SafeHaven Announces Fourth Annual Fatality Review Report
TARRANT COUNTY, TX (Oct. 2, 2023) – SafeHaven of Tarrant County is proud to announce the release of its 2022 Domestic Violence Fatality Review report. The report is drafted each year by the Tarrant County Fatality Review Team and aims to shed light on the number of intimate partner homicides and trends that occur each year in the county.
The report includes details about the intimate partner homicides that took place within the county in 2022, including perpetrator/victim demographic information, crime information, and the interaction with community agencies prior to the homicide. The 2022 report will include information about the seven deaths that the committee determined to be intimate partner homicides.
“It goes without saying that one loss is too many. Seven is certainly too many,” SafeHaven President and CEO, Kathryn Jacob said. “The issue of homicide within a relationship is so inhumane, so unimaginable for most of us. As in every prior year, we will not let these deaths be forgotten, and they will heavily inform our work moving forward.”
This year’s report includes trends from the 2022 calendar year, including the danger of child custody exchange. In addition to the seven intimate partner homicides in 2022, two women bystanders were killed in separate incidents while accompanying a parent during child custody exchanges. Due to trends, SafeHaven is currently working to expand the local network of safe and supervised custody exchange sites.
Another important trend the team found is the lack of victim interaction with community resources prior to death. Of the 39 IPV homicides recorded in Tarrant County since 2019, only four had filed for a Protective Order, and only one had reached out for resources at SafeHaven. In July of 2023, SafeHaven implemented its new Strangulation Outreach Team as a direct result of these findings. The Strangulation Outreach Team, composed of SafeHaven’s High Risk Team case managers, responds 24/7 to victims hospitalized at Texas Health Fort Worth and provides information about SafeHaven resources, including case management, emergency shelter, counseling, legal assistance and more.to hospitalized domestic violence victims who have been identified as having experienced strangulation by their intimate partner.
According to the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, strangulation is one of the best predictors for a future homicide. In fact, victims who were previously strangled by their intimate partner are 800 times more likely to die at the hands of that abuser.
The 2022 Tarrant County Fatality Review Report is available online here for viewing and to download. SafeHaven is encouraging interested community members, policy makers, and city leaders to read the 2022 Tarrant County Fatality Review Report and join the movement to put an end to intimate partner homicide in Tarrant County.
For more information about SafeHaven, the 2022 Fatality Review Report, or to set up an interview, please email mithompson@safehaventc.org.
Fatality Review Team Members
- Alliance for Children
- Arlington Police Department
- Baylor, Scott & White
- Fort Worth Police Department
- JPS
- MedStar
- SafeHaven of Tarrant County
- Tarrant Country Criminal District Attorney’s Office
- Texas Health Resources
- Tarrant County Medical Examiner
- Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
About SafeHaven of Tarrant County
SafeHaven’s mission is to end domestic violence through safety, support, prevention and social change.
Tarrant County’s only state-designated family violence program, SafeHaven has enabled thousands of women and children to rebuild safe, independent lives for more than 40 years. Vital services include the county’s only 24-hour emergency shelters, 24-hour crisis hotline, legal services, children’s programming, and evidence-based prevention curriculum. The agency also operates the county’s largest accredited program for domestic violence offenders.
We believe everyone deserves relationships that are free of fear, so we confront domestic violence in our community at every level - walking alongside survivors at every step in their journey and working with our community to drive solutions that improve our response to this pervasive problem.