Colorado lawmakers introduce legislation they say could save the lives of victims of domestic violence

Domestic violence deaths are increasing in Colorado, even as other types of violent crime decrease. In 2024, homicides dropped to a five-year low of 266. Domestic violence deaths rose to 72. Two state lawmakers -- who are domestic violence survivors themselves -- introduced a bill they say could save lives.

Both Democratic Majority Leader Monica Duran and Republican state Rep. Ryan Gonzlaez have experienced and witnessed domestic violence in their personal lives. So they are introducing legislation designed to protect victims from further harm that could lead to death. 

A bill the state leaders are spearheading together would require every law enforcement officer who responds to a domestic violence call in the state to conduct a lethality assessment. The screening consists of 11 questions that research shows are the strongest predictors of lethal violence. It includes questions about threats, weapons, strangulation and stalking.

"I learned how to disappear inside myself while standing in the same room, being beaten, while my son cried in his crib," Duran said before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee. 

Looking back, Duran can see the warning signs telling her that her life was in danger. But, like so many domestic violence survivors, she was paralyzed with fear in the moment. 

"It conditions you to measure time not in days and not in years, but in whether you will make it through the night," Duran continued "That is what domestic violence does. It shrinks your world down to survival."

It is a world Gonzalez knows well. His mother, he says, was abused for 13 years.

"It's very difficult to relive a little and think about it, because of all that pain, all that hurt, disappointment, anger," Gonzalez said before the committee. 

District Attorney Michael Daugherty in Boulder County says the lethality assessment is already standard practice in Boulder, where he says they handle 1,000 cases a year on average.

"Part of the challenge for law enforcement is they're responding, sometimes, in very rapid-moving situations, and they have a difficult time assessing what's the risk going forward," Daugherty said before the committee.  

Morgan McGarvey lives in Boulder and says the assessment saved her life.

"This was the first time I realized how physically dangerous the marriage had become," McGarvey said before the committee. "Without officers showing me on paper what my risk score was, I would not be here today ... I was referred to Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence."

The bill also requires officers to immediately connect anyone who scores high risk to a local victim's advocate.

The lethality assessment has been adopted by many law enforcement agencies nationwide, as well as some agencies in 44 Colorado counties.

The bill requires mandatory training for all law enforcement and makes participation by victims voluntary. It passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously, and no one testified in opposition.

Duran says she was lucky, but survival, she says, shouldn't depend on luck.

"Somewhere in Colorado tonight, a survivor will call for help, and an officer will knock on that door," Duran said. "In that moment, we will either have given them a proven tool to recognize lethal danger or don't. Lives hang in that space between recognition and action."