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Across Wisconsin, a record
number of people died as a
result of domestic violence in
2024, according
to an annual report released this
month.
End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin reports
110 victims in
2024 up from
85 the year before.
60% of the homicides happened
in urban areas, 40%
in rural.
And firearms were used in
71% of the deaths,
with 78% of perpetrators
being men.
What is causing the jump in domestic
violence and what to do about it?
We're joined by Monique Minkens,
Executive Director of End Domestic
Abuse Wisconsin.
And thanks so much for being here.
Thank you for having me.
Well, to that question, what is
causing domestic violence to
be on the rise?
There are several
reasons why,
you know, at any time there
is an economic downturn,
there is domestic violence because
of life stressors.
And so we know that
we have been in this,
I don't know if you call it a
recession or whatever,
but food prices are rising.
Prices are rising in general.
Unemployment is rising.
And that causes a lot
of stress in the family.
And so that can be a cause of
the rise.
Sometimes it's also
the fact that programs
are underfunded
and we are
trying to serve as many people as
we can. And sometimes there are
wait lists or people
decide not to
pursue the services.
And so It's
a matter of access to services
as well as economics
that play an important
role in why
these numbers are rising.
This is the worst yet.
Yeah, so as to that
funding, according to
your report, last year federal
victims of crime act funding in
Wisconsin, to Wisconsin, dropped
by 70% from
44.5 million to 13
million, why is
this funding shortfall happening?
The shortfall is
happening,
this VOCA is funded through
the crime victims fund and
the crime victims fund is
funded from
crime fines
and corporate crime is
lucrative, I guess,
for the crime victim's fund.
And as
those as
dependent on the administration,
let's say,
some deregulated
different
policies
and so forth, which
lessen the amount of
the money going into the crime
victims fund.
Recently, there was
someone who was
fined $100 million and that
person received a pardon.
And there was another gentleman.
Find over $400 million
and also
received a pardon.
And so that means money's not going
into the crime victims fund.
And so there
was a Volcker fix by
President Biden, and
it's slowly
climbing.
And yet with the increase
and the rate that the
crime victim's fund is
regenerating, it's not very
helpful. I know that
the legislature recently
added money to the fund,
and still it's low.
And $13 million
across the state of Wisconsin
is really low when
you think about how,
oh, probably 70
to 80 percent of
a program's budget
is of funding.
And so there are
a lot of things that threaten
our funding.
On both the state and federal level.
Because what could more funding
do? What would it go toward?
Oh my goodness, it would go towards
services
to victims.
You know, some programs have
limited their
hours. They have discontinued
some of their services and
they added those services because
they thought they would be really
helpful
to victims and
so now those services
are no longer available.
Help lines have closed down.
I know once one
program, nine staff members
were, are no longer
a part of that program because of
budget cuts.
70% of the programs,
of the program's
cut services.
And, and so you can't
help but notice that.
Additionally,
80% of those programs
now have staffing issues.
And since COVID,
we have
always had staffing issues
and they've been compounded.
If you imagine someone
worried about whether they'll get
paid or not,
or having to let someone go
and then the rest
of the staff stand behind and
panicking because people have.
Have families, they have rent to
pay, they have
expenses, life expenses that
they need to cover.
And so,
it controls...
Tributes to it.
Harkening back to our
last segment in this program
and affordable housing,
how do housing needs play into
domestic violence response?
I'll say this homicide prevention.
That's it, that's all.
It's housing prevention.
And the majority of homeless
women and children
are homeless due to domestic
violence.
And so we
have to understand
the role that it plays
and how someone leaves
and it's almost a
vow of poverty.
And we have the serve each
individual according to
who they are.
Realizing that we have to have
many options and that
housing.
Is expensive and
and it's hard to get
in and there are stricter
requirements that can sometimes
be be difficult
for people to find
housing.
You know over the past three years
we've been piloting this
housing first program
and we've seen excellent
results.
And Housing First is
like a divergent program.
It makes sure that
people are getting what they
need and lots of times it
allows them to stay in their home.
And so we
are seeing that like the
one thing we purchased for someone
was a key, $6 for
a key to her home,
right? Or we
have help
people pay their utility bills
because they were behind.
Maybe their partner didn't pay
the bill and left them
with that bill.
And so we are
looking at different methods because
housing, like I said, is homicide
prevention and
people are safer in their home
when it's their
home and they control who
comes in.
Your report notes that black women
are six times more likely to
be killed than white women.
What do you want to see in response
to that and would it
mitigate this disparity?
Thank you very much.
Women are six times
more likely nationally
to die of homicide
in the state of Wisconsin, they
are 20 times more like to
die in the State of
Wisconsin.
And that's, there
are several factors,
right? Those are underserved
populations.
And VAWA, which is
the
bill that that.
Kind of legitimized
domestic violence for a
lot of people.
It was created,
the way it was created
involved the police criminalized
domestic violence when
it should
have been a human issue.
And so there
were people when vowel
was being pinned, there were
Black women there, there were
queer women there and people from
other underserved populations
and their voices were drowned out.
And so, violent domestic violence
was criminalized and
that involved the police.
The police have a role for
some people, but not for
everyone, and we have to recognize
that we have to respect
that and and make sure
that there are different.
Methods of people accessing
services and
not making it tough or
creating barriers or criticizing
people for the
way they do access those services.
Additionally, I want to share that
we are working with
Representative Sheila Stubbs
to start
a Missing Murdered
African American Women and Girls
Task Force, and
we are hoping that that will get
us to the root of what the
problem is.
Like, you know, we talked about 6%
nationally, 20
times more
likely to die of homicide in
Wisconsin.
There are at
least 100,000 women and girls
missing nationally, black women
and girls missing nationally.
And so I would consider
it a fire.
And we need to make sure
that we are paying attention to
different populations.
This year was
the first time we
counted where a
homicide victim.
Was killed at the hands of
the police.
It was a queer man
and this person
called for help
and what was
killed.
And so we have to look
at all of these things and make sure
that there is understanding
of what it means to work with
different populations and realize
once again, the
police play a role, but
not for everyone.
And for us to try and
force people to work with the
police is a tragedy
and it will not
get us anywhere.
We can't arrest ourselves
out of domestic violence.
And for some people,
that is not an
option.
And we have to honor that and
work with them accordingly.
What can be done
to address root causes,
do you think?
Women, black women, or domestic
violence in general.
Domestic violence.
In general.
Okay.
You know, we have
to take that individual approach to
domestic violence and
once again, consider identity
and life experiences.
And wanting to reiterate,
police do play a role for some
people and not for everyone.
And that must be hard to think that
people are afraid of the police, but
there are people who are
afraid of police and don't trust the
police. And we have the honor.
That may not be
a part of their road to liberation.
And so we have to honor that.
I think about in 2023
in Milwaukee, there were
27 DB homicides.
Milwaukee has a high risk assessment
team.
None of the 27 were on
the radar of that high risk team.
And this is the case
in large part because
they weren't involved with the
police.
And so we have to consider
all avenues of serving
victims because
people are individuals with
different life experiences.
And of course we need more funding.
I can't stress that enough.
People are losing.
We have lost a lot of funding
and we are seeing the
results of that.
We have a
TA line.
And victims are starting
to call RTA line
when they can't get services
from their local programs.
And we are able to
connect them to other programs.
And sometimes they
want to know how can they be safe
or in
our need of moral support that
we are giving them.
And we're seeing a
huge increase of calls
from victims.
I want to just back up a little
bit and unpack the idea
that people
may not be comfortable
with interacting with
police even as
they are victims of domestic
violence.
That has to do with not
wanting to make a call to
involve police that will
then bring the entire
family into that.
Well, it has a,
there's a lot, right?
They don't want to bring the family
into it.
Some apartment buildings that
the police come and it's
a habit or someone reports
it, people can have been evicted.
And there is real mistrust.
People want the
violence to stop.
They don't want their partners
locked up and sometimes their
partners get locked up.
And if you're a two family
household, that's really difficult.
There are also times when
the harm doer
is killed by the police
and that's the last thing
anyone wants.
And if we think about
the rate
of black men being killed by
police.
Black and brown men, Native men
being killed by the police.
We know that the number
is high compared to
the populations of those
communities.
And so we
have to realize that and take
that into consideration where
some people are honestly
afraid of the police
and don't trust the police
and forcing them to
work with them is not the answer.
And yet we have to face it head
on and figure out what the problem
is.
You leave it there, Monique Minkens.
Thank you so much.
For more on this and other issues
facing Wisconsin, visit our website
at pbswisconsin.org
and then click on the news tab.
That's our program for tonight.
I'm Frederica Freyberg.
Have a good weekend.
Thank you.