VAWA Advocates Need to Stop Pushing COVID Myths, or Risk Losing All Credibility

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

VAWA Advocates Need to Stop Pushing COVID Myths, or Risk Losing All Credibility

WASHINGTON / October 14, 2021 – Over the past year and a half, Americans have received dire warnings that COVID stay-at-home policies were causing a dramatic “spike” and “surge” in domestic violence. But these warnings lack a scientific basis. Proponents of the VAWA reauthorization are urged to disseminate only information that is verifiable and true.

During the October 5 Senate hearing on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, several senators claimed that COVID lockdown policies had caused an increase in domestic violence. For example, Sen. Amy Klobuchar implausibly asserted a 40% rise in abuse cases in Minnesota as a result of the pandemic (1). In response, a CEDV representative contacted Klobuchar’s office to verify the source of the claim. No response was forthcoming.

The following Monday, the Omaha World Herald in Nebraska published an article titled, “Omaha-based Women’s Center for Advancement sees uptick in domestic violence” (2). Reporting on an increase in the number of calls to its domestic violence hotline, Jannette Taylor of the Women’s Center for Advancement offered this explanation: “I think that the pandemic was sort of the impetus for all of this. People who are basically forced into mandatory quarantine with their abusers….The increase in domestic violence situations is happening across the country.”

But there are two major problems with Ms. Taylor’s claim. First, Nebraska never had a COVID “quarantine” or stay-at-home order at either the state or local levels. A compilation in USA Today states that for Nebraska, “Stay-at-home order: Never issued.” (3) So it’s difficult to imagine how a non-existent quarantine had any effect on domestic violence.

Second, there is no scientific evidence that links domestic violence to COVID stay-at-home policies. Four independent analyses have concluded that overall, there was no increase in domestic violence or sexual assault. And some locales saw a significant decrease:

The National Domestic Violence Hotline reports on the number of answered calls, chats, and texts received each year. The graph from the most recent report reveals the number of answered inquiries in 2020 was 363,000, which is the same number as in 2018 (4).
The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice concluded, based on reports from 11 cities, that “Domestic violence did not increase in the first quarter of 2021 over the first quarter of 2020.” (5)
The Marshall Project found reductions in the number of domestic violence cases in the three cities that it studied (6):

- Chicago, IL: 23% decline
- Austin, TX: 13% decline
- Chandler, AZ: 18% decline

In 67 large cities across the country, the Major Cities Chiefs Association reported that during the first 9 months of 2020, the number of rapes dropped from 32,234 to 27,273, compared to 2019. This change represents a 15% decrease (7).

Clearly, there has been no “spike” or “surge” in the levels of domestic violence during the COVID pandemic.

Why would abuse rates be falling in many localities during the COVID pandemic? The most likely explanation comes from the Family Life Survey of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, which found that coping with the COVID threat has served to strengthen family relationships. 56% of survey respondents agreed that experiencing the pandemic “Has made me appreciate my partner more,” and 47% agreed that the coronavirus, “Has deepened my commitment to my relationship.” (8)

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Coalition to End Domestic Violence urges lawmakers, state domestic violence coalitions, and abuse shelters to disseminate only factual information about the impact of COVID on intimate partner aggression.

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