Maryland pioneers early-intervention hotline to curb domestic violence

Maryland launches first hotline for potential domestic abusers

House of Ruth is hoping to help with early detection and prevention this holiday season. They’ve developed the first 24-hour hotline in the country that caters entirely to potential or actual perpetrators of domestic violence.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Incidents of domestic violence can surge around the holidays, and Maryland is now the first in the nation to offer a hotline directly to potential — or even actual — abusers.

What we know:

A doctor at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital is working on perfecting an AI algorithm for early detection of intimate partner violence — or IPV.

The "when" is key, so it was noteworthy when she released a study two years ago identifying spikes of IPV on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Maryland’s leading IPV center — House of Ruth — is hoping to help with early detection and prevention this holiday season. They’ve developed the first 24-hour hotline in the country that caters entirely to potential or actual perpetrators of domestic violence.

House of Ruth launched the hotline in April. COO Lisa Nitsch says there was some concern when they were building the hotline about whether anyone would use it, but they’ve already been receiving calls.

"Domestic violence and intimate partner violence is wrong. But when it gets down to impacting somebody that you care about who might be hurting their family, it’s a lot harder of a conversation. So one of the things we’ve been concentrating on is removing barriers for people who might be at risk for hurting their families. Removing barriers for them to access services themselves. So eliminating fees for intervention programming. We just launched the first 24-hour crisis hotline for people at risk of abusing their partner, which is a new thing," said Nitsch.

The goal is early detection and prevention. The hotline is supposed to provide an outlet for people who are at risk for hurting their families. House of Ruth provides trauma-informed care.

Now they have received a grant from the governor’s office to promote it. But the jury is still out on whether it will be a success.

What they're saying:

Some may be critical of marshaling resources toward abusers instead of survivors. 

Jac Patrissi created a similar hotline in Massachusetts that was available for 12 hours a day. In an interview with Bryn Mawr College, she said the burden of stopping abuse has always been on the victim — call a hotline or police, find a shelter. She believes in intervening sooner with those causing harm.

"We want to interrupt abusers in the way that they’re thinking, their values. And we want them to come up with a plan and write it down, and then call us and tell us how it has gone," said Patrissi.

Local perspective:

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s cousin Kathy was murdered by her estranged partner in 2008. This issue is personal for him.

"I know, you know, that’s a contentious issue in the advocacy community — how much do you support abusers?" said Brown. "Look, I think that if there’s evidence-based practices that can assist in reducing domestic violence, and if that means supporting abusers so that they can better understand what are their triggers — what is it that leads them to abusing their partner, their spouse, their children — then I think it’s worth looking into and worth supporting."