The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s (PCADV) annual Fatality Report has been the single most reliable source for information about domestic violence-related deaths in Pennsylvania for more than 19 years. This interactive digital dashboard has been created to visually summarize the domestic violence-related deaths from 2007 and beyond. The dashboard is updated yearly.
Pennsylvania does not have reporting requirements for domestic violence homicides. PCADV complies domestic violence-related homicide information based on news accounts, police departments, and information received from our 59 local domestic violence programs serving all 67 counties.
PCADV uses a conservative method of identifying domestic violence-related deaths. We do not include cases where no arrests have been made or where the relationship between the victim and perpetrator is unclear. We count fatalities involving current and former intimate partners; family members; police officers; and bystanders, interveners and others such as former partners killed by new partners or new partners killed by former partners.
We exclude child abuse and neglect deaths because they are reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. However, we include certain child deaths when the deaths are a direct result of domestic violence. These may include situations where the perpetrator kills the entire family or the children/child to harm the parent.
*Our homicide numbers may change on a yearly basis. This depends on when an arrest is made in a domestic violence-related homicide or if someone has been acquitted of a domestic violence-related homicide after the initial report.
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) in collaboration with the Pennsylvania State Data Center, Institute for State and Regional Affairs at the Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg secured funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) secured funding to implement the Homicide digital dashboard system.
Currently the digital dashboard only shows victim homicide information, it will be updated to include perpetrator information, including perpetrator deaths.
Homicide Dashboards