COLUMBUS – After a spike in fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio domestic-violence prevention groups saw a downward trend but numbers remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.
According to a new report from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, about 112 people died between July 2022 and last June 30 from domestic violence in Ohio.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE or text “start” to 88788.
Policy director Maria York says advocates are concerned about the high level of gun violence.
“Gun violence as the manner of death made up 91% of victim fatalities, which was a slight increase this reporting period. In 42% of these cases, the perpetrator also killed themselves with a gun,” she said.
According to the report, more than half of offenders had prior contact with the criminal justice system, 27% of cases involved murder-suicide, and there was a troubling trend in deaths involving children.
“The most disturbing finding from our report was that 22 children and babies were killed, the most since our coalition began reporting seven years ago. Sixteen victims were less than 10 years old, including six babies who are under one year old,” York said.
For the first time since the Ohio Domestic Violence Network began tracking this type of data, domestic violence-related deaths of males exceeded deaths of females.