Domestic violence deaths in Colorado fell by 50% in 2023 after back-to-back years of record-high fatalities during the pandemic, though partner-on-partner abuse continues to be a serious problem, according to a new report published Tuesday.
Fifty-eight people died across 47 domestic violence cases in 2023, according to the Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board’s annual report. These numbers mark a significant decrease from the 94 domestic violence deaths in 2022 and 92 deaths in 2021.
“Though this drop is very encouraging, it does not suggest that (domestic violence) or (domestic violence fatalities) are less of an issue in Colorado,” the report stated, noting the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported only a 0.3% decrease in domestic violence cases last year.
The 2023 data represents a return to pre-COVID numbers; in the four years before the pandemic, the state averaged under 53 domestic violence fatalities per year. Studies have shown rates of domestic violence increased after COVID-19 arrived in 2020.
“The pandemic is the lion share of the explanation” for the reason fatalities spiked, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in an interview Monday. The numbers skyrocketed, he said, due to fewer contacts with victims, fewer warning signs and victims being more vulnerable.
Still, Weiser added, domestic violence represents an underreported crime.
Natasha Adler, director of survivor services with SafeHouse Denver, said she was surprised to see the dip in fatalities given that domestic violence calls to the organization are up and the severity of those calls has increased.
Strangulation, which tends to be one of the most lethal indicators, has been present in 35% of SafeHouse Denver’s cases last year, she said. Case workers are also seeing an increase in head injuries resulting from domestic violence.
“It’s shocking to me those numbers are so low,” Adler said of last year’s domestic violence deaths.
Seven of last year’s 58 fatalities involved collateral victims, as in people who died in the context of a domestic violence relationship who were not the direct victims or perpetrators. Of these, three were children.
For the first time, the review board this year included new data on the perpetrators’ criminal histories, the intersection with domestic relations cases and the number of cases with a history of protection orders.
Nearly a quarter of domestic violence couples had active or expired protection orders, the report found.
“The fact that 75% of… victims never had a protection order underscores that abuse can occur even when an individual has not sought court intervention,” the authors note.
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Thirteen percent of the domestic violence fatality cases involved domestic relations courts at some point, half of which had active cases at the time of the fatality.
These findings mirror established research, the report states: “that custody disputes and interactions with the domestic relations courts can be risk factors for (domestic violence fatalities).”
As in prior years, nearly all domestic violence victims in 2023 were female and the perpetrators male. Of the 47 cases, two included pregnant women.
The report included several recommendations, including requiring that victims be given the choice to be notified if the subject of a restraining order attempts to purchase a gun; providing more protections for domestic violence victims who are coerced or forced into creating debt; and developing a training for child and family investigators focused on domestic violence.
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