Since the first COVID-19 quarantine orders, there’s been limited, inconsistent data about how such restrictions have affected the frequency of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, said Susan B. Sorenson, SP2 professor of social policy, professor of health & societies, senior fellow in public health, and director of the Ortner Center on Violence & Abuse in Relationships.
“Global leaders said there was a substantial increase in domestic violence and people thought that made sense,” said Dr. Sorenson. “Some hotlines in Europe and elsewhere were reporting an increase. But we weren’t seeing the same thing in the States.”

In Philadelphia, services are citywide, with one domestic violence hotline, one rape-crisis hotline, and one police department. The researchers examined calls to each service between January and May 2020.

Here are four takeaways from that work, conducted by Dr. Sorenson, Laura Sinko, an LDI associate fellow and national clinician scholar at PSOM, and Richard Berk, professor of criminology and statistics, in conjunction with local community-based agencies:

1. The week following mid-March school closures, calls to Philadelphia’s domestic violence hotline dropped slightly. When the quarantine took effect, they returned to previous levels. This decrease likely was not due to a temporary dip in violent behavior, the researchers said, but rather due to asking families to acclimate to a new and stressful home situation.  
2. Calls to 911 for domestic violence did not change. By contrast, 911 calls for general assault fell by nearly one-half. Given that domestic violence calls are the most common type made to law enforcement, it’s notable that requests for help for problems in the home did not decrease.
3. Call volume to the city’s rape-crisis hotline and calls to police regarding rape fell immediately following the statewide emergency declaration and remained lower. “We aren’t sure why it would change like that,” Dr. Sorenson said. “Rape-crisis hotline staff thought it might be related to a change in the population at risk, not necessarily to a change in the phenomenon.” Historically, rates of sexual assault on colleges campuses are high, with acquaintances being the most common perpetrators, so closing campuses may have dispersed a vulnerable population.
4. More data and research are needed to understand completely how pandemic-related changes affect those who experience or are at risk for intimate partner violence. For example, this work didn’t include fatalities related to domestic violence. “We don’t have information about whether those changed at all, and we would need a much larger geographic population to check,”Dr. Sorenson said. “Service providers anticipate that hotline calls will increase when people start going back to work and school, that is, when it’s safe to call again.”