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Maine Panel’s Biennial Report Finds Domestic Abuse Drove Majority of 2025 Homicides, Urges System Reforms

The review cites frequent firearm use with intrafamilial patterns as warning signs requiring stronger oversight.

Overview

  • The Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel released its 15th biennial report, detailing 17 cases comprising 20 deaths from 2021 through 2024.
  • The panel reports that more than half of Maine’s 18 homicides in 2025 were tied to domestic abuse even as overall homicide totals fell in recent years.
  • Half of the reviewed cases involved firearms, including four instances where perpetrators were legally prohibited from possessing guns.
  • Eleven of the 17 reviewed homicides were intrafamilial, involving parents, children or siblings.
  • Recommendations address probation and pretrial gaps and service connection, urging referrals of repeated probation violations for possible stalking, use of high-risk response teams at bail, and stronger links to advocacy.