Council Member Joseph introduces Intro 1144 for gender-based violence data analysis

Councilmember Joseph.

Thank you, Majority Leader and Madam Speaker.

Colleagues, we're standing here in the final days of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

All month long, we've worn purple, we've held vigils, and we've said the names of New Yorkers we've lost.

Today, I want to do something more than the last thing than remember.

I want us to measure.

That's why I'm proud to introduce Intro 1144 along colleagues, Councilmember Farias and Councilmember Lewis.

Right now, the Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence reports to this council every year.

It tells us how many people walk through the doors of our family justice centers, how many trainings were held, how many outreach events took place.

That information matters.

But it tells us what we're doing.

It doesn't tell us enough about what survivors are facing.

Intro 1144 changes that, beginning in January of 2028 and every two years after.

And domestic gender-based violence, we'll publish a full analysis of gender-based violence across our city, including complaints, arrests, and outcomes.

And it will show us the disparities by race, by ethnicity, by sex, and by gender.

Because we know violence doesn't land evenly.

Black women, immigrant women, trans New Yorkers, they too often face the most harm and the fewer doors that are open.

I learned you cannot help a student if you refuse to see.

The same is true for our city.

If we want to direct resources where they are needed the most, we need the full picture.

Data is not the end of this work.

It is how we do this work, honestly.

I want to thank my staff, the advocates, and survivors who pushed for this.

I urge my colleagues to sign on.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.