Group Ranks Alabama 3rd In Female Domestic Violence Deaths

BIRMINGHAM, Ala—Sunny Slaughter is the State Coordinator of the Silent Witness Initiative on Domestic Violence.

She’s also a domestic violence survivor.

When we told her the Violence Policy Center ranked Alabama third in the rate women are killed by men in the United States, she said it’s astonishing, but not surprising.

Slaughter calls domestic violence a ‘national health crisis.‘

“If we don’t as a community step up and speak up and speak out and respond and ask for help and get the right information, we are slowing going into a down spiral for some very drastic things,” Slaughter said.

The report finds that most female domestic violence victims who are killed, die from being shot.

“Years ago kids and adults used to fist fight.  Now they don’t have those kinds of fights anymore, they’re fighting with weapons and they’re not knives anymore, they’re guns,” Slaughter said.

This year in Jefferson County, Slaughter says at least 10 people have died in domestic violence incidents.

It’s the highest rate in the state.

On October 2nd, officials from several different Central Alabama agencies will open a special hotline to encourage victims to find help.

“There are resources out there, we have the resources for people, but until they pick up the phone, there’s not much we can do about it,” Slaughter told NBC13 HD.

Sunny Slaughter wants women to know that while love might make you cry, it shouldn’t hurt.

The ‘U Can Be Safe’ telephone hotline will be active for 12 hours on October 2nd.

Watch for more details next week as the organizations sponsoring it make an official announcement.

If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic violence and needs help immediately, just call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or 1-800-799-7233.

They also have a Spanish language hotline: 1-877-298-3220.