California Officials Tackle Domestic Violence, $33 Million in Funding Announced, California 2023

Crime: Domestic Violence, State: California, Year: 2023

The Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) will direct more than $33 million in grant funding to California to support efforts to curb domestic violence throughout the state, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David L. Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California McGregor W. Scott, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Nicola T. Hanna, and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Robert S. Brewer Jr.

As the state grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, reports indicate that many cities are experiencing surges in domestic violence. The OVW grants will provide resources to local prosecutors, victim service providers, healthcare professionals, training organizations, and academic researchers, including several with national scope.

Even with limited prosecutorial authority in domestic violence cases, the federal government remains committed to working with all of its partners to end the scourge of domestic violence.

Disturbing research shows that intimate partner homicides are common. According to the CDC, roughly 1 in 6 homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. In 2019, California law enforcement received 161,123 domestic violence-related calls for assistance, and 47% of those calls involved a weapon. Research shows that abusers with a gun in the home are five times more likely to kill their partners than abusers who don’t have access to a firearm.

Given these troubling statistics, in June 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr formed a Domestic Violence Working Group to encourage prosecution of armed domestic violence offenders. Federal law bars domestic violence offenders – those subject to certain protective orders or convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors or felonies – from possessing firearms. Districts across the nation, including all four districts in California, have prioritized their own initiatives designed to keep guns out of the hands of abusers.

Among the $33 million in awards that will be issued to organizations and government agencies in California are:

• $400,000 to promote enhanced training and services to end violence and abuse of elderly women in Contra Costa County;

• $14.77 million to the state to support law enforcement, prosecutors, victim services providers, and other organizations.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/california-us-attorneys-announce-33-million-domestic-violence-funding-doj-s-office