Lethality Assessment Program

Dutchess County’s Lethality Assessment Program allows law enforcement personnel to identify victims of domestic violence who are at great risk of serious injury or death and connect them to services.

• Agency: Dutchess County Sheriff's Office
   
• Location: Dutchess County, N.Y.
   
• Program started May 2014
   
• Active

Domestic homicide is a devastating crime, and its victims most frequently include intimate partners, in addition to children and other family members. Dutchess County experienced a drastic increase in domestic violence homicides from 2010 to 2013, as compared to previous years. During that four-year period, there were 14 domestic violence-related deaths: nine intimate partners, four children and other family members, and one responding police officer. 

Program Description

To address the rise in domestic violence related deaths, in 2014 Dutchess County’s Universal Response to Domestic Violence Committee implemented the Lethality Assessment Program, created by the Maryland Network to End Domestic Violence. The program identifies victims of domestic violence at risk of being seriously injured or killed by their abusers and connects them to services. Law enforcement officials complete an 11-question screening tool using the answers victims provide at the scene of a domestic incident, identifying if they are high danger, and refer them to a domestic violence service provider directly following the incident. This instant connection with an advocate provides victims with immediate safety planning, assistance navigating the criminal justice system, and access to services, such as a 24-hour crisis hotline, court advocacy, and one-on-one counseling. 

In 2024, Dutchess County altered the model under the oversight of the Universal Response to Domestic Violence Committee, which consists of agency leaders working in domestic violence throughout the county, including Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, police departments, service providers, etc. The screen includes additional questions to include strangulation and stalking risk factors. In conjunction with the Committee, the Sheriff’s Office trains police officers in Dutchess County to initiate the Lethality Assessment screen on-scene after responding to all calls for service involving current or former intimate partners. If the score of the screening tool makes a “high danger” assessment, the officer will advise the victim they may be in immediate danger of lethality, and people in their similar situation have been killed. The officer then calls the domestic violence hotline and asks the victim to speak with an advocate. If the victim agrees, the advocate gathers pertinent information, provides immediate crisis intervention, assesses safety needs, and creates a plan for follow up after the officer leaves. 

If a victim who is assessed as high danger declines to speak to an advocate, the officer will express concern for the victim’s safety, provide contact information for police and domestic violence services, and notify them an advocate will follow up at a later time.

If the victim is not assessed as high danger, the officer will provide contact information for domestic violence services, encourage them to contact a provider, and educate the victim about lethality indicators and the risk of homicide.

Advocates are Family Services employees, a local non-profit, who are specially trained to provide follow up and comprehensive services to victims. In addition to immediate safety planning, advocates assist victims with referrals, crisis counseling, shelter placement, and other services. Advocates also help victims navigate the criminal justice system, assisting with filing an order of protection, completing court paperwork, and filing a police report. Law enforcement follow up with all victims deemed to be in high danger within 96 hours of the incident to assess their safety, ensure connection with services, and offer support. 
 

Funding

The Lethality Assessment Program is funded by Dutchess County and the New York State Office of Victim Services.

Relevant Partnerships

The Universal Response to Domestic Violence Steering Committee, which oversees the Lethality Assessment Program, is comprised of leadership from agencies and systems that interact with victims or perpetrators of domestic violence. The Committee creates formal protocols among criminal justice, civil justice, law enforcement, and human service agencies that work with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. This team includes personnel from the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral and Community Health, District Attorney’s Office, Office of Probation and Community Corrections, Department of Community and Family Services, Family Court, Integrated Domestic Violence Court, Sheriff’s Office, service providers and local police departments. There are 17 police agencies and 1 fire department within Dutchess County that use the screening tool. 

Program Reviews or Evaluations

According to an outcomes report conducted by the High Risk Team, under the umbrella of the Universal Response to Domestic Violence Project, police agencies in the county conducted 14,719 Lethality Assessment screens from May 2012 through June 2022. Victims in 43 percent of those assessments were identified as high danger and of those, 49 percent spoke with an advocate on the scene.

In 2024, Dutchess County reported that police agencies conducted a total 6,653 lethality screens between 2021 and 2023, averaging 2,217 Lethality Assessment screens per year during this period. Victims in 42 percent of those assessments were identified as being in high danger. Of the victims who spoke to an advocate on scene, an average of 71 percent received additional services after the incident. 

According to data reported to the Division of Criminal Justice Services, during the 10-year period from 2014 through 2023, there were nine domestic homicides in the county: five involving intimate partners, and four involving other family members. This represented a 59 percent decrease compared to the 10 years prior to the implementation of the program (22 homicides 2004-2013). 
 

Supportive Research

The Lethality Assessment Program is based on a nationally recognized evidence-based program created by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence and the research of Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, a leader in the study of intimate partner homicides. Dr. Campbell developed a method called “The Danger Assessment,” to measure the level of lethality for domestic violence victims by identifying risk factors for intimate partner homicide, which include stalking, threats with a weapon, increased or escalating violence, strangulation, forced sex, threats to kill, or recent separations. Her research also shows that 83 percent of victims, perpetrators, or both parties, have contact with the criminal justice system, victim service programs, and/or health care agencies in the year prior to homicide, which makes this proactive intervention vital to the prevention of domestic violence homicides. 

In 2024, the stalking question on the screening tool was updated to keep up with current research, expanding the term “stalking” to include acts via social media/intimidation/surveillance. Additionally, the screening tool now automatically increases the score if the perpetrator has ever tried to strangle the victim, based on research indicating surviving victims of strangulation are over seven times more likely to later become a victim of a homicide. 

Critical Success Factors

• Collaboration among partners is key to enhance support for victims. Through the Universal Response to Domestic Violence Steering Committee, agencies combine resources, knowledge, and skills to intervene in dangerous cases and interrupt the escalation of violence. When law enforcement and advocates work together, victims can be safer. Advocates can provide safety planning and help relocate victims, while the police can increase patrols around the residence, and probation can increase home visits to the offender if the individual is under supervision. Providing these wraparound services enhances the safety of the victim. When police and advocates work in silos and do not share critical information, victims can fall through the cracks.

• Issuing cell phones to law enforcement allows the officer to connect high danger calls to Victim Services on scene without making their personal cell phone subject to discovery. 

Lessons Learned

Creating positive working relationships between law enforcement and victim advocates required a culture change but was necessary to improve victim trust in the system. Buy-in from the top down helped overcome existing stereotypes and create a positive working relationship among agencies. 

• Family Services and the Sheriff’s Office worked with interested fire departments in Dutchess County starting in 2018 to train fire fighters and emergency medical technicians in administering the assessment. Typically, if other first responders answer a call, they respond with the police. In these situations, the victim has the option to speak with the first responder they feel most comfortable with.

  • The completed assessment screens reported above, include any Lethality Assessment screens conducted by other first responders. 

     

• A Universal Response Coordinator staffed within the Committee, has oversight of the program, coordinates training for agencies, and collaborates with victim advocates and law enforcement.

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Published: May 2019 

Last Updated: 01/2025