137 of those victims were female, and 24 were male according to this year’s new Honoring Texas Victims report.
AUSTIN, Texas — As Domestic Violence Awareness Month begins, the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) released new data Friday that underscores the far-reaching impact of domestic violence in the state, all while highlighting and honoring victims.
According to the council, one in three Texas women will experience relationship violence at some point in their lives.
In the past year alone, 161 people died due to violence involving an intimate partner. Of those victims, 137 were female and 24 were male, a distribution the council said is typical, according to the Honoring Texas Victims Report.
Tabitha Harrison, a policy and research expert with TCFV, said that part of the persisting problem of domestic violence is that 60% of offenders already had a history of violence with family or a partner and 75% of victims sought help before being killed.
Harrison emphasized how domestic violence is a public health issue, highlighting how 20 bystanders that were witness to one of these domestic homicides were also killed this year.
“Roughly 20 people — friends, family. We had situations where the offender walked into a home and victimized everyone in there,” Harrison said. “This is a public concern. It isn’t just the primary victim. Those around them are also at risk, and the numbers bear that out over and over again.”
Data also indicates that while 42 counties across Texas experienced violent homicides involving an intimate partner, Harrison said it’s still present in every single one. Friday’s Texas Town Hall event honored victims and survivors while also inviting state lawmakers to discuss legislative measures to aid survivors.
Lawmakers emphasized the importance of amplifying victims’ voices, normalizing their experiences, and treating domestic violence as a bipartisan issue.
“Domestic violence isn’t red or blue. It just doesn’t discriminate,” Representative Rhetta Andrews Bowers, a victim of domestic violence herself, said. “Family violence is something that, unfortunately, the numbers keep increasing, right? Especially when we look at mental health and wellness, and all the stressors that are out there. So, hopefully, we’ll go back to this next session… so that survivors are all protected.”
The Texas Council on Family Violence urges survivors and victims to seek help and highlights the need for the public and lawmakers to continue addressing domestic violence as a critical public safety concern.