About Us
Mission
The Georgia Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project seeks to enhance the safety of victims and the accountability of batterers. The Project does this by conducting detailed reviews of fatalities and near-fatalities and by preparing, publishing, and disseminating objective information gained from these reviews. The resulting information is used as a tool for identifying gaps in system responses, improving statewide data collection, and implementing recommendations to create a coordinated community approach to ending domestic violence through enhancing efforts to train systems on better responses, identifying critical points for intervention and prevention, and providing a forum for increasing communication and collaboration among community agencies.
Purpose
To raise awareness and promote critical thinking about the problem of domestic violence as a means of fostering conversation and collaboration statewide.
To give a voice to the victims and their loved ones so that we may learn from their experiences as we seek to prevent future tragedies.
To expose and explore the dangers created when individuals or systems engage, consciously or unconsciously, in victim-blaming. Understanding how a culture of victim-blaming can be fatal for victims of domestic violence is essential to promoting safety and justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators.
To serve as a practical tool for all those who wish to eliminate this violence in Georgia. By providing current data and analysis, mapping trends, summarizing recent history, and exposing barriers to safety and survival, our intention is that this tool will inspire and drive changes in our systems and our culture.
To reduce domestic violence-related fatalities by using information learned from past fatalities.
History
The Project is a collaborative partnership between GCADV and GCFV. Initiated in 2004, the Project operates under grants awarded by Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
Through Georgia’s Fatality Review Teams, several themes and gaps in services have been identified in the lives of victims of domestic violence and the systems that are in place to help them. The information that has been collected, coupled with the implementation of recommendations by Teams, has led to an increase in intentional and effective partnerships, system collaboration, and sincere effort to reduce the amount of complicated barriers that victims face when seeking to escape violence at the hands of their abusers in Georgia.
Methodology
To learn more about our Methodology click here.
For more information on our near Fatality Methodology, please view this webinar.
Dedication
The work of this Project is dedicated to victims, their children, and family members who lost their lives as a result of domestic violence; to their surviving children, family members, and friends who must go on without them; and to the battered women who struggle to stay alive every day.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the commitment of the Fatality Review participants from around the state who devoted their time, energy, and expertise to work toward creating safer communities over the past 10+ years in Georgia.
Funding
This Project is supported by subgrants awarded by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council administering office for the STOP Formula Grant Program. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the state or the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
Domestic Violence Programs
There are approximately 65 domestic violence programs in Georgia; 51 of these offer safe and confidential shelter. These programs provide services free of charge. Services are confidential, and you do not have to leave your relationship to access these services.
Below is a list of services that most domestic violence programs offer:
- Emergency Shelter
- Crisis Line (24/7)
- Child Advocacy
- Legal Advocacy
- Support Groups
- Financial Assistance
- Safety Planning
- Information/Referrals
- Individual Counseling
You can reach your local domestic violence program by calling 1(800) 33-HAVEN (1-800-334-2836) (Se habla Español).
A list of state-certified domestic violence programs can be located here.
Media inquiries
The Georgia Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project can provide information and statistics about domestic violence. We can also connect you to local experts in your community. Contact us at info@georgiafatalityreview.com. DV and the Media is a resource for reporters that includes tips for accurately covering domestic violence crimes.
Disclaimer
The views, opinions, findings, and recommendations expressed by the Georgia Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project do not necessarily reflect the views of individual GCFV Commission members, all GCADV member programs, funders, or individual team members, and are the product of analysis by the joint GCFV and GCADV Project Team.
