Domestic violence: Police failed to ask 11 questions that might have saved Anako Lumumba

The murder of a woman in Wisconsin highlights a lethality assessment tool for law enforcement to use that’s designed to help domestic victims and authorities understand how much danger victims might be in and help police connect them with services. It’s proven effective at helping those facing domestic violence take steps to reduce the chances they might be murdered by their partners. But getting it implemented, especially in rural areas where there may not be many resources for victims, has proven challenging with less than half of Wisconsin’s counties using it.

A free mobile app, Safe House, gives victims of domestic abuse a simple and quick way to call for help and find needed resources in four states. Putting local crisis helplines, shelters, and other local resources in one place saves time when an abuse victim is racing to get to safety. The app, downloaded more than 3,000 times since its launch less than two years ago, currently covers resources in Maine, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Its developer plans to expand to more states.

Criminalizing domestic violence was considered a feminist-inspired advance for crime victims, but making arrests and prosecution the main responses to the problem has backfired in many ways. With funding and attention focused on punishment, other services for victims have been neglected. And expecting victims will aid in a prosecution, even jailing them for refusing, can ignore the rational choices many victims make for non-cooperation, based on their desire for safety, financial and housing security, to avoid maltreatment by police, and other reasons that point toward more promising responses.

The Minsk-based organization Radislava runs a house for women and children who have experienced domestic abuse. In a culture and a country that have yet to protect survivors of abuse, this house runs on privacy and anonymity, for safety’s sake. Radislava does more than provide shelter – it also provides psychological and legal support and organizes advocacy events. Since its creation, the home has seen 70% of clients create new lives for themselves.

The Violence Against Women Act was billed as a way to make a patriarchal society, and policing profession in particular, take domestic violence more seriously. It encouraged policies making arrest of alleged abusers mandatory, even to the point of punishing victims who refused to cooperate in prosecutions. This has backfired on many victims, especially women of color who distrust police and their punitive approaches to solving family problems. The law also prioritizes punitive approaches in its awarding of federal grants, thus denying victim aid to women who do not wish to cooperate with arrests.

While most Americans and politicians from across the partisan aisle support universal background checks for firearm purchases, that system has shown to not be as effective as many think. Instead, states are implementing licensing systems that require individuals wanting to buy a gun to take safety courses, apply with local law enforcement, provide references, and have their background checked. States that have such systems in place have seen a steady decline in gun homicides and suicides.

St. Paul, Minnesota, was the first in the nation to establish a shelter for battered women. Women’s Advocates was founded in 1974. In 1980, Minnesota also became the first state to implement a sentencing guidelines structure.

A mobile app called App-Elles was used 5,400 times during the early months of the pandemic by either the survivors of gender-based violence or witnesses and helpers trying to connect the survivors to assistance. Created by French singer Diariata N'Diaye, the app lets users designate three "protectors" chosen in advance to receive alerts. Once alerted, they can summon help via text message or other discreet means of contacting women who are trapped at home with their abusers. The app is among other examples of digital survivor-aid services developed for women during the pandemic.

To provide emergency housing to domestic violence victims without crowding them into shelters during the pandemic, Ohio victim-aid groups have helped hundreds of families to flee violence and find safe housing in subsidized apartments or short-term hotel stays. One program, the REACH Rapid Rehousing program, has given rental assistance to more than 100 families in rural counties who need but cannot afford permanent alternative housing. Another, the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, has housed 126 families in hotels for up to two weeks at a time.

Ignoring the pleas of victim-aid groups and the examples set by other countries, the British government and courts failed to protect domestic violence victims during the pandemic. Italy, Spain, Germany, and New Zealand provided for emergency shelter for victims trapped at home with their abusers or made other preparations a formal part of their lockdown plans. But in England, where at least 26 deaths and multiple cases of abuse are blamed on the government’s failures, shelters overflowed and orders of protection went unenforced because of a lack of funding and effective planning.