SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – A report released last year by the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence found a 181% increase in domestic violence fatalities from 2020 to 2021 in the Hoosier State.
According to a 2022 report published by The Lancet, the World Health Organization found that over one in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.
16 News Now spoke with local victim advocates and court administrators about how survivors of domestic abuse can get the help they need.
“Domestic violence does not discriminate; it could be happening to someone you know at this time,” says Tiffany Gilliam, Domestic Violence Advocate in Lethality Prevention for the YWCA North Central Indiana. “It doesn’t care about race, socio-economic level, income level, education level, history, so this is something that can affect everybody.”
To better determine if abuse is severe and requires immediate intervention, the YWCA of North Central Indiana partnered with local police and started using the D.A.L.E. screening or Danger Assessment – Law Enforcement test.
Abuse takes many forms and doesn’t always fit nicely into one specific category.
“There are transportation issues,” says Emilie Stooke, Circuit Court Administrator for the St. Joseph Circuit Court. “There are work obligations, and there are language barriers. There are financial decisions that come into play; the parties may have children together, so it’s harder for them to up and leave as it would be someone who didn’t have children with their abuser.”
What happens when the local police show up after you or a loved one calls for a potential domestic violence crisis?
“When the police are called out to a scene, and there is a domestic violence altercation, they do what is called a D.A.L.E. assessment, and in those D.A.L.E. assessments, they will refer the victim to the YWCA or the FJC for their services,” Stooke explained.
Using 11 questions on the D.A.L.E. screening, the local YWCA identified around 450 high-risk cases in 2020, which increased to 550 in 2021.
These stats indicate that while there might be an increase in violence, because of programs in place locally, more survivors are being identified and provided assistance.
“And that’s why the education piece is so important, so once we’re able to give visibility to the range that abuse can look like, then that helps clients to identify where they were in their lives and how they were experiencing that,” Gilliam added.