The names of 18 victims of domestic violence were read in the State Capitol Rotunda this week as advocates ask lawmakers for continued funding to help prevent such killings. Louise Matson with Minneapolis-based “Division of Indian Work” says Minnesota ranks ninth in the number of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls. Matson told the cheering audience, “Clearly — and this is a bare minimum — … we need a task force on missing and murdered indigenous women.”
Katie Kramer with Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women says they’re requesting dedicated funding for domestic and sexual violence prevention, plus money for a new program to transform domestic abusers’ behavior. Kramer says, “In looking at femicides and who has killed Minnesotans in the last three years, 54 percent of those folks had some kind of criminal history around domestic violence and ended up murdering their partner.”