LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
proclaim May 3, 2016, as Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Day
in the State of New York

WHEREAS, As part of executing its mission, the New York State Coalition
Against Domestic Violence seeks to eradicate domestic violence and to
ensure the provision of effective and appropriate services to victims of
domestic violence through community outreach, education, training, tech-
nical assistance and policy development; and
WHEREAS, The Coalition's principles and practices prioritize the safe-
ty and concerns of victims who are abused, provide support and encour-
agement for the participation of victims who are abused in the struggle
to eradicate personal and institutional violence against them, and
provide for a noncompetitive atmosphere that fosters open communication,
respect, and cooperation among advocates and victims who are abused; and
WHEREAS, Approximately one in four women and one in seven men in the
United States will experience physical domestic violence at some point
in their lifetime; and
WHEREAS, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence
or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States - more than 12
million women and men over the course of a year; and
WHEREAS, Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk
of nonfatal intimate partner violence; and
WHEREAS, Domestic violence victims experience a host of health and
mental health-related consequences at far greater rates than their coun-
terparts who have not been abused; and
WHEREAS, New York State has the greatest demand for domestic violence
support services in the country; and
WHEREAS, The NYS Office of Children and Family Services reported that
over 55,000 survivors of domestic violence and their children received
services from residential, non-residential, and transitional housing
programs licensed by OCFS, and nearly 186,000 hotline calls were
received by domestic violence programs across the state in 2014; and
WHEREAS, The economic burden of domestic violence in the United States
is over $8.3 billion per year in direct medical costs and loss of
productivity; and
WHEREAS, 15.5 million children in the United States live in families
in which domestic violence occurred at least once in the past year, and
7 million children live in families in which severe domestic violence
occurred; and
WHEREAS, According to the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services,
there were 123 domestic homicides in New York State in 2014; and
WHEREAS, The cost of a single homicide can range over $17.25 million
when considering medical care costs, lost future earnings, public
program costs, property damage and losses, and quality of life losses;
and
WHEREAS, Only approximately one-quarter of all physical assaults,
one-fifth of all rapes, and one-half of all stalking incidents perpe-
trated against women by intimate partners are reported to the police;
and
WHEREAS, The damage caused by domestic violence is not limited by
gender, age, ethnicity or sexual orientation; and
WHEREAS, Education and awareness campaigns have the potential to not
only increase identification of domestic violence and the appropriate
response from helping professionals and the public, but when used in a
primary prevention framework, can also act as a catalyst to change

social and community norms that can prevent it from happening in the
first place; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim May 3, 2016, as Domes-
tic Violence Awareness and Prevention Day in the State of New York; and
be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New
York, and the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.