Has coronavirus increased domestic violence? What’s happened in Durham, Orange and Wake?
The coronavirus shutdown has made a dangerous situation worse for many people at risk of domestic violence. In some cases, name calling has led to physical violence, advocates say, leaving victims with few options to get out.
Some abusers have used COVID-19 to tighten the reins, telling partners they can’t leave because of stay-at-home orders, or because they’ll catch the virus and give it to their children if they do leave, advocates say.
For some victims, the tipping point came only after their abuser tried to strangle them or threatened them with a gun or knife, said Amber Keith-Drowns, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office victim services coordinator. In some cases, a gun was fired into the air or at the victim, she said.
“It could be something that happens over the span of a week or it could happen in a span of 48 hours,” Keith-Drowns said. “We’ve even had people (where) it’s not been so bad in the morning, and then it got worse.”
She and others emphasized that nothing in the governor’s stay-at-home order keeps someone from seeking help.
“It’s not something that you have to stay at home and deal with,” Keith-Drowns said. “There is help that’s open and wanting to assist in every way we can … to be another voice in their head, besides the abuser, that says there are people out there that can help me.”
Some NC counties see ‘dramatic increases’
Reported incidents of domestic violence more than doubled in some North Carolina counties in April compared to March, as businesses, schools and churches closed, said Sherry Honeycutt Everett, legal and policy director with the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Many other communities saw double-digit increases, including in Charlotte, where domestic violence calls increased 17% in March, compared with the same time last year, according to N.C. Policy Watch. The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office reported a 30% increase over March 2019, the report noted, and in High Point, police saw a 21% increase.
“While we lack a lot of the data that would tell us a very nuanced story, what we know from the data that we have so far is in places where (domestic violence) services are still being offered, we have seen increases, sometimes dramatic increases,” Honeycutt Everett said.
The numbers did not surprise local and state advocates, they said, given the added stress of job losses, financial struggles and children at home. Over 1 million people have filed for unemployment in North Carolina since mid-March.
“We are concerned, the longer that this goes on, what the economic impact is going to be on folks who are trying to take care of themselves and their families after leaving an abusive relationship,” said Cordelia Heaney, the executive director of the Compass Center for Women and Families in Chapel Hill.
“But we’re also really concerned about people who aren’t in a position to leave right now,” she said.
Durham, Orange and Wake reports mixed
In Durham, a woman with a disability who sought help in early May described being hit in the forehead and shoved by her boyfriend after asking him to hand her some Tylenol and then for his help.
Her boyfriend, who had been charged with assaulting her at least twice in the last two years, told her that she was “going to die a horrible death,” and no one would be there to protect her, she said in her application for an emergency protective order. Later that day, she said, he told her “he would ‘choke me to death and they would find me dead.’”
Records show the man was convicted previously for an assault in which he grabbed the woman’s neck.
Despite the violence the disabled woman and others faced in recent months, Wake and Durham counties did not see the same increased calls many other counties saw. The Raleigh Police Department reported 555 calls for domestic violence-related incidents in April, compared with 561 calls in April 2019.
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office also reported fewer domestic-violence and related assault calls — 106 from April 1 to May 12 — than it did a year ago when the number in that same period was 192. However, Wake County residents got 54 domestic-violence protective orders during that period, compared to 22 during the same period in 2019.
In Durham, Police Department statistics showed only a brief spike in early April for physical domestic disturbances, verbal family disturbances and simple assaults.
The Durham Crisis Response Center also reported fewer people seeking help, including 37 people seeking protective orders in April, compared with 40 people in January. DCRC Justice Center director Liz Herron said she expects roughly two dozen people to seek protective orders by the end of May.
The center also works with clients referred through the Lethality Assessment Program, a partnership with Durham police and sheriff’s deputies that uses a series of questions to identify those at high risk of serious injury or death. Law enforcement had been referring 85 to 100 people a month since the program started last year, but in April, there were just 48 referrals, Herron said.
In Orange County, the Sheriff’s Office answered 75 calls for intimate partner and family violence in April, compared to 63 calls in March, Keith-Drowns said. All told, 238 people were referred to her office from March 1 to May 12, she said, including from Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. Requests at the Compass Center for emergency housing more than doubled, Heaney said.
Meanwhile, 52 people sought a domestic-violence protective order from March 1 to May 12, compared to 47 during that same period last year, Keith-Drowns said. Civil no-contact orders also grew, especially for neighbor and co-worker disputes, she said.
Language, child care can be obstacles to getting help
Herron and DCRC executive director Kent Wallace-Meggs don’t know why Durham didn’t see the trend that other counties reported,
One possibility, Herron said, is that victims might not know domestic violence agencies and the courts are still available despite the shutdown. Durham also has a large immigrant community, some of whom don’t speak English or avoid calling police because they are in the country illegally.
Courthouse deadlines are another challenge, Herron said. In Durham, protective orders must be filed in the clerk’s office by 10 a.m.; in some counties, the deadline is 9 a.m., she said. Since the paperwork can take up to an hour, many victims have to return another day to file — in some cases, without alerting their abuser.
For non-English speakers, translating the paperwork into English can cause an extra delay, Wallace-Meggs said.
“If a client calls us, and transportation’s the issue, we’ll Uber them, we’ll do whatever’s necessary to help them get to the courthouse, but sometimes, it’s not just a transportation issue,” Herron said. “Maybe it’s child care and they don’t want to bring their kids to the courthouse during COVID. There’s just a lot of barriers that happen with that morning cutoff time being 10 a.m. that can affect people.”
Nonprofits face budget challenges
The growing statewide need for domestic-violence services comes when providers are working from a physical distance and on shoestring budgets, Honeycutt Everett said. Nonprofits are seeking networking online and relying on partnerships to shelter those in need, sometimes in temporary hotel space.
The bigger concern is for next year’s budgets, which for most nonprofit agencies rely on private donations. Nonprofit groups also get some local, state and federal funding, mostly through grants.
Additional federal money has been set aside to help, including $45 million from the CARES Act and $4 billion in grants to shelter homeless people or domestic violence victims. But there also has been a 30% cut in Victims of Crime Act funding, Heaney said. State funding has been static for years, she said, and fundraisers that bring in much nonprofit funding have been canceled.
Local governments facing their own budget woes, are pitching in where they can. Orange County set aside $12,751 more next year for the Compass Center — a total of $85,528 — plus $90,000 to launch a Lethality Assessment program and hire two staff members.
Durham organizations providing food, shelter or education to victims of domestic violence and their families are eligible for $500 to $5,000 in grants from the Duke-Durham Fund. Duke University created the $5 million fund to provide emergency aid nonprofit, community groups and small businesses.
Nearly 200 applications are being considered now for funding, program officials said.
Compass Center, Durham Crisis Response Center and other local agencies will start slowly reopening their offices this month. They’re encouraging people to visit their websites to make donations.
The N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence also has created a Night of Safety Fund campaign to raise $25,000 for shelter, groceries and prepaid cell phones or phone cards. The campaign also will help bridge the financial gap until they can sort through federal grant program red tape and restrictions, Honeycutt Everett said.
“We’re trying to just be creative and think of every way possible that we can find to support survivors and fill in some of the gaps,” she said.
Where to find help with domestic violence
▪ Compass Center for Women and Families: 24/7 domestic violence hotline, 919-929-7122; compassctr.org
▪ Durham Crisis Response Center: 24/7 hotline at 919-403-6562 (English), 919-519-3735 (Spanish); durhamcrisisresponse.org
▪ InterAct: 24/7 hotline at 919-828-7740. Services also available in Spanish; interactofwake.org
▪ N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence: List of domestic violence programs in every N.C county, nccadv.org/get-help
▪ National Domestic Violence Hotline: 24/7 at 800-799-SAFE (7233); or online chat at thehotline.org/what-is-live-chat
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 6:15 AM.
