Digging Deeper into Domestic Violence: How can we solve the problem of domestic violence in Nebraska?

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Can domestic violence be eradicated? It’s a difficult question to answer, but prevention program advocates across Nebraska agree: if they were put out of a job because domestic violence ended, that would be alright with them.

As part of 10/11’s two-week “Digging Deeper into Domestic Violence” series, research was conducted to identify solutions being implemented in Nebraska and other states to combat domestic violence. This report explores those solutions.

Protection Orders

Organizations report time and time again that the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is when the victim decides to leave. The Nebraska Domestic Abuse Death Review Team’s 2024 annual report showed that the most common method of violence during a domestic abuse death is a firearm at 50%. Could something be done about this?

Giffords Law Center reports that in 17 states, people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors are required to turn over their guns and/or ammunition. In states where people are required to relinquish their firearms, there is a 16% reduction rate in intimate-partner gun homicides.

Nebraska doesn’t have a similar law.

We also learned more about Extreme Risk Protection Orders or ERPOs. An ERPO allows a judge to temporarily seize firearms while a protection order is in place and it can make purchasing and/or possessing a gun a criminal offense. We asked Lincoln Police if a person petitioning for a domestic abuse can ask the judge to remove a respondent’s firearms. We learned that, per Nebraska’s laws, it is a violation of a protection order if the respondent is caught with a firearm, but that doesn’t apply to any other weapons. Additionally, LPD informed us that no mechanism in the state or federal statute allows for firearms to be seized unless there is a crime committed that allows for seizure.

Nebraska doesn’t have an ERPO law.

In the Courts

If a domestic violence case is taken to court it may be diverted to Lancaster County’s Safe and Healthy Families Court. Here, child safety is the focus. Cases begin when an allegation of domestic violence is proven to be true.

“We focus on what the plan is for next steps for the family,” Taileigh Sorenson, the Family Treatment Court Coordinator, explained. “That dispositional hearing comes up with an entire plan of ‘these are what we need you to do so that we can get sustainable behavioral change.‘”

Families are directed to therapy, given mental health and substance use assessments, and recommended educational courses on domestic violence; perpetrators are directed to a 30-36 week intervention program.

But, sustainable behavioral change seems hard to come by. While case closure rates are near 86% for the problem-solving court, intervention program success rates plummet to between 30-35%, according to Sorenson.

“It’s similar to substance use success rates for treatment,” Sorenson said.

10/11 found a report by Paige Pfleger for WPLN/Nashville shared by ProPublica, that detailed a different kind of problem-solving court in Scott County, Tennessee. Scott County has created a Family Justice Center, similar to Lancaster County’s, but the court there also has a problem-solving court dedicated specifically to perpetrators of domestic violence.

There, people convicted of domestic violence or who are the subject of a protection order are connected to programming and resources to rehabilitate, under the watchful eye of the court.

10/11 asked Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon if it’s feasible to create a court like that here.

“I think there’s a cost associated with it, so you know, we would have to figure out how we would pay those costs, but there’s a cost because the county would probably be paying it if it’s a diversion program,” Condon said. “I would say that, you know, probably be worthwhile to take a look at it, see what the, you know what the recidivism rate is... You know if it’s successful, then yeah, we could look into doing something like that.”

Severing Ties

Sometimes, a solution can be found in court, but sometimes, a fix is needed quicker than the often slow-moving wheels of justice.

Resources like housing and material needs can play a big factor into a victim returning to their abuser. Programs like St. Gianna, run by Catholic Social Services, are trying to step into that gap to prevent more violence.

“You hear the statistic, where, a woman who’s in a crisis, an abusive situation oftentimes has to leave the abuser up to seven times before she’s finally able to separate permanently,” Kati Patrick, the executive director of Catholic Social Services, said. “In many cases, those women who leave return to their abuser because they’re going through financial insecurity.

St. Gianna’s acts as a safe home for women trying to cut ties.

“We have a 24-unit apartment complex where women and children can move into, and we sign a lease that starts at seven months, but it can be extended up to one year, year and a half, two,” Patrick said. “Just depending on the needs of the woman and her children and, kind of, where they are in the crisis.”

Aside from four walls and a safe environment, St. Gianna’s offers advocacy for women and children, access to free, on-site counseling, individual and group therapy and covers more material needs like food and personal care items.

“We feel like the long-term transitional housing that we offer the women gives them, really, the safety and the security, but also the time they need to connect to other resources to rebuild themselves and their identity of who they are,” Patrick said.

Voices of Hope Crisis Line: 1 (402) 475-7273

Walk-in hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Wednesday: 12:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Friday: 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Friendship Home Crisis Line: (402) 437-9302

National Domestic Violence hotline: 800-799-7233

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