A sharp increase in the number of people killed in domestic violence crimes documented in a new report is spurring calls for lawmakers to restore nearly $7 million in funding for domestic violence support in the state budget.
According to a new state report, there were 31 people killed in domestic violence crimes in 2024 — up 20% from the year before. The number is the highest in at least the past five years, according to the report.
The State Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team — a coalition appointed by Gov. Maura Healey — cited a total of 26,297 domestic violence offenses in 2024, most of them simple assaults and aggravated assaults. That number is down slightly from the year before.
But the increase in more serious domestic violence-related crimes, including manslaughter and murders, raised eyebrows among victim advocates. There were also 3,400 cases of intimidation, an 8% increase over the year before.
“Domestic violence is a devasting and often fatal reality, and this report sheds an important light on preventable tragedy,” Vilma Uribe, the executive director of the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Human Trafficking, wrote in an emailed statement to GBH News.
Uribe’s team says the report underscores the need for more state funding for domestic violence and sexual assault services. Last year, lawmakers cut a Department of Public Health account intended for such services by 8%, leaving $73 million.
Uribe also called for a more coordinated response in Massachusetts to meet the needs of high-risk survivors of domestic violence.
Hema Sarang-Siemanski, executive director of Jane Doe, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, said fatality data can fluctuate from year to year and that Massachusetts’ rates are relatively low.
“In a state like Massachusetts where we do have strong protections for survivors, we have strong laws related to guns, the overall number of domestic violence-related fatalities is on the lower side when we look at national numbers,” she said.
But Sarang-Siemanski said the deaths point to a need for better data that could help prevent such tragic outcomes.
“There are a number of victims of intimate partner homicide who never had system contact previously,” she said. “There’s still work to do.”
Hayat Bearat, a lawyer who directs the Domestic Violence Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, said that even when survivors interact with police and the court system, there are still gaps that don’t provide critical help and leave them vulnerable.
“The issues that we have in the Commonwealth as it relates to interventions prior to a homicide -- with the court systems, with police -- often fail survivors tremendously,” she said.
Bearat added that a national trend of domestic violence survivors being silenced or disbelieved is being felt in Massachusetts.
“We see it trickle down at the state and local level,” she said. “So abusers feel empowered, feel that there is not going to be ramifications.”
