Nevada domestic violence report recommends education, database

A team of Clark County researchers made several recommendations to lower domestic violence-related deaths in Nevada in a new report released Monday.

For the Domestic Violence Fatality Review report, researchers gathered information about deaths related to domestic violence and looked for indications of escalating levels of violence to develop recommendations to better protect victims, according to Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s office.

The report said the state should make efforts to relate to victims, which will help ensure their safety and cooperation in prosecuting abusers and suggested developing a statewide data system that will identify and track domestic violence incidents throughout the criminal justice system.

Recommendations from Clark County included educating students about domestic violence in schools after one of the cases included children who witnessed abuse and called the police multiple times.

Researchers from Clark County also suggested changing state policies to lower the minimum age at which someone can get a protective order without a parent. Domestic or dating violence can start young, the report said, and victims may be too embarrassed to talk to their parents about it.

A gun was used in two of Clark County’s domestic violence-related homicide cases, so the report recommends amending state law so that people convicted of domestic violence-related crimes are included in the list of persons prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm.

In addition to the four case studies from Clark County, the statewide team looked at four cases from Washoe County and two from other places in the state.

The review led to a total of 32 new recommendations.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl.