'Many points of intervention': Behind the data on intimate partner violence in Minnesota
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Nationally, about two out of every five female murder victims are killed by an intimate partner. Last year in Minnesota, at least 24 people were killed in intimate partner homicides, according to a report released Monday morning by Violence Free Minnesota.
The coalition of nearly 100 violence prevention groups across the state has published similar reports every year since 1989.
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with Joe Shannon, who runs communications for Violence Free Minnesota, to find out what the numbers say about how to prevent these crimes.
If you or someone you know is in a dangerous situation with their partner, there is a 24-hour statewide domestic violence hotline. You can call (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
INTERVIEWER: Now friends this figure might stop you in your tracks when I say this. Nationally about two out of every five female murder victims are killed by intimate partner. Last year in Minnesota, at least 24 people were killed in intimate partner homicide. Those are the findings in a report released by Violence Free Minnesota just this morning.
It's a report the coalition of nearly 100 violence prevention groups across the state has put together every year since 1989. Here to talk with us about what the numbers, tell us about how these crimes can be prevented, is Joe Shannon, who runs communications for Violence Free Minnesota. Joe, welcome.
JOE SHANNON: Hi, how are you doing?
INTERVIEWER: I'm glad you can take the time to talk with us. Thank you so much. In your report, you call these 24 deaths a culmination of widespread failures across multiple systems. What does that mean?
JOE SHANNON: Well, we know that these deaths are not caused solely by the person who ended another person's life. There are many points of intervention in every domestic violence homicide victims life with systems, whether that be criminal legal or health care, that could be potential points of intervention to save the victim's life.
There were some pretty egregious cases last year, one in particular up in Hibbing, police officers walked away from a victim who said that her boyfriend struck her in the face. And she asked for them to come back, standing in the doorway, they kept walking away. She died two days later. And the medical examiner ruled that had she received medical care in the two days, she would have survived, and the police did not provide that for her. And so those are some of the system failures that we see every year, but particularly last year as well.
INTERVIEWER: How much does victim blaming play into this perhaps, not believing victims.
JOE SHANNON: I think it plays quite a big role, especially in society as a whole. I think there were some pretty high profile domestic violence cases in the news nationally. there was a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there about these cases that warped the public's view of what domestic violence is, and what domestic violence victim survivors face.
And so that can be a great hindrance to gaining safety for a victim survivor, if they don't feel that they can reach out to anyone, that people won't believe them, or that they'll be blamed for the violence and abuse that they're suffering. So I think that is a very big factor. And I don't have any qualitative or quantitative data on this, but just from what we have seen at the coalition, it does seem that that has shifted in recent years to be a bit more victim blaming.
INTERVIEWER: Let me ask you about the root cause of some of these crimes. I also note that your reports theme is power and control. Is that really what is at the root of all of this?
JOE SHANNON: Yes, absolutely. That is what abuse is all about. It's not about hitting, it's about gaining and maintaining power and control over your partner. And that's the basis of domestic violence. And those who abuse use a variety of tactics, one of which is physical violence. But there's a lot more, there's isolation, there's threats, there's gaslighting, there's belittling, economic abuse, sexual violence, it goes far beyond just physical violence, and it is about power and control.
And what we see in these homicides is that it's either the person who was abusing is losing power and control over their partner, so they commit the ultimate act of power and control and kill them, or they commit that ultimate act as an act of power and control to still have that power over the person and end their life.
INTERVIEWER: The report does make recommendations to help keep people safe. Can you talk about some of those?
JOE SHANNON: Yeah, I think one of the biggest is just increased funding for the nearly 100 domestic violence programs that are our member programs around the state. These are the places that victim survivors go to for help. Advocates are truly remarkable in the work that they do, day in and day out, and these programs, they need more funding to sustain what they do. They're going to keep doing the work, but they need that funding to retain staff, to hire new staff. The work isn't going to cease anytime soon, so they definitely need that.
But along with just funding, we provide other recommendations. For instance, when I had brought up those Hibbing police officers earlier, we do recommend that police be trained to spot TBIs, traumatic brain injuries, which could have saved Carrie Peaches's life, in this case. So we include a broad set of recommendations for several different content areas.
INTERVIEWER: We've been talking about keeping victims safe. But I want to circle back to the perpetrators. I don't know how you can make inroads, but when we're talking about power and control, how do you deal with it at the front end, so we try to break this cycle of violence?
JOE SHANNON: Yeah, that is a very great question, because we know that handling this, after the fact through punitive measures and punishments, it hasn't ended domestic violence. We've done that, we've increased punishments, and things like that in the past. And we no longer support measures like that, because it doesn't end the violence, as a whole. And so prevention is really key education to young people, is very key, young men. Letting people know what an abusive relationship is, and what a healthy relationship is, so they can know what a healthy relationship actually looks like.
And then there are programs out there called Domestic Abuse Transformation Progamming, it was previously called Batterer Intervention Programming. And these are designed to work with those who abuse, and to change the behaviors that cause abuse. They're designed to tackle things like misogyny and entitlement, and really get to the heart of why someone may feel the need to exert that power and control over their partner, and hope to change those behaviors, because that's how we truly end intimate partner violence, is changing the behaviors that cause the violence.
INTERVIEWER: Are some of those programs also culturally specific?
JOE SHANNON: There are some that is a very big need. And that is actually another one of our recommendations, is the need for culturally-specific domestic abuse transformation programming. Because as of now, it in general is not culturally specific. And so that is definitely a gap that needs to be filled. But, yes that is something that we recommend.
INTERVIEWER: Joe, I appreciate your time. Thank you for talking about the report.
JOE SHANNON: Absolutely, thank you so much.
INTERVIEWER: Joe Shannon is the Communications Director for Violence Free, Minnesota. If you, or someone you know, is in a dangerous situation with their partner, there is a 24-hour statewide domestic violence hotline. You can call, 866-223-1111. You can also text, 612-399-9995. We'll have both of those numbers on our website.
It's a report the coalition of nearly 100 violence prevention groups across the state has put together every year since 1989. Here to talk with us about what the numbers, tell us about how these crimes can be prevented, is Joe Shannon, who runs communications for Violence Free Minnesota. Joe, welcome.
JOE SHANNON: Hi, how are you doing?
INTERVIEWER: I'm glad you can take the time to talk with us. Thank you so much. In your report, you call these 24 deaths a culmination of widespread failures across multiple systems. What does that mean?
JOE SHANNON: Well, we know that these deaths are not caused solely by the person who ended another person's life. There are many points of intervention in every domestic violence homicide victims life with systems, whether that be criminal legal or health care, that could be potential points of intervention to save the victim's life.
There were some pretty egregious cases last year, one in particular up in Hibbing, police officers walked away from a victim who said that her boyfriend struck her in the face. And she asked for them to come back, standing in the doorway, they kept walking away. She died two days later. And the medical examiner ruled that had she received medical care in the two days, she would have survived, and the police did not provide that for her. And so those are some of the system failures that we see every year, but particularly last year as well.
INTERVIEWER: How much does victim blaming play into this perhaps, not believing victims.
JOE SHANNON: I think it plays quite a big role, especially in society as a whole. I think there were some pretty high profile domestic violence cases in the news nationally. there was a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there about these cases that warped the public's view of what domestic violence is, and what domestic violence victim survivors face.
And so that can be a great hindrance to gaining safety for a victim survivor, if they don't feel that they can reach out to anyone, that people won't believe them, or that they'll be blamed for the violence and abuse that they're suffering. So I think that is a very big factor. And I don't have any qualitative or quantitative data on this, but just from what we have seen at the coalition, it does seem that that has shifted in recent years to be a bit more victim blaming.
INTERVIEWER: Let me ask you about the root cause of some of these crimes. I also note that your reports theme is power and control. Is that really what is at the root of all of this?
JOE SHANNON: Yes, absolutely. That is what abuse is all about. It's not about hitting, it's about gaining and maintaining power and control over your partner. And that's the basis of domestic violence. And those who abuse use a variety of tactics, one of which is physical violence. But there's a lot more, there's isolation, there's threats, there's gaslighting, there's belittling, economic abuse, sexual violence, it goes far beyond just physical violence, and it is about power and control.
And what we see in these homicides is that it's either the person who was abusing is losing power and control over their partner, so they commit the ultimate act of power and control and kill them, or they commit that ultimate act as an act of power and control to still have that power over the person and end their life.
INTERVIEWER: The report does make recommendations to help keep people safe. Can you talk about some of those?
JOE SHANNON: Yeah, I think one of the biggest is just increased funding for the nearly 100 domestic violence programs that are our member programs around the state. These are the places that victim survivors go to for help. Advocates are truly remarkable in the work that they do, day in and day out, and these programs, they need more funding to sustain what they do. They're going to keep doing the work, but they need that funding to retain staff, to hire new staff. The work isn't going to cease anytime soon, so they definitely need that.
But along with just funding, we provide other recommendations. For instance, when I had brought up those Hibbing police officers earlier, we do recommend that police be trained to spot TBIs, traumatic brain injuries, which could have saved Carrie Peaches's life, in this case. So we include a broad set of recommendations for several different content areas.
INTERVIEWER: We've been talking about keeping victims safe. But I want to circle back to the perpetrators. I don't know how you can make inroads, but when we're talking about power and control, how do you deal with it at the front end, so we try to break this cycle of violence?
JOE SHANNON: Yeah, that is a very great question, because we know that handling this, after the fact through punitive measures and punishments, it hasn't ended domestic violence. We've done that, we've increased punishments, and things like that in the past. And we no longer support measures like that, because it doesn't end the violence, as a whole. And so prevention is really key education to young people, is very key, young men. Letting people know what an abusive relationship is, and what a healthy relationship is, so they can know what a healthy relationship actually looks like.
And then there are programs out there called Domestic Abuse Transformation Progamming, it was previously called Batterer Intervention Programming. And these are designed to work with those who abuse, and to change the behaviors that cause abuse. They're designed to tackle things like misogyny and entitlement, and really get to the heart of why someone may feel the need to exert that power and control over their partner, and hope to change those behaviors, because that's how we truly end intimate partner violence, is changing the behaviors that cause the violence.
INTERVIEWER: Are some of those programs also culturally specific?
JOE SHANNON: There are some that is a very big need. And that is actually another one of our recommendations, is the need for culturally-specific domestic abuse transformation programming. Because as of now, it in general is not culturally specific. And so that is definitely a gap that needs to be filled. But, yes that is something that we recommend.
INTERVIEWER: Joe, I appreciate your time. Thank you for talking about the report.
JOE SHANNON: Absolutely, thank you so much.
INTERVIEWER: Joe Shannon is the Communications Director for Violence Free, Minnesota. If you, or someone you know, is in a dangerous situation with their partner, there is a 24-hour statewide domestic violence hotline. You can call, 866-223-1111. You can also text, 612-399-9995. We'll have both of those numbers on our website.
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