Domestic and Sexual Violence in Virginia - Virginia Attorney General

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ExecutiveSummaryOn a daily basis, domestic and sexual violenceconfront our citizens and our communities. In2007* alone, 25% of all homicides were related to domesticand intimate partner violence; 1 5,009 forcible sex offensesand 22,515 incidents of assault and battery against a familyor household member were reported to law enforcement; 229,934 emergency protective orders for family abuseincidents were issued by magistrates; 3 and 6,436 men,women, and children stayed in domestic violence shelters. 4In 2008, lawmakers, agencies, and organizations continuedtheir efforts on the state and local level to combatdomestic and sexual violence in the Commonwealth.The Virginia General Assembly enacted important legislationto assist victims of sexual and domestic violence.Among the significant changes to Virginia law were:eliminating the defense of marriage in statutory rape cases,allowing victims of sexual assaults to undergo forensicexaminations without requiring their participation in thecriminal justice system, preventing polygraph testing ofvictims as a precondition to investigation or prosecutionof sexual assault cases, expediting entry of protective ordersinto the Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN),expanding the pilot Address Confidentiality Program,requiring retention of court records for misdemeanorconvictions of assault and battery against a family or householdmember and violation of a protective order for 20years, and requiring law enforcement agencies to developpolicies and procedures for domestic violence arrests andresponding to sexual assault incidents.Agencies and organizations continued their efforts toprovide tools and resources to prosecutors, law enforcement,victim advocates, health care providers, social serviceproviders, and allied professionals. State, local and privatepartners also continued to promote public awareness andprevention initiatives, as well as support collaborative effortsamong agencies and organizations to enhance the overallresponse to domestic and sexual violence.State and local agencies and organizations collected dataon domestic violence-related fatalities, domestic and sexualabuse, protective orders, and services to victims and childrenin order to assist in providing a broader picture of theseissues that confront our communities. A great deal of theinformation collected by local and state medical examiners,law enforcement agencies, domestic and sexual violenceservice providers, and grant programs is included in thisyear’s Report.State and local agencies also worked collaboratively onexisting as well as new initiatives to improve the responseto domestic and sexual violence at all levels. The Governor’sCommission on Sexual Violence brought togetherlegislators and representatives from state agencies, thecourt system, programs and organizations, and local sexualassault crisis centers to develop and recommend ways tostrengthen Virginia law. As a result of the collaborativework and recommendations of the Commission, severalimportant bills which enhance protection for victimsof sexual assault were enacted into law during the 2008Session of the General Assembly.Additionally, the Virginia Partnership to Encourage ArrestPolicies and Enforcement of Protection Orders (GEAP),a partnership of five state agencies and one statewidenonprofit organization, continued its efforts to provideintensive training and technical assistance, at the stateand local level, to promote practices that enhance victimsafety and offender accountability. The GEAP partnershipsponsored a number of domestic violence training eventsfor law enforcement, prosecutors, fatality review teams,advocates, and court personnel. The GEAP partnership alsoworked with community stakeholders in thirteen localitiesto assess their local responses to domestic violence.As further example of public-private collaboration, inOctober 2008, the Attorney General launched “Safe inOur Communities: Community Recognition Programfor Promising Practices in Domestic Violence Response.”This Program was developed with input from several stateagencies and organizations and is supported by VerizonWireless. The Program recognizes localities for their innovativeand promising practices to combat domestic violence.Selected communities will receive formal recognition fromthe Attorney General, as well as monetary awards from theVerizon Wireless HopeLine Program.* This report relies heavily upon statistical and numerical data from 2007 as the most complete data available as of the writing of this Report. Whereavailable, data for 2008 (through November 7, 2008, unless otherwise noted) has been included in this Report. Complete data for the year 2008 willnot be available until early 2009.ii
The Office of Family Violence (OFV) in the Departmentof Social Services (DSS) coordinates the Domestic ViolenceAction Team (DVAT), a multidisciplinary team of state andlocal domestic violence stakeholders. The Team focuses onthe statewide response to victims of domestic violence. In2008, DVAT addressed the need for greater collaborationbetween local domestic violence programs and local departmentsof social services, particularly with regard to the issueof elder abuse and the service needs of elderly victims. As aresult, a successful training curriculum is being modified toaddress the specific needs of elderly victims.Despite continued progress by many agencies and organizationsin addressing domestic and sexual violence issues, it isimportant to note that a number of state and local programsand initiatives have been curtailed in the past year due tocontinued reduction in federal funding for domestic andsexual violence programs across the country. In 2008, federalfunding from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), whichsupports domestic and sexual violence programs as well asvictim-witness programs, was reduced drastically by 17%,representing the lowest amount of VOCA funding distributedto Virginia in more than eight years. The amount offederal funds available to all states through the Services*Training*Officers*Prosecutors (STOP) Violence Against WomenFormula Grant Program (STOP Program) from the Officeon Violence Against Women (OVW) also decreased in FY2008. Except for a slight increase in STOP Program fundingpredicted for FY 2009, these funds have decreased steadilysince FY 2000. Consequently, the pool of funding availableto state and local domestic and sexual violence programs,shelters, victim-witness programs, law enforcement agencies,and Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ offices has decreased. Asa result, there has been a reduction in services to victimsand their children. There also has been a reduction in interventionand treatment services for perpetrators, as well as areduction in training and technical services available to locallaw enforcement agencies.In light of the funding challenges faced by all levels ofgovernment, we must work together to find innovative waysof addressing the needs of victims, families, and communitiestouched by domestic and sexual violence. As we enter2009, we must continue to support the efforts of agencies andprograms across the Commonwealth to ensure that the mostefficient and effective system is available to combat domesticand sexual violence in our Commonwealth.Attorney General Bob McDonnell delivers remarks to honorvictims of crime during Victims’ Rights Week in LoudounCounty in April 2008.T-shirts on the line for The James House Clothesline Projectin April 2008.Brian Couterier (at right) accepts an award on behalf of TheProgress Index at the Tri-Cities Regional Domestic ViolenceTask Force Community Impact Awards Ceremony at FortLee in October, 2008. Pictured with Mr. Couterier are (fromleft to right) Corie E. Tillman Wolf, Statewide Facilitator forVictims of Domestic Violence, Colonel Michael G. Morrow,U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Lee Commander, and DelegateRosalyn R. Dance.1 Data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Virginia Department of Health. Year-to-date homicide data for 2008 is not available.The percentage of homicides in 2007 related to family and intimate partner homicide reflects any preliminary findings as of October 24, 2008. Anumber of these homicides still remain under investigation. In addition, “intimate partner” has been defined by the Office of the Chief MedicalExaminer as a spouse, former spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, same sex partner, or dating partner.2 Virginia State Police, Crime in Virginia, 2007 (2008), available at www.vsp.virginia.gov.3 Data from the Office of the Executive Secretary, Supreme Court of Virginia.4Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, 2007 Domestic Violence Services in Virginia (2008).iii
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Page 23 and 24: tims of domestic violence who have
Page 25 and 26: developed pursuant to Senate Bill 2
Page 27 and 28: improve the functioning and effecti
Page 29 and 30: Virginia Department of Health,Divis
Page 31 and 32: grant assists homeless families in
Page 33 and 34: To accomplish its mission, VSDVAA r
Page 35 and 36: COLLABORATIVE EFFORTSIn addition to
Page 37 and 38: 2008 LegislativeUpdateDuring the 20
Page 39: FutureRecommendationsAs evidenced i
Page 42 and 43: 5Virginia Sexual and Domestic Viole
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Page 48 and 49: Domestic Violenceand Sexual Assault
Page 50 and 51: Carroll CountyFamily Resource Cente
Page 52 and 53: Greene CountySexual Assault Resourc
Page 54 and 55: Mecklenburg CountyMadeline’s Hous
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Total Action Against PovertyWomen
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Crisis CenterP.O. Box 642Bristol, V
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Local FatalityReview TeamsChesterfi
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The design and printing of this Ann
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Domestic and Sexual Violence in Virginia - Virginia Attorney General

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