South Bay Domestic Violence Deaths Drop
SAN JOSE (KCBS) - The number of victims killed in domestic violence incidents in Santa Clara County dropped significantly last year. Education and awareness are being credited for the dramatic statistic.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
Five deaths in the community were attributed to domestic violence in 2010.
"In 2009 we had 11, we did lose six members of one family in 2009 and that put our numbers up, but every death counts, every death is significant," said assistant district attorney Rolanda Pierre Dixon, who chairs the Domestic Violence Council. "And to have the number come down, we're appreciative of that. And so we have 5 deaths this year and 3 incidents. One death, obviously, is one death too many."
Unlike past years, none of the domestic violence-related deaths in 2010 involved African Americans or members of an immigrant community.
"We continue to work with every community, continue to work with ethnic communities, continue to work with our general communities to make sure that everyone realizes that domestic violence can be and is deadly and that we need to make change," she said. "We do this every year on Valentine's Day because along with the love we want folks to recognize that some people are having problems, so we need to pay attention to that as well."
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