kretschmar said. "We have a unique opportunity to intervene,
to really make a difference."