Ohio: Governor DeWine Announces New Programs to Support Domestic Violence Survivors, Law Enforcement
During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine released a new analysis by the Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) of about two million violent-crime arrests from 1974 to 2023, and announced new programs to support domestic violence survivors and law enforcement.
The analysis found that just over half of all violent-crime arrests included a domestic violence charge, and that 70 percent of those arrested for domestic violence were repeat violent offenders. From 2014 to 2023 the domestic violence share of violent arrests was 54 percent, rising to 56 percent in the last five years; half of Ohio's 88 counties have domestic violence rates above the state average.
DeWine directed OCJS to set aside funding: an additional $1 million for Ohio's 55 OCJS-recognized domestic violence shelters, a one-time grant of $18,000 each, and a new grant program for ballistic shields for officers, a companion to the Bulletproof Vest Grant Program DeWine created as attorney general in 2018.
The package also includes a new grant program for lethality-assessment training, which helps officers identify domestic violence situations at risk of turning fatal, and a grant program for co-responder models that pair victim advocates with law enforcement.
DeWine also directed the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board to develop a statewide domestic violence response and investigation standard incorporating the Law Enforcement Handbook issued by the Ohio Domestic Violence Network (ODVN) and OCJS in April 2026; OCJS will support seven free regional trainings.
ODVN Executive Director Mary O'Doherty called the announcements "like Christmas in October" for shelters and frontline advocates.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 俄亥俄州议会大厦，位于哥伦布（资料图）。CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Ohio Statehouse in Columbus (file photo). CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
