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- Introduction
- Types of Domestic Violence
- Habitual DV Offenders
- Power and Control
- The Cycle of Violence
- Counter-Intuitive Victim Behaviors
- Mandatory Arrest
- Lethality Factors
- Protection Orders and Bond
- Firearm Relinquishment and Affidavits
- Recantation
- Consulting the Victim about a Plea Offer
- “No Face, No Case”
- Prima-Facie Case Requirement
- Preparing for Trial
- Trial
- Sentencing
- Victim Resources
Research conducted by Jacquelyn C. Campbell, Ph.D., R.N., has associated certain factors with a higher risk that the abuser will seriously injure or kill the victim. See Danger Assessment, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, available at https://www.dangerassessment.org/.
These factors include:
- Use or threatened use of a weapon
- Threats to kill
- Victim’s belief offender may kill them
- Access to a firearm
- Strangulation
- Violently or constantly jealous
- Control most of victim’s daily activities
- Recently separated
- Offender is unemployed
- Offender has tried to kill themselves
- Victim has a child that offender knows is not theirs
- Follow or spy or leave threatening messages
- Victim is pregnant
Id.
Some factors present greater risk of lethality than others. For example, one study discovered that women who were threatened or assaulted with a gun or other weapon were twenty times more likely than other women to be murdered. (Campbell et al., 2003b).
Some but not all law enforcement now participate in Lethality Assessment Programs (“LAP”) that include conducting a 20-question “Danger Assessment” or a short 4-question “Lethality Assessment.” For more information about these assessments, please visit: https://www.dangerassessment.org/About.aspx.
Prosecutors should consider these factors and the assessment’s predict risk of lethality throughout a DV case, but especially when first reviewing a case, arguing bond, considering whether to agree to modify a mandatory protection order, and when crafting plea offers. Citing the factors applicable to a specific case and alerting the judge to moderate and high-risk offenders can help persuade judges to set a higher cash bond or deny a defendant’s or victim’s requests to modify the no-contact order. Knowing these factors will also assist in crafting a plea offer that protects the victim and the victim’s children, and provide excellent arguments at sentencing.