ANKARA 

Almost 5.4 million Americans have reported being victims of domestic violence over the past five years, with nearly 80% of them being women, according to media reports.

Domestic homicides in the country more than doubled from 1,065 in 2019 to 2,339 in 2024, raising alarm among experts and advocacy groups, CBS News reported on Monday, citing data from the US Bureau of Justice Statistics.

“Domestic violence remains one of the most persistent public health and safety crises in our country,” said Nathaniel Fields, CEO of the nonprofit Urban Resource Institute, according to the media outlet.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told CBS News that intimate partner violence is “one of the most common charges in the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York and nationwide.”

His office is currently handling over 500 related cases.

Bragg has charged 23-year-old Isaac Argro in the 2022 murder of Azsia Johnson, a 20-year-old mother who had been living in shelters.

She was allegedly killed while meeting Argro so he could see their 3-month-old child.

Experts note that domestic violence is often underreported.

“We talk about it when it’s in the news, … but not when it affects everyday people,” Fields said.

Gladys Ricart’s murder by her ex-boyfriend in 1999, just before her wedding, continues to impact the community, with her niece, Lethy Liriano, now leading the annual Brides’ March in New York City to raise awareness.

“By hearing each other’s stories, we are understanding that none of us are at fault,” CBS News quoted Liriano as saying.

Fields emphasized the need for early education, saying: “We started too late, … so we had to work with people in junior high schools.”

A CBS analysis found that 24% of all violent crime in the US remains domestic in nature, roughly the same as in 2019.