Did you know that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month?
1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men in the United States experience domestic violence, and nearly 1.5 million high school students are physically abused by dating partners every year according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Many organizations have indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has seen instances of domestic violence increase dramatically, while it has been even harder for survivors to get the help that they need to leave dangerous situations.
Those are some disappointing facts, and the increasing numbers show the importance of awareness and education about domestic violence.
What can you do to help?
Chances are that justice courts see both adults and children or teens that have survived domestic violence every day. These survivors might show up in your court for cases that you might not initially expect, like truancy and traffic cases.
There are many resources available, and courts can share these resources with people who come to the court. A few comprehensive resources can be found below:
Hotline, shelter, and counseling information, including contact information for local resources, can be found here: https://nomore.org/need-immediate-help/
The Texas Council on Family Violence Survivor Resources, including new information about lease termination for survivors of family violence, sexual 
assault, or stalking, can be found here: https://tcfv.org/survivor-resources/
Where can you learn more?
One of our new, self-paced modules, Family Violence and Other Criminal History Reporting for Justice Courts includes education and resources about family violence in Texas. The module and information about how to receive judicial education credit for completing it can be found here: https://www.tjctc.org/onlinelearning/selfpacedmodules.html.
The Texas Domestic Violence Resource Program for courts, including information about the Protective Order Registry, can be found at the Texas Courts website here: https://www.txcourts.gov/dvrp/.
In case you missed it, you can read more about the Protective Order Registry and the justice court’s requirements in our blog post from last month here.
