Overview
In 2020, there were 17,372 reported domestic violence incidents in Memphis/Shelby County according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. During the first half of this year, reported domestic violence incident totaled 8,831.
According to figures from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, of those charged and arrested for domestic violence, over 20 percent have been charged and arrested for domestic violence previously.
Under a grant from the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs, the University of Memphis evaluated the effectiveness of services to domestic violence victims in Shelby County. Both the final report and an executive summary are available at https://www.memphis.edu/psi/research.
Led by Drs. Amaia Iratzoqui and Angela Madden, the evaluation concluded that there is:
- Widespread frustration among domestic violence victims, criminal justice personnel, and service providers related to the level of cooperation in providing a continuum of services to victims;
- Challenges related to sufficient collaboration and communication;
- Lack of funding and services available for the body of victims pursuing social services; and
- A serious lack of 24/7 services.
As the U of M researchers conducted the evaluation, there was also a sense that there are many resources available or potentially available for domestic violence victims which are simply not being utilized as effectively as they could be.
Various key providers of services to domestic violence victims have come together with the UofM Public Safety Institute and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission to co-host a Forum on Domestic Violence on the morning of Wednesday August 15. These service providers include the Shelby County Crime Victims and Rape Crisis Center, the District Attorney’s Victim/Witness Unit, the Family Safety Center, CasaLuz, Kindred Place, the YWCA, the Memphis Area Women’s Council, and the Domestic Violence Council.
We hope to leave the Forum with:
- A clear sense of entities that can provide services to domestic violence victims, the specific services each can provide, the geographic areas they can serve, and the appropriate contact information for each;
- Agreement on some specific actions to tackle the challenge of domestic violence, with these steps to be considered for inclusion in the new 5-year Safe Community Plan; and
- Ways the University can assist in efforts to meet the needs of domestic violence victims.