Harris County targets deadly domestic violence racial disparities
Harris County expands community-based prevention efforts as racial disparities expose domestic violence’s deadly cost.
Black News 
Harris County is taking a harder look at domestic violence—not simply as a criminal justice problem, but as a community safety issue shaped by race, neighborhood, poverty, and access to trusted support.
That focus is part of Advancing Safer Communities in Harris County, a new report from Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Georgetown Law’s Center for Innovations in Community Safety. The report recommends an additional $4.5 million for three community safety initiatives launched in 2022: Violence prevention, community response teams, and domestic violence interventions. That would bring the proposed total investment to $15.3 million.
The need is particularly urgent for Black residents.
A University of Houston study examining Harris County domestic violence homicides from 2019-2022 found that Black women accounted for 52% of female intimate-partner homicide victims while making up about 20% of women in the county. The study also found female victims outnumbered male victims by 129%.
A separate analysis of Harris County homicides from 2016-2020 identified 448 domestic-violence homicides, including 189 intimate-partner homicides. More than 40% of domestic-violence homicide victims in that study were Black.
Those numbers put a sharper point on what prevention must accomplish: Reach people before violence becomes lethal.
When the trend goes wrong
Domestic violence homicides have been declining statewide, and overall homicides in Harris County have also declined. But intimate-partner killings have moved in the opposite direction. Harris County reported a 34% increase in domestic violence homicides between 2023 and 2024.
The county also has acknowledged that domestic violence is frequently underreported, making homicide data only one part of the larger picture. That’s why officials and advocates say prevention cannot depend exclusively on someone filing a police report.
“The premise is that a survivor who will never file a police report will still talk to someone from her own block,” the report explained. “That’s a different theory of public safety than the county has historically run on.”
The approach is especially significant in communities where residents may distrust institutions, fear retaliation, or face economic and family pressures that make leaving an abusive relationship extraordinarily difficult.
Taking prevention to people
One of the county’s strategies is RISE (Relentless Interrupters Serving Everyone), which uses “credible messengers”: outreach workers from the neighborhoods they serve rather than government workers parachuting into communities.
RISE workers meet people in crisis, including at hospital bedsides following shootings. In neighborhoods where RISE operates, gun homicide rates have fallen faster than in Houston overall.
Cypress Station, where RISE was piloted alongside other interventions, experienced a 36% decline in crime during the first two years, including a 48% drop in family violence and a 34% decrease in aggravated robberies.
“For too long, our public safety systems have been built to respond only after harm has already happened. And survivors deserve a path to safety before violence turns deadly.”
Commissioner Rodney Ellis
“Gun violence doesn’t stay in one zip code, so neither should we,” said Larry Carrington, a RISE outreach specialist and public safety liaison serving Sunnyside, South Park, and Greater Old Spanish Trail.
Carrington added, “It’s a lot cheaper to have someone like me sit with a person in crisis than it is to arrest, prosecute, and lock them up after the fact.”
That philosophy is central to the county’s broader strategy: Put resources where violence is most concentrated and create alternatives to waiting for violence to escalate.
Help before homicide
Harris County’s Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention programs have already helped more than 5,000 survivors and their children safely leave abusive situations and provided more than 20,000 hours of therapeutic care to 1,000 families.
The county’s Domestic Violence Assistance Fund, established under Ellis’ leadership, has also become a significant component of the response. In 2024, the fund served 1,207 households and 3,331 individuals, with 59% of those served being children. But Ellis argues that financial assistance alone isn’t enough.
“For too long, our public safety systems have been built to respond only after harm has already happened,” Ellis said. “And survivors deserve a path to safety before violence turns deadly.”
He is calling on the Commissioners Court to make the community safety programs permanent.
Safety beyond policing
The report also includes HART, the Holistic Assistance Response Team, which has answered more than 31,000 calls involving mental health, substance use, homelessness, and other quality-of-life concerns since 2022.
The larger argument is straightforward: Not every crisis requires an armed response, and not every community safety problem should be handed to the criminal legal system.
“Community safety cannot rest on law enforcement alone,” said Mariela Ruiz-Angel, director of Community Safety Initiatives at Georgetown Law. “It requires investing in behavioral health, crisis response, prevention, and community-based solutions.”
Dr. Doshie Piper, restorative justice coordinator at Texas Organizing Project, similarly said, “Our criminal legal system does not own mental health, interpersonal violence, or domestic violence.”
Barbie Brashear, executive director of the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, said the goal is ultimately measured in lives spared.
“Every domestic violence homicide prevented, every family safely housed, every child given the opportunity to heal, and every crisis diverted from the criminal justice system represents a stronger Harris County,” stated Brashear.
That’s the challenge facing Harris County: Not merely responding to domestic violence after another victim is injured or killed, but building enough trusted, culturally responsive support to intervene before that happens.
And when the statistics show Black women carrying a disproportionate share of the deadliest consequences, prevention must confront that disparity head-on.
Domestic violence resources
- Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (HCDVCC): hcdvcc.org — Coordinates domestic violence services throughout Greater Houston and provides survivor resources.
- Houston Area Women’s Center (HAWC): hawc.org — 24/7 domestic violence hotline: 713-528-2121.
- The Bridge Over Troubled Waters: tbotw.org — 24/7 domestic and sexual violence hotline: 713-473-2801.
- Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA): avda-tx.org — Legal assistance, counseling, and other domestic violence services; 713-224-9911.
- Bay Area Turning Point: bayareaturningpoint.org — Domestic violence services and crisis support; 281-286-2525.
- Family Time Crisis & Counseling Center: familytimeccc.org — Domestic violence crisis services in the Humble area; 281-446-2615.
- DAYA Houston: dayahouston.org — Domestic violence services serving South Asian survivors; 713-981-7645.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: thehotline.org — 800-799-SAFE (7233).
To read the full Advancing Safer Communities in Harris County report, visit the full report. For resource information specifically addressing domestic violence, visit HCDVCC’s Domestic Violence Assistance Fund resources.
