Article: Domestic Violence Murders On The Decline In NC

Written by Josh Ellis/David Horn
(RALEIGH) -- New statistics released by the State Attorney Generals Office show 100 North Carolinians lost their lives last year in domestic violence cases. This compared to 131 murders during 2008.

Law enforcement agencies must report domestic violence related homicides to the State Bureau of Investigation annually. It is only the second year the state has tracked that information.

Attorney General Roy Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley said it is difficult to draw too many conclusions from the limited amount of data, but there are some signs that local efforts are having a positive impact. "We've seen, for example, in High Point, that they've had some success with the local police there identifying which domestic violence offenders they think are most likely to be prone to further violence and really focus on the most violent offenders," said Talley.

Talley said Cooper wants to expand a pilot program that allows people who take out domestic violence protective orders to get an alert within minutes of the order being served.