25-02-2025
Ohio economy loses more than $1 billion each year due to domestic violence, per study
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A new study estimates Ohio's economy loses more than $1 billion each year to costs associated with domestic violence, specifically intimate partner violence.
Researchers say these costs impact all Ohioans. This study was commissioned by the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. The study said Franklin County is contributing the highest amount in the state toward that impact.
Dr. Joseph Von Nessen, a research economist at the Darla Moore School of business at the University of South Carolina, said he finds all of these numbers to be shocking. 'It's a significant loss to the state,' Von Nessan said.
Von Nessen is estimating the total cost to be around $1.2 billion. He called that number conservative. 'What we have to recognize is that these losses extend far beyond just the victims and their families,' Von Nessen said.
Von Nessen said there are explicit costs like physical healthcare for victims which represents 22.9% of the cost each year and loss of life accounts for 20.8%. He said there are also hidden costs like the general well being of victims that arise from not being able to return to their regular lives.
This includes loss of worker productivity which makes up around 19.7% of the total estimated cost. 'Workplace related losses are when people miss work and that generates a labor shortage for businesses and other organizations. And so that limits what they can do in terms of producing output. And that also generates losses that we refer to as multiplier effects,' Von Nessen said.
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He said these costs ripple across the state. He said this includes increased costs for law enforcement, the judicial system, jail costs and the long term impact of children. The study said Franklin County loses almost $130 million annually to costs associated with domestic violence.
In 2024, the Columbus Division of Police reported an increase in felony domestic violence cases for the second consecutive year. 'When you are struggling to meet that immediate need, so much of the other work that is really critical to getting people back on their feet and keeping families together gets missed,' said Lisa DeGeeter, the senior director for policy and prevention for Ohio Domestic Violence Network.
The ODVN said their request for services is going up, but their federal funding dollars are going down. However, ODVN said they are thankful to the state for providing them with $10 million in funding each year for the next two years. 'Please take a minute to compare those numbers. We get $10 million a year to provide services for an issue that costs our state 1.2 billion,' said Mary O'dDoherty, executive director of the ODVN.
The ODVN said in 2023, they served more than 127,000 survivors and sheltered more than 10,000. However, they say they did have to turn away more than 8,000 survivors for shelter due to lack of room or funding.
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