By Khalida Sarwari
Five people in Santa Clara County lost their lives to domestic violence last year – six fewer than in 2009, Assistant District Attorney Rolanda Pierre-Dixon said today.
At a news conference this morning, Pierre-Dixon discussed a 2010 report by the county Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, a multi-disciplinary team that reviewed 4,433 cases referred to the district attorney’s office for prosecution.
The district attorney’s office filed charges in 2,457 cases, equating to 47 new criminal cases each week.
In the cases reviewed, five people died. Two cases were murder-suicides and one was a homicide, according to the report.
In comparison, there were 11 domestic violence-related deaths in 2009. The highest number of fatal incidents occurred in 2000, with 15 incidents resulting in 18 deaths.
Jealousy, possessiveness and stalking were common red-flag behaviors by the aggressor in the cases the committee reviewed.
Other factors included separation or talk of it prior to the violence, unemployment or underemployment, threats of suicide or homicide, and depression.
Perpetrators showed tendencies like not having friends outside of the relationship, controlling their victim financially and becoming distraught at the discussion of separation.
They tended to have attachment issues stemming from developmental years, with untreated or inadequately treated mental health issues, and displayed meticulous planning prior to the death, according to the report.
“We hear all the time, ‘Why didn’t she just leave him?’ The answer is leaving can get you killed,” Pierre-Dixon said.
Statistics indicated two deaths were in the Asian community, two were in the white community, and one in the Hispanic community. One death was from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. No deaths were reported in the black community or immigrant community, which includes anyone who has been in the U.S. less than 10 years.
The ages of homicide victims ranged from 28 to 70. One senior died as a result of domestic violence in 2010, the first such death in the senior community in more than five years.
No children were killed in domestic violence incidents. One child survived domestic violence but lost their only parent.
Substance abuse was a factor in one case, according to the report. In four cases, the couples involved were separated, divorced or discussing those options at the time of the deaths.
The findings show that separation or discussing separation is a dangerous time for victims of domestic violence, according to the committee.
The Domestic Violence Death Review Committee was created in 1994 by the county Domestic Violence Council.
The committee includes representatives from the district attorney’s office, county Department of Correction, local law enforcement agencies, victim advocacy agencies, department of family and children’s services, San Jose’s family/domestic violence advisory board, family court
services and the coroner’s office.
The committee believes that some of the ways domestic violence can be prevented include reporting of non-lethal incidents by the community, the arrest of perpetrators and confiscation of guns by police, prosecution by the district attorney’s office and community awareness campaigns.