As you may have noticed from the articles in The PREVIEW, purple ribbons around town, touches of purple at Pirate sporting events or a number of other events and things that have taken place already this month, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Domestic violence is a horrific truth in our society and one that Pagosa Country and Colorado hasn’t been spared from.
On Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Wieser’s Office announced that, despite Colorado seeing its lowest homicide rate in five years in 2024, domestic violence victim fatalities increased.
The Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board released a report that identified 54 domestic violence fatality cases resulting in 72 deaths in 2024 — a 24 percent increase from the previous year.
Of those deaths, a press release from the attorney general’s office about the report states, 38 were killed by current or former intimate partners, and eight were collateral victims, all of whom were children between the ages of 3 months and 7 years old. Five of the children were killed amid custody disputes between parents, “highlighting custody litigation as a high-risk period for families experiencing domestic violence.”
It’s absolutely heartbreaking, sobering and shouldn’t be happening.
Overall, homicides in Colorado declined by 16.7 percent, with domestic violence deaths making up 18 percent of all homicides — the highest proportion in five years.
Firearms, it states, were used in 75% of all domestic violence deaths in 2024, including every child fatality.
“Half of the perpetrators had a prior domestic violence arrest or warrant, and one in five had a prior conviction,” the press release states. “Rural counties also continued to experience disproportionately high rates of domestic violence fatalities per capita, underscoring the ongoing challenges survivors face in accessing safety and support.”
Thankfully, not all cases of domestic violence rise to the level of homicides, but, still, we should seek to stop domestic violence at any level.
We are grateful here in Archuleta County to have Rise Above Violence actively seeking to help lessen and erase domestic violence from our community — no small task.
We applaud their work in aiding victims and helping empower them to make decisions about removing themselves from potentially dangerous situations, and in teaching youth (and adults) what healthy relationships look like and what abuse may look like.
It will certainly take a series of changes, forms of educations and interventions to lessen domestic violence here and elsewhere, and we should each take a part in supporting those measures, as well as supporting victims of domestic violence.
As Rise has taught us, even saying “I believe you” can mean the world to someone facing fear and an unknown future.
The review board also made several recommendations for stronger prevention and intervention measures, including:
Requiring law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms at the scene of domestic violence arrests.
Clarifying state law to ensure third-degree assault domestic violence convictions prohibit firearm possession.
Encouraging law enforcement to consider a protocol to provide resource materials to both parties at domestic violence calls where no arrest is made.
Expanding local fatality review team protocols to include interviews with family members and perpetrators to better identify missed warning signs.
If you’d like to help locally, visit www.riseaboveviolence.org for more information on volunteering and see Rise’s article in this week’s PREVIEW.
If you are in a crisis or need immediate support, dial 911. Rise’s 24-hour hotline can be reached at (970) 264-9075, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at (800) 799-SAFE (7233). For a list of resources available throughout Colorado, visit www.violencefreecolorado.org.
Together, we can change this trend and make our community a safer place for everyone.
Randi Pierce
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