2019 Data Report Snapshot & Spotlight on Survivor-Defendants
This report examines data on domestic and sexual violence in Whatcom County for the calendar year 2019. It features a “Snapshot Report,” which provides data on domestic and sexual violence in Whatcom County, and includes input gathered from survivors through the Commission’s website and interviews. The report also features a “Spotlight Report” on the challenge of survivor-defendants, survivors of domestic violence who are themselves arrested for domestic violence or other crimes related to their experience of abuse. Through interviews with over 20 local stakeholders, and including regional and national research, the Spotlight Report explores the differences between the legal definition of domestic violence and how survivors experience abuse, and how that tension has created systems where survivors of domestic violence can be arrested for that very offense.
Published December 2020