Key Findings and Recommendations from Kentucky’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative to Better Understand and Address Domestic Violence

Almost half of all violent crime in Kentucky is rooted in domestic violence (DV), and nearly 40 percent of people incarcerated in jails and prisons have a history of DV in their background.

With funding and support provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, Kentucky leaders launched a bipartisan, interbranch Justice Reinvestment Initiative in 2024 to examine system impacts of and responses to people who commit DV. This effort also assessed victim services and the commonwealth’s data capacity related to DV and ultimately resulted in a host of findings and recommendations for state leaders’ consideration.

Domestic Violence Challenges in Kentucky

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center provided technical assistance and analyzed over 20 years of case-level data provided by the state, conducted a series of qualitative analyses, and held discussions with practitioners as well as individuals with lived experience in the justice system.

This analysis revealed the following challenges related to DV:

• High Prevalence of DV and Victimization: Nearly half of all adults in the state will experience DV or intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. While both men and women are affected, women are more likely to endure severe forms of IPV. Black Kentuckians experience victimization rates that are four times higher than those of their White counterparts.

• Driver of Violent Crime: DV and IPV are significant contributors to violent crime in Kentucky. Between 2016 and 2022, almost half of all violent incidents involved DV.

• Driver of Recidivism and Other Crime: DV and IPV appear to be drivers of recidivism and contribute to other criminal activities in Kentucky. Between 2016 and 2020, approximately 42 percent of people with a history of orders issued by a court to protect DV victims returned to incarceration compared to the approximately 39 percent without. More than a third of individuals serving sentences in prisons or jails have a history of DV involvement. People with such histories are more likely to reoffend and return to custody than those without them.
• Drain on Criminal Justice Resources: DV and IPV intersect with every part of the system and require extensive collaboration and coordination between agencies to address effectively. This results in more resources and time devoted to DV-related cases. Between 2018 and 2022, approximately 11,274 individuals who committed DV were reported in 2 or more incidents, indicating a need for targeted responses for those people to reduce recidivism.

Recommendations to Address DV Challenges

Informed by these findings, CSG Justice Center staff developed a series of recommendations for state leaders to consider:

• Address Violent Crime: Equip police officers, prosecutors, and judges with the information and tools needed to address DV offenses effectively, while building victim confidence in the justice system. This recommendation directly tackles the high prevalence of DV and its significant contribution to violent crime, while boosting victims’ desire to engage with the justice system.

• Reduce Recidivism: Strengthen supervision practices and misdemeanor probation to ensure consistent accountability and support. Enhance jail programming and community-based batterer intervention programming initiatives to reduce the likelihood of reoffending and promote lasting behavioral change. This recommendation aims to reduce the high rates of reoffending seen in people with histories of DV, addressing their role as drivers of recidivism.

• Decrease System Impacts: Establish a DV innovation grant to help courts overcome infrastructure challenges, improve data tracking, and address disparities between rural and urban communities to implement best practices effectively. This recommendation supports courts and helps the justice system manage the resource-intensive nature of DV cases.

Next Steps

CSG Justice Center staff presented findings and policy recommendations to state representatives in December 2024, highlighting strategies to address DV challenges. Kentucky’s criminal justice leaders are now evaluating the next steps to take to reduce the prevalence of DV and IPV, while strengthening the overall justice system’s response to these offenses.

Photo credit: Alexeys via Getty Images Pro

This project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-21-GK-04348-JRIX awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.