City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley has announced that she is drafting legislation mandating domestic violence education in city shelters.
Photo by William Alatriste/NY City Council
The death of a 3-year-old girl in a Brooklyn shelter at the hands of her stepfather has prompted one borough elected official to take legislative action.
City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Glendale) announced last week that she is drafting legislation mandating domestic violence education in city shelters. The bill would require the city Department of Homeless Services to provide persons entering the shelter system information on domestic violence and violence against children. The law would mandate families to watch an educational video and be given information on domestic violence resources before being admitted into a city shelter.
“New Yorkers living in poverty are the most likely to suffer from domestic violence, and families should understand that any coercive, forceful, or threatening act inflicted by one member of a family or household on another constitutes domestic violence and is unacceptable,” Crowley said. “We know that when it comes to domestic violence, education and awareness make a big difference in helping victims. With this bill, the City will be mandated to give all families entering the shelter system information on the effects of domestic violence, along with supportive services that many victims don’t know exist.”
According to Crowley, in the 30th Council District, there were 10,128 incidents of domestic violence reported to the NYPD last year—or 28 incidents per day. Forty-three percent of all felony assaults and 33 percent of all sexual assaults in the district were domestic-violence related. Since 2002, 34 people have died due to domestic violence homicides in the 30th district.
Additionally, to mark National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and Borough President Melinda Katz on Tuesday announced a $900,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Office that will strengthen an initiative to combat domestic violence in Queens.
This year’s funding award will run for a three-year period through September, 2017, and is a renewal of federal funding received since 1997. As a result, Brown said, many improvements have been made over the years in the handling of domestic violence matters in the borough—including establishment of comprehensive services for domestic violence victims within the Queens Family Justice Center, a collaboration of the Mayor’s, Borough President’s and District Attorney’s offices; dedicated, vertical prosecutorial and victims-support units; early outreach to victims with a focus on critical orders of protection; active immigration support and advocacy; innovative technology linkages; and enhanced outreach to Queens’ diverse populations.
“The results of those initiatives have been real and dramatic,” Brown said. “Today, Queens County has the highest domestic violence conviction rate and the lowest dismissal rate in New York City and takes more pre-indictment domestic violence felony pleas than the rest of the city combined.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
