Jefferson County commissioners saw a report Tuesday about instances of domestic violence from the executive director of One Place Family Justice Center, which serves survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Rebecca McWilliams cited several statistics regarding domestic violence, including:

• 1,100 to 1,200 protection from abuse orders are issued annually in Jefferson County.
• Year to date, 420 petitions have been filed and 329 emergency orders issued from those petitions.
• The District Attorney’s Office, Birmingham Division, has more than 400 domestic violence felonies each year and 400 misdemeanors in unincorporated Jefferson County.
• Birmingham Municipal Court has 75 domestic violence misdemeanors per month.
• Jefferson County had 28 domestic violence homicides in 2024, which is a downward trend.

“Domestic violence is community violence,” McWilliams said. “Seventy-four percent of all known homicide offenders in 2021 had a history of domestic violence.”

The executive director said the vision of One Place is to remove barriers to reporting domestic and sexual violence and create a community where survivors experience hope, healing and justice.

One Place provides coordinated services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. One Place works with partners, including Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr of the Birmingham Division and Jefferson County District Attorney Lynneice O. Washington of the Bessemer Division.

“Anybody who has been in prosecution knows what it’s like to have a victim that you have to shepherd through two or three different services,” County Attorney Theo Lawson said. “If you can actually get them to one, that’s monumental. What this does is allows them to go to one place at one time and they can get all those services there at one time and you don’t have to worry about the fear on the part of the victim.”

McWilliams said One Place has a staff of five.

“But on our victim advocacy side, we currently have two,” she said. “We are hoping to get a federal grant that can provide one more for us, another advocate.”

One Place also partners with the U.S. Department of Justice, Birmingham Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Crisis Center, YWCA, Legal Services Alabama and Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

The Jefferson County Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Jefferson County Bessemer Justice Center.

This story has been corrected to reflect that the 28 domestic violence homicides in 2024 were countywide, rather than just in the city.