PHOENIX — Domestic violence cases in Arizona are worsening in nature, according to local advocate groups.
Since the start of the pandemic, domestic violence homicides have risen across the nation and although the numbers are not as high as last year, they have doubled in Phoenix from 2019.
“The victimization has gone up,” said Myriah Mhoon, CEO of New Life Domestic Violence in Arizona, the state’s largest domestic violence shelter and service provider for victims. “We are seeing more of the bad people in the ways that they are victimizing in a more cruel and heinous way.”
The latest case happened on Monday when Lanaé Mouton and her 11-month-old baby were shot and killed at their Phoenix apartment near 83rd Avenue and Thomas Road.
Phoenix police have charged her husband Louis Mouton with two counts of first-degree murder.
Louis had been charged with domestic violence against his wife in 2017. A year later, she filed for divorce and a temporary restraining order against him, court documents out of California show.
“Since the pandemic, we were seeing off the charts rates of homicides, suicides, specific to an intimate partner violence in that state of Arizona,” Mhoon explained.
From January to August, Phoenix police said 23 people died because of domestic abuse. That number down from the same time in 2020—during the peak of the pandemic when police said 33 people died in domestic violence situations. That total is still far more than 2019 when 12 people were killed during the first eight months of the year.
“Half or more of the fatalities are committed with a firearm,” Nora Espino explained. She's an Intimate Partner Homicide Project Coordinator at the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.
Among her many jobs there, she answers hotline calls assisting victims and survivors, which have been higher since the pandemic began.
Espino said the best assist a person who may need help or is experiencing domestic violence is to keep an eye out for red flags—things they or their partners say or do.
To offer help and if needed, reach out to the Crisis Response Network on their behalf, she added.
“If we were to actually take them seriously and just go further and beyond and ask those questions, ‘Are you okay? Do you need support?” Espino said. “So that we can prevent incidents from escalating to something fatal.”
For years, the coalition has compiled a list of domestic violence fatalities in Arizona. Their data includes the deaths of perpetrators and/or people who intervened in a situation and tried to help.
According to the list, 59 people have died so far this year across the state in relation to domestic abuse. In 2020 they reported 102 deaths. The highest year was in 2012 when they recorded 139 deaths.
According to a 2017 study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 40% of people in Arizona had experienced domestic abuse. Every 44 minutes in our state, one or more children witness domestic violence, the report also found.
“Those are unfortunately numbers that have trended year to year, data and statistics that at the end of the day our lives, they are families,” Mhoon said.
New Life Domestic Violence in Arizona’s shelter is the largest in the state with 104 beds. During the pandemic they saw a decrease in families arriving to request services, Mhoon said. But they did help survivors from other states.
Currently, their population at the shelter is 70% children who are receiving services, said Mhoon.
If you or anyone you know if in a domestic violence situation help is available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233 (SAFE).
The Arizona Sexual and Domestic Violence Hotline is 602-279-2980 or text 520-720-3383.
For help at New Life Domestic Violence in Arizona, call 623-932-4404
Go here for more local resources and shelters.
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