Domestic abuse under the Covid-19 pandemic

Is domestic violence increasing?

 * The United Nations reported that 6 months of coronavirus lock-down could mean 31 million more cases of domestic violence
 * Of 22 law enforcement agencies polled by NBC News in early April 2020, 18 agencies stated that they had seen a rise of reports in the previous month.

As reported by the Marshall Project, assessing crime as it happens is difficult. Most police departments wait months or as much as a year to release data about major crimes in their cities. Relatively few publish data on police reports in a timely manner, within days of incidents. A review of more than 40 cities’ public crime data found Chicago, Austin and Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, to be the only ones that also specifically flag domestic violence incidents in their public data. However, we should take into account that only half of those affected by domestic abuse call the police.


 * Southall 2020 makes the case on why reporting may have decreased
 * With schools and nonessential businesses shut, victims have lost opportunities to find privacy away from their abusers and seek help, such as going to work or walking children to school. Except for shelters, the physica l spaces where victims could go to receive assistance — family justice centers, courts and nonprofit offices, for example — have gradually shifted operations online or over the phone. And the police and social workers have suspended home visits that are a crucial source of complaints.
 * Southall reports that calls to some organizations that provide shelter to battered women, for instance, have increased sharply.