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Domestic Violence Related Homicides in Wisconsin

Domestic violence occurs in all walks of life despite one’s socioeconomic status, race, level of education, age, and sexual orientation. Sometimes that violence results in death.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV) recently released their preliminary data for 2009’s domestic violence related homicides, totaling 59 deaths. This number is a dramatic increase from 2008 when 36 domestic violence related homicides occurred. Of these 36, some were secondary victims such as the victim’s friends, family members, children, and new partners. The number 36 only depicts the number of victims killed; it does not include the number left injured, number of children harmed or the number of children left orphaned. Neither does it include the 10 perpetrators who committed murder-suicide. With these statistics, 2009 will go down in history as being the year that Wisconsin reached a 10-year high in these homicides.

The Wisconsin Domestic Violence Homicide Report for 2008 was published in September of 2009 and there were some startling statistics. At least 15 minor children were left orphaned or without a mother or father as a result of the homicide. Firearms accounted for almost half of the homicides. The firearms prohibition for perpetrators arrested for domestic abuse related charges was negated when the charges were dismissed or reduced to disorderly conduct. Finally, half of the homicides involved someone who had left or was in the process of leaving their abuser making this an escalated, volatile time. No wonder victims often stay in an abusive relationship!

Often times in this work, people ask, “Well, aren’t men abused too?” This question is also addressed in the Homicide Report, which found that 97 percent of the perpetrators were men. The statistic speaks for itself.

Some domestic violence programs are speculating that the increase can be linked to the recession. When people are out of work they may feel powerless. This in turn can lead them to try to maintain power in other areas of their life, such as over their partner. The stress of struggling financially may also contribute to violence but is not the cause. Some of these abusers also use unemployment as an excuse to use violence. Throughout the U.S., domestic violence is three times more likely to occur if the abuser is out of work.

Not only can being out of work increase the violence at home, the lack of financial stability for some victims exacerbates an already identified barrier to leaving. How can victims afford to leave their abuser when they themselves may be unemployed or underemployed due to the recession? It is a vicious cycle.

Our county is no exception to the rise in reported domestic violence. The Sturgeon Bay Police Department has stated that they had at least 100 calls in 2009 for domestic violence related crimes such as disorderly conduct and battery. This is up from a reported 71 in 2008. It is unclear, however, as to whether there has been more domestic violence in Door County or if more people are calling and reporting. Historically, this is a highly underreported crime for a variety of reasons.

We are fortunate that at least since 2000, Door County has been 1 of the 11 counties in Wisconsin that has not had a domestic violence homicide. Unfortunately, that means that the remaining 61 counties have experienced at least one in the same time period.

It is the responsibility of everyone to try and stop domestic violence. If you or someone you know is affected, please call HELP of Door County, Inc. at 1.800.91.HELP.1 or 920.743.8818 to speak to an advocate. There is HELP out there. For more information on the domestic violence reports, visit http://www.wcadv.org.

This article is brought to you in part by the Door County Coordinated Community Response (CCR) to Domestic Violence Team.