Artemis Center in Dayton Provides Assistance to Victims of Domestic Violence
Recently Jane Keiffer, the executive Director of the Artemis Center in Dayton, shared an informative data sheet created by a past staff member about a “danger and lethality assessment” of cases from 2019-2022. Needless to say, Jane Keiffer and the Artemis Center do a phenomenal job assisting individuals who have been victimized by domestic violence. We are certainly lucky to have the Artemis Center in our community! Here is a link to the Artemis Center website.
What is a Danger and Lethality Assessment?
A “danger and lethality assessment” helps to evaluate the level of danger a victim of intimate partner violence is experiencing on a level-scale of 0 to 7. An Artemis advocate conducting the assessment goes through a 30-factor analysis to determine the level of danger and lethality a victim shows. A level of 0 is where there is no risk of future abuse either physical or sexual, while a level of 7 is where there is a high risk a homicide will occur.
Artemis advocates conducted 946 danger and lethality assessments in 2022. Artemis found that 54% of clients were at a level of 5-7. 19% of all clients scored at a level 6 (high risk for serious injury, possible homicide) and another 19% scored at a level 5 (possible risk for serious injury, possible homicide). 16% of clients scored at a level 7, which indicates a high risk of homicide.
Some factors that Artemis advocates considers when conducting a danger and lethality assessment are: (1) if their batterer threatened to kill them; (2) if their batterer has access to weapons; (3) if there was an instance of separation violence; (4) if their batterer threatened or attempted to commit suicide; (5) if the survivor had ever been suffocated or strangled; (6) if the survivor had experienced violence while pregnant; (7) if a survivor had been shown a weapon in a threatening way. Of the survivors that scored between a level 5-7, 21.6% had been threatened, intimidated, or harmed by their abuser with a gun.
Risk of Homicide and Overall Danger has been Steadily Increasing.
Since 2019 through 2022, there has been an increase of 8.3% of survivors reporting that their batterers have access to weapons. Further, an increase of 3.5% of survivors reports that their batterer threatened to kill them. Similarly, an increase of 3.5% of survivors reports that their batterer showed them a weapon in a threatening way.
Since 2019, 50% or higher of survivors reported that they have been strangled or suffocated by their batterer. Similarly, 50% or higher of survivors reported that their batterer threatened or attempted suicide. The increase of threatening or attempting suicide by the batterer increases the likelihood of a murder-suicide scenario. Artemis found that 43-44% of victims suffered violence during pregnancy; those numbers remained relatively the same since 2019. Fortunately, violence reported during separation has steadily decreased 11.9% from 2019-2022.
Artemis Center Helpline is Open 24-hours a day!
If you believe that you are experiencing domestic abuse or feel like consulting with an Artemis Advocate, please contact the Artemis Center Helpline at (937) 461-HELP (4357). As Ms. Keiffer has said before, “Stress does not cause violence. Abusers make the choice to be abusive…We are all stressed but we don’t abuse, humiliate, disrespect, or manipulate our partners.”
Prior Ohio Family Law Blog Posts Regarding Domestic Violence:
Here is a collection of links to 4 of our prior posts regarding domestic violence and the Artemis Center:
- Domestic Violence Cases Continue to Skyrocket! Posted on October 1, 2022.
- Domestic Violence – Let’s Look at the Local Statistics. Posted on March 10, 2018.
- Artemis Center Provides Assistance to Victims of Domestic Violence. Posted October 25, 2014.
- Artemis Center: Domestic Violence Resource Agency. Posted October 25, 2008.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE:
I want to thank our new law clerk, Evan Pennington, for his help writing this blog article! Nice job! Evan is a third-year law student at the University of Dayton School of Law. Welcome Evan to the HCM&M team!
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Attorney Robert “Chip” Mues has been focusing his legal practice throughout Southwest Ohio primarily in divorce and family law matters since 1978. Chip is passionate about family law and has proudly published the Ohio Family Law Blog since 2007. In addition, he is the managing partner of Holzfaster, Cecil, McKnight & Mues. To learn more about him or the law firm, visit the firm’s website at www.hcmmlaw.com. Appointments are available in person, over the phone or by Zoom. Call us at 937 293-2141.