Since Vermont started collecting data in 1994 the number of domestic violence related homicides, as a percentage of all homicides, has been dropping.
Vermont reviews every domestic-violence-related homicide, and the Attorney General's office just released the 2017 report.
Karen Tronsgard-Scott is director of The Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, and she says the steady drop could be due to the statewide focus on preventing domestic violence.
"For many, many years in communities we've been training law enforcement officers, courts, prosecutors and engendering their help for preventing acts of domestic violence related homicide," she says. "There has been real action toward helping those families get services."
In 2016, there were 20 homicides in the state and six were attributed to domestic violence.
That's about 30 percent, and in previous years the number has been as high as 75 percent.
The report shows county data, including criminal charges that were filed and protection orders. Tronsgard Scott says that while domestic violence isn't going away, the worst tragedies are being prevented, and the report helps her group see where services and programs are working and where additional support is needed.
