Economic impact of domestic violence in Milwaukee County over $100 million
MILWAUKEE COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A new study done by Sojourner Family Center indicates that in Milwaukee County, domestic violence victims face an annual of $113.1 million in economic losses. That staggering number includes physical and mental health care, loss of property, police and court costs among some of the impact.
The study was sponsored by the Jamie Kimble Foundation for Courage. Given recent domestic violence homicide rates, Carmen Pitre of Sojourner hopes this study continues the conversation of domestic violence prevention.
On Tuesday, several city leaders like District Attorney John Chisolm and County Executive David Crowley were present at a press conference for this study.
They are encouraging Wisconsin companies and communities to be a part of the prevention of domestic violence conversation.
Dr. Erin Schubert of Sojourner, who was also part of the research team alongside Dr. Joseph Von Nessen of the Darla Moore School of Business, said she hopes these numbers give context to where funding should and needs to go.
"I hope that this report can inspire some conversations around how we're investing our dollars as a society. So, we are investing in the issue of domestic violence largely in a reactionary manner, right. And I think investing those numbers upstream to prevent that cascading cost and that cascading impact of that crime, I think, is an important conversation to have," said Dr. Schuber.
Domestic Violence organization links:
- The Asha Project-(414) 252-0075
- Room to be Safe-(414) 390-0444
- Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center-(414) 383-9526
- HIR Wellness Institute- (414) 763-5815
- Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition- (414) 727-4900
- The Hmong American Women's Association- (414) 930-9352
- United Migrant Opportunity Services- (414) 389-6500
- Sojourner Family Peace Center-(414) 933-2722