Worrisome domestic violence statistics aren’t declining in NC

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. But a new report this month shows North Carolina isn’t making much headway on the problem. 

In 2025, more than 63,000 people in North Carolina reported being victims of a crime committed by current or former spouses, partners or family members, according to a report released this week by the state’s Criminal Justice Analysis Center.

The report shows that domestic and family violence rates are holding steady in North Carolina even as overall violent crime is declining. Women, Black people and adults 25 to 34 were most frequently identified as victims in domestic violence reports, the report said.

The analysis center defines domestic and family violence as any crime against a person — homicide, assault or intimidation, sex offenses, kidnapping or human trafficking — in which at least one offender is either a current or former intimate partner or a family member. 

The report examines trends in these offenses, looking at changes over the past six years and patterns in victimization in the past three years and comparing them against other crimes against persons.

Domestic and family violence in 2025 accounted for the majority of murders of women and girls in the state, and more than half of reported kidnappings and simple assaults, according to the report. 

Rose Werth, director of the analysis center, said that trend stood out to her because that wasn’t necessarily the case two years ago.

“It was from a variety of different causes” in the past, Werth said. “That increase in the last couple of years is something that I’ll be keeping my eye on.”

The report also shows that incidents of domestic and family violence are more prevalent in urban parts of the state. In rural parts of North Carolina, there were 518 incidents of domestic and family violence per 100,000 residents. That’s compared to 555 per 100,000 in suburban areas, and 729 per 100,000 in urban areas, the report shows.

Caroline Farmer, executive director of the Governor’s Crime Commission, says the data helps to inform funding decisions every year.

“It’s incredibly helpful for the Governor’s Crime Commission and for our commissioners to understand what the trends are, where things are happening, so we can make sure that we are addressing those trends and making sure that we are putting our grant funds where they need to be,” Farmer said. 

But the available grant funding is dropping. Federal funding to support crime victims and the organizations that provide services to them is on the decline. 

Established by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, the federal Crime Victims Fund is financed by fines and penalties from convictions in federal cases, not from tax dollars. Fewer prosecutions of federal criminal cases and white-collar crimes have meant fewer deposits into the fund.

North Carolina received $41.5 million to distribute to service providers this year. That was down from a peak of $103 million in 2018, the report said.

“When resources become constrained, we remain focused on gathering information and working with our partners to support informed decisions that improve public safety,” North Carolina Department of Public Safety Interim Secretary Casandra Hoekstra said in a statement.

Elizabeth Sager, director of evaluation at the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the reduced funding has caused several domestic violence organizations to close over the last three years.

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“Other agencies have had to take on neighboring counties to cover that population, and there’s one right now that just launched a GoFundMe campaign so that they can try to keep their doors open,” Sager said. 

Sager was referring to Greenville’s Center for Family Violence Prevention. The agency, which serves Pitt, Martin and Washington counties, launched a campaign in September to raise $28,000 to help keep its doors open. It had only raised $3,220 as of Oct. 29.

“Right now, the organization is facing an approximately $160,000 deficit and could be forced to close its doors within the next few months,” the GoFundMe page says.

Sager said agencies can’t generate enough money through community fundraising to cover the costs of 24-hour shelters, hotlines and other services. 

“Right now, staff are working overtime to keep everything open and running smoothly as possible,” Sager said. “But the funding – there really is no way to make up the shortfall by just fundraising during Domestic Violence Awareness Month to try to cover that.”

She noted that the increase on divorce filing fees to help agencies that address domestic violence will help. The fee increase is expected to generate about $1.3 million a year for the state’s Domestic Violence Center Fund.

“It just got passed in this latest budget,” Sager said. “That’ll provide a little bit, but it’s definitely not covering the amount of loss that we got from the decreases from the Victims of Crime Act money.”