Before It Becomes a Headline: Can We Recognize When Domestic Violence Is Turning Deadly?
By the time a domestic violence case becomes a national headline, people often ask the same question: Were there warning signs? Sometimes, according to researchers and domestic violence advocates, there were. That doesn't mean anyone can predict exactly what another person will do. But decades of research have identified patterns that appear more often in the most dangerous intimate-partner violence cases. And as Domestic Violence Awareness Month begins this October, some police departments are putting more emphasis on recognizing those patterns before another call becomes a homicide investigation. Police Are Being Trained to Ask a Different Question On October 1, 2026, a new deadline took effect in Florida requiring law enforcement officers to have training before administering a domestic violence lethality assessment. The idea behind the assessment is surprisingly simple. Instead of looking only at what happened during one argument or one police call, officers ...