HOAX: Alarming Claims of Domestic Violence ‘Spike’ Cannot be Verified

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

HOAX: Alarming Claims of Domestic Violence ‘Spike’ Cannot be Verified

WASHINGTON / April 20, 2020 – A continuing investigation into claims of a “surge” in domestic violence cases as a result of coronavirus control policies is unable to verify any of the major claims posited in media accounts. These reports allege that stay-at-home mandates will cause a major increase in domestic violence incidents; that the perpetrators of these incidents are consistently males; and that abuse shelters will be overwhelmed with demands for service.

For example, the National Task Force (NTF) to End Sexual and Domestic Violence predicted on March 23, “Survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are facing extreme danger and risk just at a time when programs and systems will struggle to respond.” (1)

The weeks-long investigation by the Coalition to End Domestic Violence (CEDV) has been unable to verify any of these predictions, leading CEDV to conclude such claims are myths.

Myth #1: “Spike” in Domestic Violence Cases

Over the past three weeks, CEDV has contacted police departments in the following cities: Albany, NY; Auburn, WA; Columbus, OH; Denver, CO; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Frederick, MD; Houston, TX; Nashville, TN; Palm Beach, FL; Philadelphia, PA; and Tacoma, WA.

While Nashville saw a 5% increase from February to March, a week-by-week look at March reveals a reduction: police reports fell from the first two weeks of March to the second half of the month. Hence, of the 14 reports received from the 11 units, all but one reported steady or decreased numbers of domestic violence cases (2,3).

Houston saw a 10% increase during the second half of March. But this number does not comport with claims of an alarming “spike” in abuse rates.

Other police departments responded to CEDV queries at a later date. For example, Lizzy Crigler reported the New Orleans Police Department saw 1,533 domestic violence incidents in March 2019, compared to 1,157 incidents in March 2020. These numbers represent a 25% decline.

An officer in the Boston Domestic Violence Unit offered a blunt commentary on the purported increase in domestic violence cases: “Nonsense! Both verbal and aggravated assault are down because people are more focused on good hygiene, their own survival skills and frankly have nowhere to go if they get kicked out of the house (or kick someone out), so they are learning coping skills and learning how to get along with each other by taking walks, etc.”

Conclusion: In almost all cities, the number of domestic violence cases has been steady or lower. In the only city that saw more domestic violence calls, the increase was minor.

Myth #2: Male Perpetrators

Media accounts consistently portray the abuser as a male and the victim as female. An article in The Nation opened with this alarming assertion: “In many households when men are at home, the women are in danger.” (4) The story in The Conversation depicts a male with a balled-up fist, standing over a cowering female (5).

Remarkably, not a single media report mentioned the fact that abuse perpetrators are significantly more likely to be female.

Highlighting this irony was an April 12 report from Birmingham, Alabama of Alfreda Fluker who shot and killed another woman who was involved in a “love triangle gone wrong.” The media account noted that police officers “arrived to find a woman shot numerous times and rushed her to UAB Hospital, where she was pronounced dead early Saturday.” (6)

According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year there are 4.2 million male victims of physical domestic violence, compared to 3.5 million female victims (7).

Conclusion: Media accounts that consistently depict men as abuse perpetrators are misrepresenting well-established facts about domestic violence.

Myth #3: Spurt in Demand for Shelter Services

Virtually every media account warned that shelters were preparing for a surge of requests for victim services. But actual experience has proven otherwise. Recent accounts reveal steady or decreased demand for shelter services in Alabama (8) and New York state (9), as well as in the cities of Johnstown, TN (10), San Antonio, TX (11), and Tallahassee, FL (12).

An April 15 article in the Omaha World-Herald highlighted decreases in utilization of services at two abuse shelters in that city: “Hotline calls to the Women’s Center for Advancement, the main resource for domestic violence services in Omaha, are way down over the past six weeks from the same period last year….The Shelter, which Catholic Charities runs for victims of abuse, is down to two families. It has a capacity of eight.” The article also noted, “the number of protection orders and hospital visits arranged by the agency” have fallen in recent weeks (13).

Other abuse shelters have reported a “little bit” or a “slight” increase in calls. In Arkansas, the Women’s Shelter of Central Arkansas has “seen a little bit of increase in the last probably three weeks of calls.” (14) In Oakland County, Michigan, the Haven shelter reports, “We are seeing [a] slight increase in calls.” (15)

Conclusion: Similar to reports of police calls, abuse shelters have mostly seen steady or declining demand for services.

In sum, the CEDV investigation has been unable to locate any information from police departments that supports the NTF’s dire claim that “Survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are facing extreme danger and risk.”

Instead, stay-at-home orders are allowing persons to reconnect with their families and talk through their problems, resulting in lower domestic violence rates in some communities.

But instead of welcoming this news, domestic violence activists are cynically creating false narratives that seek to prey on public fears, increase government funding (16), and even call for an end to the traditional family. In the words of activist Sophie Lewis, “We deserve better than the family. And the time of corona is an excellent time to practice abolishing it.” (17)

Citations:

The Coalition to End Domestic Violence is working to address the root causes of domestic violence, promote family preservation, and ensure due process: www.EndToDV.org