Many police stations across Maryland have implemented a new procedure when responding to domestic violence complaints to discover which victims have the highest risk of getting murdered by their partner.
A Washington Post article describes the program, saying that it consists of an 11 questions quiz that probes whether victims have ever been threatened with a weapon, been choked or received death threats. Police also ask if the abuser has access to a handgun.
When the answers show a high risk of lethality, the police immediately call a counselor and urge the victim to talk.
It seems like a great program to me, but I wonder why it took this long to come up with one. I hope to see this program implemented even further, and to see even more programs like it.
Domestic violence poses a unique problem, because victims tend to not report it, for various reasons. Especially for that reason, our society needs to take major action to reduce and hopefully eliminate domestic violence. We need to protect victims, and we need to restrain and treat perpetrators.
