Family violence is rising in Dallas this year, with more than 10,000 crimes recorded through September 21 and intimate-partner offenses climbing nearly 10% from the same period last year, according to current City of Dallas data reviewed by The Dallas Express.<\/p>\n
The City\u2019s Domestic Violence Dashboard<\/a> shows 10,193 family-violence crimes in 2026 through September 21, compared with 9,720 during the corresponding period in 2025.<\/p>\n That represents a 4.9% year-over-year increase.<\/p>\n The increase is larger among intimate-partner crimes.<\/p>\n Dallas recorded 5,307 intimate-partner crimes, up from 4,840 during the same period last year,\u00a0 a 9.6% increase.<\/p>\n That means roughly 52% of the family-violence crimes recorded in Dallas so far this year involved an intimate partner.<\/p>\n The dashboard is produced by the City\u2019s Office of Data Analytics and Business Intelligence using data from the Dallas Police Department\u2019s Response Management System. Dallas cautions that the figures are preliminary and can change because of delayed reporting, updates to crime reports, or changes to National Incident-Based Reporting System crime codes.<\/p>\n What Dallas Counts As Family Violence<\/p>\n The distinction between family violence and intimate partner violence matters.<\/p>\n The dashboard uses the Texas Family Code definition<\/a> of family violence, which includes certain acts or threats by one family or household member against another.<\/p>\n That category can include more than spouses or dating partners.<\/p>\n Intimate-partner crimes are a subset of family violence in which the suspect is identified as a current or former romantic partner of the victim.<\/p>\n The Dallas dashboard lists relationships including boyfriend or girlfriend, former boyfriend or girlfriend, common-law husband or wife, live-in boyfriend or girlfriend, spouse, former spouse, and other dating relationships.<\/p>\n Intimate Partner Crimes Up 9.6%<\/p>\n The year-over-year increase in intimate-partner crime is one of the more notable findings in Dallas\u2019 current data.<\/p>\n The City\u2019s dashboard shows:<\/p>\n 2026 YTD: 5,307 intimate-partner crimes By comparison, the broader family-violence category increased from 9,720 crimes to 10,193, or 4.9%.<\/p>\n In percentage terms, the intimate-partner crime total is therefore rising at nearly twice the rate of overall family violence this year.<\/p>\n The dashboard does not establish why the increase is occurring.<\/p>\n Changes in actual offending, willingness to report abuse, police reporting practices, later changes to reports, and other factors can affect law-enforcement statistics.<\/p>\n The data do show, however, that Dallas Police has recorded 467 more intimate-partner crimes through September 21 than it had by the same point last year.<\/p>\n Assault Makes Up Most Intimate Partner Offenses<\/p>\n A detailed breakdown on the Dallas Domestic Violence Dashboard<\/a> shows assault accounts for most of the intimate-partner offenses recorded this year.<\/p>\n Through September 21, the dashboard listed:<\/p>\n 4,152 simple-assault offense counts The detailed panel showed zero murder or non-negligent manslaughter offense counts involving intimate partners.<\/p>\n Dallas also reported zero intimate-partner deaths year to date on the dashboard as of September 21.<\/p>\n Those detailed offense numbers should not simply be added together and compared with the City\u2019s 5,307 intimate-partner crime total.<\/p>\n The dashboard specifically cautions that the crime-type figures are counted under National Incident-Based Reporting System rules and are not counts of unique victims. A single reported incident can generate multiple offense classifications.<\/p>\n The broader family-violence crime detail also showed six murder or non-negligent manslaughter offense counts, indicating that fatal family violence can involve relationships outside the City\u2019s more narrowly defined intimate-partner category.<\/p>\n More Than 1,000 Family Violence Crimes Nearly Every Month<\/p>\n The monthly data illustrate how consistently Dallas has dealt with family violence throughout 2026.<\/p>\n The dashboard recorded:<\/p>\n January: 1,083 May had the highest total shown so far, with 1,276 family-violence crimes.<\/p>\n Dallas recorded at least 1,000 family-violence crimes during every completed month from January through August.<\/p>\n Across those eight completed months, the City averaged approximately 1,178 family-violence crimes per month, or roughly 39 per day.<\/p>\n September\u2019s total should not be compared directly with the preceding months because the dashboard only includes data through September 21.<\/p>\n Adults In Their 20s And 30s Make Up Most Victims<\/p>\n The dashboard also provides a detailed look at victim ages.<\/p>\n People ages 20 to 29 represented the largest group, with 3,181 family-violence victims recorded through September 21.<\/p>\n Victims ages 30 to 39 were the second-largest group, with 2,649.<\/p>\n Together, those two groups accounted for 5,830 victims, which is more than 57% of all 10,193 family-violence victims recorded by Dallas Police this year.<\/p>\n The remaining victim-age categories were:<\/p>\n Under 20: 1,060 The figures demonstrate that family violence affects people across a wide age range, but adults in their 20s and 30s account for a clear majority of reported victims in Dallas this year.<\/p>\n 7 In 10 Dallas Family Violence Victims Are Female<\/p>\n Women also make up the substantial majority of victims reported on the City\u2019s dashboard.<\/p>\n As of September 21, 71% of Dallas family-violence victims were female, compared with 29% who were male.<\/p>\n National data show a similar gender imbalance in several serious forms of intimate-partner violence.<\/p>\n The CDC\u2019s latest National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found<\/a> approximately 34% of U.S. women and 17% of U.S. men had experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes.<\/p>\n The Dallas figures cover the broader family-violence category, however, so they should not be treated as directly equivalent to the CDC\u2019s intimate-partner statistics.<\/p>\n Black And Hispanic Residents Account For Most Recorded Victims<\/p>\n The Dallas dashboard also provides a racial and ethnic breakdown of family-violence victims.<\/p>\n Through September 21, it recorded:<\/p>\n Black: 5,094 Those categories total the City\u2019s 10,193 recorded family-violence victims.<\/p>\n The numbers require an important qualification: they are raw victim counts, not population-adjusted rates.<\/p>\n They show the racial and ethnic distribution of victims appearing in Dallas Police family-violence data, but they do not by themselves establish that a member of one demographic group is individually more likely to experience family violence than someone in another group. Population size, neighborhood demographics, differences in reporting, police contact, and other variables would need to be considered before drawing conclusions about comparative risk.<\/p>\n Family Violence Has Resisted Broader Crime Declines Before<\/p>\n The persistence of family violence in Dallas is not new.<\/p>\n In a 2024 analysis, The Dallas Express reported<\/a> that family violence remained nearly flat even as the City\u2019s overall violent-crime numbers were falling.<\/p>\n Dallas had recorded 5,916 family-violence crimes as of June 6, 2024, compared with 5,976 during the same period in 2023. Overall reported violent crime, meanwhile, had fallen 17.2%, according to City data examined by The Dallas Express.<\/p>\n Dallas launched its public domestic-violence dashboard in 2022 to allow residents to examine crimes by month, victim age, gender, race or ethnicity, geography, and offense type. The Dallas Express reported<\/a> on the dashboard\u2019s launch that October\u2019s Domestic Violence Awareness Month helped provide the backdrop for the City\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n Previous Dallas Express Coverage Put Faces To The Numbers<\/p>\n The statistics represent individual cases whose effects can last long after a police report is filed.<\/p>\n During Domestic Violence Awareness Month in 2024, The Dallas Express interviewed<\/a> survivor and advocate LaTasha Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cDomestic violence happens to people across the board, no matter their ethnicity, their economic value, or any of those things,\u201d Williams told DX at the time.<\/p>\n Williams said she was a toddler when her father killed her mother before taking his own life.<\/p>\n She later founded Cheryl\u2019s Voice<\/a>, named after her mother, and became an advocate for children and families affected by domestic violence.<\/p>\n Dallas Goes Purple<\/p>\n The current numbers come just before Dallas observes Domestic Violence Awareness Month<\/a> through its Dallas Goes Purple initiative in October.<\/p>\n According to Dallas Police, the campaign<\/a> encourages residents, businesses, schools, faith communities, and local leaders to wear purple, display purple lights or ribbons, distribute educational information, and discuss healthy relationships, safety, and prevention.<\/p>\n Dallas has scheduled three public events connected with the campaign:<\/p>\n National Night Out: Tuesday, October 6, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Dallas Police Headquarters Anyone facing an immediate or life-threatening threat should call or text 9-1-1.<\/p>\n
2025 YTD: 4,840 intimate-partner crimes
Year-over-year change: 9.6%<\/p>\n
\n700 aggravated-assault offense counts
\n359 intimidation offenses
\n81 kidnapping or abduction offenses
\n18 rape offenses
\n6 sodomy offenses
\n5 fondling offenses
\n3 sexual assaults with an object<\/p>\n
\nFebruary: 1,006
\nMarch: 1,197
\nApril: 1,145
\nMay: 1,276
\nJune: 1,241
\nJuly: 1,238
\nAugust: 1,238
\nSeptember through Sept. 21: 769<\/p>\n
\n40 to 49: 1,606
\n50 to 59: 917
\n60 to 69: 539
\n70 to 79: 180
\n80 to 89: 57
\n90 to 99: 2
\n100 and older: 1
\nUnknown: 1<\/p>\n
\nHispanic or Latino: 3,695
\nWhite: 1,311
\nAsian: 54
\nAmerican Indian or Alaska Native: 18
\nMiddle Eastern: 9
\nNative Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 9
\nUnknown: 3<\/p>\n
\nDomestic Violence Panel Discussion: Thursday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Dallas Police Headquarters, second-floor Media Conference Room
\nOvercoming Domestic Violence with Debra Nixon-Bowles: Tuesday, October 27, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Dallas Police Headquarters, second-floor Media Conference Room
\nWhere To Find Help<\/p>\n