Lawmakers restore funding for domestic violence strangulation exams

Utah lawmakers restarted funding this year to help cover the cost of forensic exams for victims of domestic violence choking assaults, a program that advocates say is key in gathering evidence for criminal cases and identifying serious injuries that need urgent treatment. 

The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition is cheering the move not just because it sets aside $260,000 for the program this year, but because for the first time, the money is set to renew on a yearly basis.

Erin Jemison, the coalition’s director of public policy, called the allocation “huge.” 

“I honestly would have never guessed that that would be possible in a tight budget year,” Jemison said Wednesday. 

As lawmakers warned of budget cuts and took steps to again cut taxes, the coalition braced for broad losses to agencies providing direct help to survivors of domestic violence across the state. They feared service providers already stretching to make ends meet would struggle even more to meet demand.

But funding for those programs will stay consistent from this year to next, with a total of $886,000 in state money supporting the organizations. 

Nationally, research has drawn a link between a perpetrators’ prior attempts to strangle an intimate partner and an eventual homicide. In a recognition of that warning sign and others, Utah lawmakers in 2023 required police responding to domestic violence calls to start using a survey known as a lethality assessment that’s meant to flag the potential for deadly future incidents. Nearly 30,000 of those surveys have been conducted statewide, according to publicly available data from the Utah Department of Public Safety. 

As part of the protocol, officers must ask about any past choking by the perpetrator, and if the answer is yes, they’re required to involve a victim advocate who can help create a safety plan.  So when the Utah Legislature decided not to fund the program last year after chipping in for two prior rounds, the lapse seemed a departure from their focus on addressing domestic violence. 

The coalition found money for the program through grants and donations, but halfway through the year, it had used up 80% of the $260,000 it had raised, Jemison said. 

The new allocation from lawmakers won’t cover the full cost of the program next year and beyond, Jemison said, but it provides a reliable foundation. She said the funding fits with growing awareness at the state Capitol as the coalition has shined a light on the dynamics of abuse and the solutions that can help.

“Legislators understand domestic violence,” Jemison said. “They understand the prevalence. They understand what we need to start making more of a difference in tackling these issues.”

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