“ People are dying, and families are suffering,” Di Cenzo says.“ There’ s no accountability when it comes to those systems that are the ones investigating.”
A year after leaving her abuser, Robyn spoke about her experience with domestic violence at a national Head Start conference. One of the women in the room, she says, wrote her a letter sharing she was going through the same thing, and thanked her for empowering her to feel like she could get out.
“ If I only touch one person and make a difference to one person, I’ m OK with that. Because you change one person at a time,” Robyn says.“ And that, to me, is very impactful.”
On a warm night in August, several dozen people gather at River Island Art Park in Woonsocket.
Two weeks earlier, police found twenty-nineyear-old Gabriela Vallejo dead in her apartment only a short distance from here. Vallejo, pregnant and mother to a six-year-old, was stabbed several times in the neck. Police arrested her boyfriend, William Santiago Ramos, and charged him with her murder. Court records show no plea was entered, and the case remains pending.
Tonight, friends and advocates gather to pay tribute to Vallejo’ s memory, along with another city resident recently lost to tragedy. Lisa Pina-Warren, executive director of the Nonviolence Institute, addresses the crowd.
“ These tragedies impact all of us,” she says.“ Our communities are going through so much, we’ re struggling. There’ s so much loss right now.”
According to Sojourner House, more than sixty people have been lost to domestic violence homicide in Rhode Island over the past ten years. It’ s a crisis CEO Volz says goes far beyond one family’ s grief.
“ I’ m not sure everyone understands how serious of an issue this is. I think it’ s a public health epidemic,” she says.
Advocates point to economic stressors as well as a culture of interpersonal violence. On the national level, they fear the issue may be losing traction among policymakers. Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced plans to consolidate the Office on Violence Against Women into a larger federal department, a move Volz fears could result in fewer resources. The agency relies on government grants for 84 percent of its budget, mostly federal ones that she worries could be impacted by funding cuts under President Donald Trump.
“ This used to be a bipartisan issue. It’ s become more of a partisan issue,” she says.
Locally, advocates have had greater success. Earlier this year, the General Assembly approved funds to create and staff a dedicated domestic violence calendar for Superior Court, a measure supported by the RICADV. The calendar, expected to take effect this fall, will establish a dedicated judge and support staff to work through the court’ s backlog of felony domestic violence cases—
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, there are resources in Rhode Island to help.
Helpline RI( 24 hours): 800-494-8100, helplineri. com
Sojourner House: 765-3232, sojournerri. org some of which stretch back years, according to Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph Montalbano. Associate Justice Linda Rekas Sloan will hear the domestic violence cases.
“ We currently have approximately 1,250 pending felony domestic violence cases,” Montalbano says.“ And one out of every four new criminal cases that’ s filed in Superior Court is a domestic violence case.”
Montalbano says he expects another
1,500 felony domestic violence cases to be filed this year. In addition to working through the backlog, advocates say the new calendar will create greater continuity for repeat offenders and ensure a judge who has experience handling domestic violence cases. The court is also seeking funds to establish a domestic violence education unit, which Montalbano says will monitor defendants to ensure they’ re meeting the conditions of their bail, such as protective orders and substance use counseling.
Ultimately, advocates say, curbing domestic violence in the community will require a broader cultural change. In addition to the housing shortage and funding worries, the RICADV has raised concerns that the federal immigration crackdown may discourage clients from seeking help due to a fear of deportation. But there are bright spots, too. Executive Director Rios says the # MeToo movement of the 2010s emboldened survivors to speak out in a way not previously seen.
“ We need the community to own this issue, to say,‘ We are not going to tolerate this anymore. This is not OK. It harms us.’ And hold the people that are using domestic violence accountable,” she says.“ It can’ t just be us alone.”
Cheryl Palazzo still cries when she looks at photographs of her daughter, Lauren.
The images record memories of a full life: Lauren on the dance team at Cranston High School East, Lauren as a child with a bow in her hair, Lauren at a birthday party for her cousin’ s daughter. Mother and daughter both loved the beach, and Palazzo recalls long beach days and the drive home, when they’ d stop for ice cream and Lauren would get a Del’ s. Her daughter had a degree in criminal justice and talked about using it to help others. It’ s a dream she never lived to see fulfilled.“ She was the light of my life,” Palazzo says. She tries to keep Lauren’ s memory alive by posting on social media, but as time goes on, fewer and fewer people respond. People move on, she says. In the years since, dozens of other names have taken Lauren’ s place as the state’ s most recent victims of domestic homicide. As a parent, one of her greatest worries is that her daughter’ s memory will die. It’ s a big responsibility, one that has fallen almost entirely on her shoulders. But Palazzo says she doesn’ t mind.
“ That’ s what moms are for.” 🆁
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