State of DV - Initial Data Exploration
Mark Johnson | HTI Labs
Purpose
This is an initial exploration all exisiting DV metrics we can leverage for the State of DV Report. The overarching purpose is to compose a forest-level understanding of DV in our community as well as the stats that are currently at our disposal to tell a story. None of the plots or wordings are meant to be final/public-facing.
Overall/top-level takeaways include:
Prevalence
- 2020 experienced an unexpected uptick in DV prevalence as measured by DV-related 911 calls. While this uptick was exhibited in other DV metrics, increases were more modest and diminished in subsequent milestones of DV cases' trajectory through the system (e.g., in rates of incidents, arrests, prosecutions, etc.).
Offender and Victim Demographics
- Recent years have exhibited increasing rates of male victims and decreased rates of male offenders with 28% of victims in 2020 being male, the highest rate on record. For both offenders and victims, 25-34 and 35-59 have remained the most prominent age groups.
Case Types and Context
- In terms of relationships between offenders and victims, the proportion of incidents involving spouses has exhibited steady, albeit slight, decreases in recent years. Conversely, the proportion of incidents involving former dating partners has exhibited steady, albeit slight, increases in recent years. Severity of cases (in terms of proportion of felony vs. misdemeanor cases) has remained relatively stagnate, with 24.4% of cases involving at least one felony charge in 2020.
Protection Orders
- Annual number of PO requests continue to decline in recent years. Since 2018, the proportion of POs denied outright has declined consistently each year, with a significant reduction in outright denial rate occurring in 2020. Decreases in outright denial rates are driven largely by Domestic Abuse POs, with virtually no Domestic Abuse POs being denied outright in 2020 as a consequence of LB519.
Specific metrics are provided below and grouped into the following categories:
- Prevalence
- Law Enforcement Response
- Criminal Justice Response
- Type & Context
- Offenders
- Victims
- Protection Orders
Prevalence
The annual number of DV-related 911 calls decreased steadily from 2015 through 2019, with an unexpected uptick in 2020 ( by about 7.9%), corresponding to COVID-19 response measures.
Relatedly, 2020 experienced a notable uptick in the proportion of all 911 calls that were DV-related.
Law Enforcement Response
As with 911 calls, incidents across all agencies experienced an unexpected uptick in 2020, increasing by about 6.2%.
Similarly, arrests across all agencies experienced a modest increase of about 3.2% from 2019 to 2020.
Criminal Justice Response
Driven by increases in arrests, prosecutors reviewed slightly more cases in 2020 than in 2019, experiencing approximately a 2.8% increase.
Of cases decided in 2020, case outcome rates have stayed stagnate in recent years, with 70.2% of DV cases resulting in conviction in both 2019 and 2020.
Counts
Percents
Type and Context
Proportion of incidents involving former dating partners continues to increase steadily, albeit slightly.
Proportion of incidents involving spouses continues to decrease steadily, albeit slightly.
Severity of cases (in terms of felony vs. misdemeanor cases) has remained relatively stagnate, with 24.4% of cases involving at least one felony charge in 2020.
Counts
Percents
Offenders
Recent years have exhibited modest increases in the proportion of offenders who are women, and decreases in the proportion of offenders who are men.
The proportion of offenders who are repeat offenders continues to decrease steadily.
Dominant age range of offenders has remained consistent, with 25-34 and 35-59 being the most common age groups for offenders.
Counts
Percents
Victims
Recent years have exhibited modest increases in the proportion of victims who are men, and decreases in the proportion of victims who are women.
Dominant age range of victims has remained consistent, with 25-34 and 35-59 being the most common age groups for victims. ###Counts
Percents
Protection Orders - Requests
- Annual number of PO requests continue to decline in recent years, a trend that is driven relatively equally by each PO subtype.
Protection Orders - Outcomes
Since 2018, PO outright denial rates have deceased consistently each year, with a significant reduction in outright denials occurring in 2020.
Decreases in outright denials is driven largely by Domestic Abuse POs, with virtually no Domestic Abuse POs being denied outright in 2020 as a consequence of LB519.
