Domestic violence destroys lives. It tears apart families and can leave its survivors with scars – both physical and emotional – that can take years to heal.

And yet millions of cases of domestic violence happen in our country each year. In the most severe cases – domestic violence becomes murder. 13-hundred deaths a year – more than three lives lost each day. Our great state of Delaware is not immune. Each year, thousands of cases of domestic violence happen right here as well.

It’s a cycle of violence and hatred that needs to end. Survivors need to be helped – offenders need to be punished. That’s one reason we proclaimed October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month here in the First State – to raise awareness of the resources available to help people trapped in these dangerous situations, including a 24-Hour Domestic Violence Hotline Number in each county. of course if you are ever in immediate danger, always call 9-1-1.

Besides raising awareness, laws passed the last two years have created new penalties for offenders – including a law that makes strangulation a felony crime.

These laws have created new opportunities for survivors –including significant expansion of the time Protection- from-Abuse orders can be put in place and a law our Attorney General Beau Biden wrote and I signed

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