Phoenix considers increased sentences, education around domestic violence
Staff of Phoenix’s Family Advocacy Center poses for a photo wearing purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October 2019. (Courtesy city of Phoenix)
The Phoenix Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team is recommending the city increase its education efforts around domestic violence awareness and is exploring increased sentencing for domestic violence offenses.
Phoenix Police data show calls for service notated as domestic violence totaled 33,408 in 2024, down 1% from 2023 and down 18.1% from the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Incident reports resulting from these calls increased slightly. There were 23,889 incident reports filed in 2024, up 3.1% from 2023 and 1.9% from 2019.
There were 19 domestic-violence-related homicides in Phoenix during 2024, down from 31 the year before.
Phoenix Police Cmdr. Steve Martos told the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee last week that 2025 numbers are still preliminary, but the number of domestic-violence-related homicides is on track to be below the 19 in 2024.
While he did not share numbers, Martos said that during the pandemic “the bigger number of homicides were domestic-violence-related.”
This graphic shows the relationship between abuser and victim in domestic violence incidents in Phoenix in 2024.
This graphic shows the type of incident for domestic violence reports in the city of Phoenix in 2024. There were also 35 incidents that involved stalking.
One recommendation of the review team was to consider a 2- to 5-year increase in sentencing for homicides with elements of domestic violence, Martos, a co-chair on the review team, told the subcommittee during its Feb. 4 meeting.
City Councilmember Jim Waring said he would support an increase for homicide sentencing but felt a more effective sentencing increase would be for nonfatal domestic violence crimes to hopefully intervene before a homicide occurs.
The city is bound by state law for sentencing guidelines, so city staff would need to lobby the state Legislature to introduce a bill to change state law.
Martos said city staff could explore increased sentencing for nonfatal domestic violence offenses as well. He likened it to driving under the influence, where penalties increase after the second offense.
That was too lax for Waring, who said offenders should serve prison time for their first domestic violence offense.
“I don’t think we should wait ‘til the second one,” he said.
Waring said in conversation with Phoenix Police officers, it seemed like a source of frustration for some that they would arrest someone for what seems like a serious offense and then they are let out after serving little to no jail time.
Martos said staff would explore increased sentences for the first offense as well.
Phoenix City Hall, 200 W. Washington St., is lit up purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October 2024. (Courtesy city of Phoenix)
The Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team also recommended it create a subcommittee to explore ongoing community-based initiatives and programs “that are focused on healthy relationships, specifically for youth, including recognizing healthy boundaries in engagement with tech and social media,” Martos said.
The subcommittee will seek to develop a resource library and identify how to widely share that library with the public and community partners.
Other recommendations were to share the review team’s annual reports with city departments and outside government agencies and to explore how to increase the city’s domestic violence awareness campaigns.
The review team recommended the city’s Human Resources Department review existing city training regarding how to identify potential domestic violence cases and whether that training could be enhanced or new content created. The team asked city staff to consider if it would be viable to have every city employee review a domestic violence training module once a year.
The team also wanted staff to explore expanding current educational campaigns and seek external partnerships to increase awareness and improve intervention to prevent domestic violence fatalities.
Staff confirmed to Councilmember Betty Guardado that education materials are distributed in both English and Spanish. Guardado also encouraged partnering with school districts about domestic violence education. Staff said they do coordinate with school districts as well as share information at events like resource fairs.
Councilmember Ann O’Brien, former board member for the Deer Valley Unified School District, encouraged getting education materials through those non-school hours events like resource fairs because she said teachers are “inundated” with material they have to teach.
O’Brien shared a personal story about educating children about domestic violence awareness.
“I will tell you that I dated somebody who was abusive in college, and if it hadn’t been for a flyer in a doctor’s office, I wouldn’t have known what I’d gotten myself into. I wish I had been more educated prior to that,” she said.
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Mark Carlisle joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, covering Glendale. He has since moved to the Daily Independent team, primarily covering the city of Phoenix along with other topics affecting the Valley at-large.
Community: Mark enjoys taking his two young sons to parks, the Phoenix Zoo, the Phoenix Public Library and other fun events around the Valley. He also participates in a local book club.
Education: Chapman University with a BA in English Journalism and one in Screenwriting.
Random Fact: Mark worked at a tuxedo shop in college. Just don’t ask him to tie a bowtie.
Hobbies: Spending time with his wife, sons and dog, watching sports and TV shows, listening to audiobooks and occasionally writing fiction or designing a board game.
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