Background:
During the 2023 Legislative Session, H.B. 43 created a time-limited Domestic Violence Data Task Force to assess the landscape of DV data in the state (including lethality assessments, cohabitant abuse protective orders, and the prevalence of DV) and provide feedback and recommendations. This task force issued a report in November 2023, and the group was due to sunset on December 31, 2024. In the subsequent 2024 Legislative Session, H.B. 532 moved this repeal date up to October 1, 2024, and simultaneously inserted the language for the prior duties of the DV Data Task Force into the statute for the Public Safety Data Management (PSDM) Task Force (in 36-29-111) while also assigning these same duties to CCJJ in 63M-7-220. As neither of these groups possess the same level of expertise in DV-related issues as the members of the original DV Data Task Force, staff from CCJJ (who also serve as staff to the PSDM Task Force) reached out to the Victim Services Commission (VSC) within CCJJ for assistance.
One of VSC’s subcommittees focused on domestic violence agreed to collaborate with CCJJ and form a data working group to assist in addressing these statutory requirements related to DV data collection and recommendations – this not only provided necessary expertise but also some level of continuity, as several members of the VSC Domestic Violence subcommittee also served on the original DV Data Task Force formed by H.B. 43. This DV data working group has met monthly starting in the fall of 2024 and has produced a comprehensive spreadsheet of the DV data landscape, as well as the summary presentation to the PSDM Task Force and the full report with recommendations appended to this current report (#1 and #2 in the Supporting Documents that follow).
This assessment and recommendations form the backbone of this report, and the reader is encouraged to review these two documents for more details. Additionally, CCJJ has gathered some of the DV data stipulated in the statutes to summarize here, while also providing a review of important limitations and recommendations for improvement to DV data collection moving forward. CCJJ/PSDM Domestic Violence Data Collection Annual Report 2025 2 Summary of DV Data Currently Required to be Collected in Statute: The review below represents data which CCJJ currently has access to, either through existing data sharing agreements and/or data that is already being submitted to the Public Safety Portal database or that is available through other online agency dashboards. The DV data working group’s comprehensive DV data spreadsheet provides a more exhaustive overview of all data sources that could apply to the statutory requirements.
Summary:
This annual report to the Legislature on domestic violence (DV) data collection in Utah introduces and compiles the extensive work completed to date by a data working group formed, in collaboration with CCJJ, within the Domestic Violence Subcommittee of the Victim Services Commission in 2024. The current report supplements this work by providing a summary of currently available DV data in Utah (per (2) (a) through (d) of 63M-7-220 and (8)(b) of 36-29-111) and highlighting important recommendations (per (3)(b) of 63M-7-220 and (8)(c)(ii) of 36-29-111). As will become clear, much of the currently available DV data comes after a victim has officially engaged with the criminal justice system (i.e., offense reported to the police, criminal case filed by the prosecutor in the Courts). Efforts to improve DV data collection in Utah should focus on:
- expanding the collection of quality prevalence data outside of the criminal justice system, from general victimization in the overall population (i.e., surveys) to those who seek other services after victimization;
- improving data within the criminal justice system (i.e., better flagging of offenses as DV);
- developing an integrated statewide database where all service providers can enter data (regardless of funding sources or grants) to get a fuller picture of DV service data; and
- creating a platform to display and track DV data in Utah (i.e., DV data dashboards in CCJJ’s Public Safety Portal).
Access PDF Report