In collaboration with criminal justice and victim service partners, the Women’s Fund of Omaha today releases a new research report, State of Domestic Violence in Douglas County.
“By looking at what we know from agencies throughout our community who respond to domestic violence situations daily, we can begin to understand the scope of abuse locally and how to best intervene to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable,” said Christon MacTaggart, Women’s Fund domestic/sexual violence project manager.
Since offenders of domestic violence are held accountable primarily through the criminal justice system, the research report mainly focuses on that system and trends over a three-year period from 2015 to 2017. Data from local agencies who provide services to victims is also featured in the report focusing on victim safety.
Key data highlights from the report:
- Domestic violence-related arrests in Douglas County increased by 49% over the three-year period.
- Domestic violence prosecutions in Douglas County have increased as a primary result of increased arrests.
- An increasing number of protection orders are being denied without a hearing.
- The percent of incidents between former relationships increased in Omaha over these three years, which illustrates that violence against victims does not end just because a relationship ends.
- More than 5,000 unique victims are served each year by local victim service programs.
- There has been a significant increase in legal services provided by local programs of 128% over the three-year period.
“The extent of
domestic violence that is happening in our community is far more than we can
ever know,” said MacTaggart. “What we do know is that there is a need to
support survivors and hold offenders accountable. And in order to create a
community where everyone can live free from domestic violence, we must work
collaboratively.”