Domestic violence surge 'easing' in King County, prosecutors say

Prosecutors in King County say the number of domestic violence cases overall is trending downward. That’s after a spike in cases during the pandemic.

Domestic violence homicides have fallen each year since 2020. Prosecutors expect this year’s final numbers to be 20% lower than that pandemic high. There were 18 domestic violence homicides in King County in 2020, and that number has fallen every year since, to 11 cases so far in 2023.

The downward trend in domestic violence cases is in contrast to King County’s overall homicide rate, which has continued to set new records since 2020.

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David Martin, who chairs the domestic violence unit for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, said it’s hard to pinpoint the reasons for the decline in domestic violence homicides. But he notes that people at risk of harming themselves or others have surrendered a record number of firearms this year.

“It’s an important way to reduce risk,” Martin said. “If we know that domestic violence is a driver of violent crime and violent death, we do not want domestic violence offenders to be armed.”

The Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit, which seeks to enforce Domestic Violence Protection Orders as well as Extreme Risk Protection Orders known as “red flag” laws, has collected 911 firearms so far in 2023, already surpassing the total of 901 it collected in all of 2022. Both types of orders can seek to prohibit someone from possessing firearms.

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Martin said Washington state in general has also seen a long-term decline in the numbers of strangulation homicides, which are disproportionately associated with female victims and domestic partner or intimate partner violence. He said the state was one of the first to enact a felony strangulation assault law in 2007 and King County has prioritized enforcement.

He points to a recent study by former King County Chief Medical Examiner Richard Harruff that appeared in the September issue of The Journal of Forensic Sciences. It analyzed female strangulation homicides in the county from 1978 through 2022.

Researchers found a striking decline in strangulation cases in recent decades up through the year 2020. In the 1980s, King County saw an average of more than six such cases per year. That rate declined more than 80% to average just over one case per year between 2010 to 2019. However, they found that cases did tick up again in 2020 through 2022.

“The recent increase of strangulation homicides involving males and females is difficult to explain," researchers wrote. "Although the numbers are relatively small, and there is limited detail of circumstances, the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be excluded as a factor, especially in homicides associated” with domestic violence or intimate partner violence.

But they added that “the dramatic decline in strangulation homicides documented in the present study may be due, at least in part, to efforts… directed toward awareness, investigation, and prosecution of non-fatal strangulation.”

Martin said beyond homicide cases, prosecutors are filing fewer domestic violence cases overall.

“During the pandemic, we had a surge in felony-level domestic violence cases, in filings, in caseloads,” he said, but “those have returned almost to the pre-pandemic level.”

In 2020 the county made it possible for victims to seek these civil protection orders remotely. Martin said it’s possible that fewer criminal cases mean more people are pursuing civil orders instead.

Advocates said they also hope prevention services are playing a role in the overall decrease in domestic violence cases since the high mark of 2020. They noted that more than 90% of the victims in the county’s domestic violence cases are female, and 62% are women of color.

Natasha Willson, who oversees the county’s advocacy services for survivors of domestic violence, said support includes guiding survivors through the legal process, helping them obtain their own attorneys, and giving them a voice.

“Through this work we try to empower victims of domestic violence crimes because what we know is the more victims are feeling empowered, the less likely they will be subject to more and continued victimization,” Willson said.