RALEIGH, N.C. — Violence at the hands of a spouse, partner or relative was a factor in most of the murders of women and girls in North Carolina, according to a new review of six years of crime reports by the state Criminal Justice Analysis Center.
The center, the statistical arm of the Governor’s Crime Commission inside the N.C. Department of Public Safety, studied crimes against persons that local police and sheriff’s offices logged in the National Incident-Based Reporting System from 2020 through 2025. That category covers homicide, assault and intimidation, kidnapping, human trafficking and sexual offenses.
Domestic and family violence turned up in 42% of those violent interpersonal crimes. It was also present in over half of all kidnapping reports and over half of simple assault reports.
The trend line stands out. Overall violent crime against people climbed to a peak during the pandemic years and has since come down, but the count of domestic and family violence reports stayed flat across the whole period.
Last year alone, upward of 63,000 North Carolinians told law enforcement they had been victimized by a current or former spouse, partner or family member. Women, Black residents and adults ages 25 to 34 were the victims identified most often.
The findings land as shelters and advocacy groups say their budgets are stretched. The Governor’s Crime Commission hands out the state’s share of federal Victim of Crime Act money, and North Carolina got $41.5 million this year for victim service providers. That is well under half of the $103 million peak the state received in 2018, a decline tied to cuts in the national fund.
Commission Executive Director Caroline Farmer said in the release that the data will anchor talks on prevention and intervention and on keeping enough capacity to serve victims. Interim Public Safety Secretary Casandra Hoekstra said the department will keep collecting information and working with partners while resources are tight.
County-level crime figures are available to the public through the N.C. Justice Data Portal, which the analysis center maintains.
Section: More Raleigh NC crime news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Public Safety News
