Local Dallas activists have alleged that District Attorney John Creuzot has failed to investigate and prosecute domestic violence and sex crimes against black women.
Representatives from Dallas Justice Now claim that by ambitiously “tackling the root causes of institutionalized racism in our city, we can remedy the injustices we see on a day-to-day basis, like police brutality and access to quality education.” They assert that under Creuzot, domestic violence “is often overlooked and under-prosecuted.”
In late 2021, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Police Chief Eddie Garcia held a press conference on the rise of “domestic violence assaults” in the city.
“As stay-at-home orders and the economic fallout strained our families last year, domestic violence-related aggravated assaults increased by nearly 14% in 2020. So far this year, we’ve seen a slight additional increase,” Johnson said at the time.
Garcia claimed that victims of domestic violence are mostly women, 16 to 24 years old, living in poverty, and they are more likely to be black or indigenous.
He said victimization is 35% more common among black women than white women.
According to national research, “More than 40 percent of black women experience physical violence by an intimate partner during lifetimes, compared with 31.5 percent of all women.”
Dallas Justice Now claims that black women are less likely to have their alleged attacker prosecuted by Creuzot. The group also asserts that black women nationally are 30% less likely to see any kind of justice against their attackers when they are victims of domestic violence.
“Malcolm X once said that the most disrespected person in America is the black woman. District Attorney Creuzot has shown his neglect for black women with his refusal to investigate and prosecute domestic violence cases where black women are the victims,” Dallas Justice Now said in a correspondence to The Dallas Express. “In Creuzot’s Dallas, black women are more likely to be victimized and less likely to get justice and closure.”
The group says it is time for Creuzot to take violence against black women “seriously.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Creuzot’s office for comment on the claims being made by this local group, but as of the writing of this article, they have not responded to our request.