Study finds domestic violence cost La. $10 billion in 2022
29th April 2024 · 0 Comments
By Bobbi-Jeanne Misick
Contributing Writer
(Veritenews.org) — Incidents of intimate partner violence cost Louisianians $10.1 billion in 2022, according to a new report from Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute.
The authors of the report, released on April 16 tallied the estimated costs of medical treatment, lost wages, criminal legal system costs and state-funded support programming for female victims and survivors of intimate partner violence.
The multibillion-dollar cost of domestic violence in the state falls upon individual survivors, victims and their families, employers and the state’s taxpayers, the report points out.
The largest associated cost was for emergency room visits and hospital stays, at $8.77 billion, followed by the cost of lost income at $804 million. The lowest cost was for survivor support, as the state dedicates roughly $15 million – most of which comes from federal funds – to survivors of domestic violence.
“All these costs add up to negative repercussions for economic growth,” the report’s authors wrote.
To come up with the numbers, the researchers analyzed data on intimate partner violence gleaned from a statewide survey on the prevalence of violence in Louisiana that Tulane published in August. That survey asked more than 1,000 state residents about violence they’d experienced over the course of their lives, finding that half of the state’s adults have experienced some type of intimate partner violence in their lifetimes, with roughly 200,000 having had a domestic violence experience within a year of being surveyed.
The new report based its calculations on the domestic violence against women, who experience it at a higher rate than men, particularly when it comes to incidents involving potentially lethal force, like choking or the use of weapons.
The trauma of domestic violence can extend beyond those who experience it directly, said Anita Raj, one of the report’s lead authors. A large number of survivors are young adults, many of whom have children at home.
“So this is something I feel like we need to tackle, because it’s not just an issue of the violence itself, but the safety and the security and the mental health of our families in the community, and also economic security for the state,” said Raj, who is also the Newcomb Institute’s executive director.
The report’s authors also found a way to calculate the “intangible” costs of such violence, which represent the pain and suffering of survivors and victims, by using federal data for fatal injuries and quality of life loss costs. The report estimates that those intangible costs affecting women in 2022 amounted to $17.5 billion for Louisiana.
The report urges the state to direct more attention and funding to preventing and responding to such violence, citing a legislative audit from 2021 that identified gaps in victim services and “insufficient and inflexible funding,” among other challenges in Louisiana’s domestic violence response.
“Relatively modest investments in intimate partner violence prevention, consistently maintained, can reduce intimate partner violence rates and reduce economic and labor losses attributable to intimate partner violence in Louisiana,” the report said.
The state Legislature did allocate $7 million for domestic violence services in 2023. But a proposed state budget for fiscal year 2025 released by Gov. Jeff Landry’s office in February removed that $7 million. Landry’s office did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
During the special legislative session on crime earlier this year, lawmakers in the Louisiana Senate also effectively shelved a bill sponsored by Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, to create an office of violence prevention within the Louisiana Department of Health.
Raj also said she was struck by Louisiana’s high rate of intimate partner violence compared to that of California, where she performed a similar survey. That study found 46 percent of California adults reported experiencing some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetimes, versus 52 percent in Louisiana. (When broken down by gender, roughly the same percentage of women, 54 percent in California and 55 percent in Louisiana, in each state said they’ve experienced intimate partner violence.)
The differences became starker when researchers looked at intimate partner violence involving firearms, with Louisiana women twice as likely to experience intimate partner violence with a gun in their lifetimes than California women. Gun violence overall is also higher in Louisiana. According to Raj’s research, one in eight California adults have been threatened or harmed with a gun in their lifetime, compared to one in five in Louisiana. The vast majority of fatal incidents of intimate partner violence against women in Louisiana in 2022 – 74 percent – involved guns, according to the report.
The higher rate of gun-related intimate partner violence in Louisiana is likely related to the state’s high rates of gun ownership and access, Raj said. Adult gun ownership in Louisiana, at 42 percent, is twice as high as it is in California, where 21 percent of adults own firearms, according to Raj’s reports.
Raj noted a lack of laws in Louisiana that can potentially prevent incidents of intimate partner violence and other types of violence. Last month a state Senate committee voted against advancing a “red flag” bill – sponsored by Sen. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans – that would have allowed for law enforcement authorities to request that a judge prohibit someone considered to be a danger to themself or others from possessing a firearm. Neither Duplessis nor Carter responded to requests for comment.
As Republicans in the Legislature have quashed bills aimed at stronger gun regulations in recent months, Landry and the state’s conservative lawmakers have supported measures to expand gun rights. In March, Landry signed into law a bill that will allow anyone who can legally possess a firearm in the state to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
This article originally published in the April 29, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
