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Shelley Osterloh Reporting A recent study shows one in every ten Utah women has experienced emotional or physical abuse by an intimate partner within the last year.
Even more sobering, the study reveals that 40 percent of women have been abused at some time in their lives. But a coaltion is working to end family violence.
Many people in our community are trying to help victims and hold offenders accountable, such as police officers, shelters and prosecutors.
But soon they'll do their jobs in a new way: Together.
Just this month another domestic violence case ended in death. A young man went to his ex-girlfriend's home after she broke up with him, killed her and then himself.
But a new way of treating victims of domestic abuse -- pioneered in San Diego -- is helping to stop this kind of violence before it becomes deadly.
Casey Gwinn, President's Family Justice Center Initiative: "Twenty years ago, 26 percent of our homicides were related to family violence. That's still the national average to this day. Today, two percent of our homicides are related to family violence."
Casey Qwinn is the founder of the Family Justice Center in San Diego and is talking to Utahns about how it works.
The idea is simple. Rather than asking a battered victim to go from one agency to another seeking help, bring community resources to one place. It's an idea members of the Salt Lake Area "Safe at Home Coalition" say can work here.
Asha Parekh, YWCA, Safe-at-Home Coalition Dir.: "We already work with all of these agencies. But it's at a disadvantage to the victim because they have to go from one office to the next, talk to different people and tell their story over and over."
So the YWCA is remodeling space which will be shared by representatives from the shelter, Salt Lake City Police Department, Legal Aid, city prosecutors and the Department of Work Force Services.
Sim Gill, Chief Prosecutor, Salt Lake City: "So we can bring our resources together, our knowledge together, so we can have a community response when it comes to the issue of domestic violence."
Gwinn says San Diego has seen fewer cases of domestic violence because people get effective help sooner.
Casey Gwinn, President's Family Justice Center Initiative: "Our case load continues to decline and the biggest drop is repeat offenders. We are not seeing them come back into the system like we were before we started the Family Justice Center."
The Coalition feels confident that working together, they can make Utah families safer. YWCA hopes to have its Justice Center open in January.
The Family Justice Center concept is being modeled in about 20 communties. Mr. Gwinn will speak tonight at the Qwest Auditorium at 6 pm.
You can find more information about the Justice Center model at the links in the box above.
She may make it to the shelter, but then she has to go from one place to another, telling her story again and again, to police, to shelter workers, to another person for a protective order, then go someplace else to talk to a prosecutor. It's got to be overwhelming.
Today, representatives from each of those agencies gathered to work on a solution. They are called the Safe At Home Coalition, and together, they will each offer their services to victims in one place at one time.
It's modeled after the San Diego Family Justice Center, whose founder -- Casey Gwinn -- is in town to share what has worked very well in that community and is a growing trend in others.
Casey Gwinn, President's Family Justice Center Initiative: "I think the bottom line that we are seeing at the centers all over the country is, one, safety for battered women and the kid. Two, we are seeing less homicides in communities that are doing this."
Lt. Melody Gray, Executive officer to the Chief, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "The way I perceive the problem, we really have a lot of agencies that are trying to solve the problem of domestic violence, but none of us are working together to do it."
Sim Gill, Chief Prosecutor, Salt Lake City: "We need to have prosecutors, law enforcement, the shelter services all talking to each other, so we can bring our resources together, our knowledge together, so we can have a community response when it comes to the issue of domestic violence. "
So come January, a half dozen different private and public agencies will share an office at the YWCA to provide that kind of comprehensive help for victims of abuse., and hopefully stop the problems of escalating violence in the home.
Mr. Gwinn will speak tonight at the Qwest Auditorium at 6 pm. And coming up here on Channel 5 at 5 pm, I'll tell you more about the coalition and the plan for the Salt Lake Family Justice Center. -->
