Domestic violence, guns, and coercive control

Guests: Susan Sorenson, Renee Norris-Jones, Jeannine Lisitski, Krista Dahl-Campbell

Guns are used in roughly half of domestic violence homicides in this country.  But even if a gun isn’t fired, it can still be used to threaten, bully, or beat an intimate partner.  Researchers are just beginning to understand how prevalent the nonfatal use of firearms in domestic violence is, and the lasting physical and psychological scars it leaves behind.  To start off our hour, producer Debbie Bilder talks with SUSAN SORENSON, a University of Pennsylvania social policy professor, about her new paper on nonfatal use of guns in intimate partner violence.  Then, Marty talks with RENEE NORRIS-JONES, a domestic abuse survivor and advocate, JEANNINE LISITSKI, executive director of Women Against Abuse, and Lieutenant KRISTA DAHL-CAMPBELL, with the Philadelphia Police Department’s Victim Services Unite about tackling domestic abuse in our region.

Image: Joshua Rhodes