Domestic Violence Deaths in Miami-Dade Rise to Pre-Pandemic Levels
While Florida’s Miami-Dade County has managed to buck nationally rising homicide trends, local authorities have been tackling a spike in domestic-related killings over the past five years that reached new heights in 2021 and shows little signs of slowing.
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While Florida’s Miami-Dade County has managed to buck nationally rising homicide trends, local authorities say they have been tackling a spike in domestic-related killings over the past five years that reached new heights in 2021 and shows little signs of slowing, reports the Miami Herald. Miami-Dade County’s Domestic Violence Fatality & Child Abuse Review Team reports that while there there were only 21 domestic homicides in 2017, accounting for just 9 percent of the overall cases across the county, there were 40 domestic homicides in 2021, which accounted for 16 percent of all homicides, up from 33 homicides the previous year.
The first domestic violence fatalities of 2022, a murder-suicide, were rung up in the opening weeks of the new year, with at least four more occurring over the ensuing months. Victim advocates warn that cases of domestic violence are notoriously unreported, and fatalities capture only the most extreme cases. In 2020, the number of felony and misdemeanor domestic violence arrests in Miami-Dade dropped by more than 11 percent from the previous year only to rebound to pre-pandemic levels in 2021.
