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The Oregon Coalition’s 2015 domestic violence fatality report, which provides demographic information related to the victims and perpetrators of fatal domestic violence incidents, is now available on the Coalition website. Last year, Oregon lost 60 people, an increase from 45 deaths in 2014, 34 deaths in 2013, and 55 deaths in 2012. Lane and Multnomah Counties each suffered eight separate fatal incidents in 2015, and thirteen other counties in the state experienced at least one fatal incident.
The data in each annual report can be used as a resource for communicating the need for services around the state and the impact that domestic violence has on our communities, including at your awareness events and in your discussions with state representatives.
We use a broad definition of domestic violence in the report, including a wide variety of incidents that take place in the context of a family or household. We track incidents involving care providers, people related by blood or marriage including extended family, current and former intimate partners, and the extended family of current and former intimate partners. The term victim as used in the report refers to any individual who was killed, sustained injury, or was otherwise involved in an episode of fatal domestic violence, including bystanders. You will find tables and graphs with data pertaining to all victims, and tables and graphs specifically providing data pertaining to victims who lost their lives (the header of these tables and graphs will refer to “victims killed”). Perpetrator data are provided in the same manner.
Beginning last year, the report also includes a section dedicated to intimate partner violence (IPV) fatalities that is nearly identical in form to the larger report. The Coalition received feedback on the need for IPV-specific data to be presented separately due to some grant reporting requirements.
I would appreciate any feedback you may have about the report and how it could be made more useful to you. You can reach me with comments and questions at chloe@ocadsv.org.