NEW ORLEANS — According to community advocates and city leaders, domestic violence numbers are skyrocketing to alarming levels.
Edgar Burton says a bad, split-second decision changed his life forever, Burton is a former offender who says he's turned his life around. He's now hoping to teach young men how violence towards a partner can negatively impact their lives forever.
“Just that 10th of a second right there cost me everything,” said Edgar Burton, a New Orleanian since birth. “I was sent to prison at age 19. I grew up in a project in Magnolia housing projects. I'm the middle child of five children.”
Edgar Burton grew into a man who knew exactly what he wanted.
“Had the opportunity to go to school, and play football and everything.” But somewhere along the way his journey became derailed by a domestic violence charge. “They arrested me for simple battery.”
He says in 2017 an argument with his ex-wife escalated to violence, he said, “I was in a parish jail for some time.”
In a single moment, his life took a drastic turn. “I wasn't thinking for a second and I made my greatest mistake I ever could have made.”
That very mistake, shadowing his every step for seven years on. “For 1/10 of a second, I lost it. And I lost everything as a result of that decision, my ex-wife, house, the car, the dog, the kittens, everything.”
Here in New Orleans domestic violence numbers are reaching epidemic proportions. This trauma echoes onto our most innocent, our kids. As domestic violence numbers climb, so does the alarming rate of children witnessing violence within the home. Jamar McKneely with Inspire Nola Charter Schools says the school system saw a 30% increase in the number of children reporting violence at home compared to 2023.
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“It’s a very damaging conversation that we have with our students due to trauma that they experience in their home," he said. “We had to remove the child from the home based on how physical it was and what the child was seeing on a daily basis.
“The kids are really internalizing this and thinking that they're the problem, not understanding that something is wrong with the adults who's actually causing this on a daily basis.”
McKneely says children are looking for love, so that internalization is the most troubling because it could lead them down a dark path. “We definitely see the kids coming in with anger, we see the kids coming in with frustration. We see the kids coming in with sorrow that they are the individuals who are experiencing this.”
“They make excuses for what the adults are doing. Not actually understanding that it's not okay for this to happen to them to transform their lives.”
He says the charter school has an open door policy and does talk about domestic violence and prevention in the classroom, “We not only have inside support, as well as external counselors, guidance counselors, social workers.”
Tulane University Professor of Social Work, Dr. Reggie Parquet works with those convicted of domestic violence and sexual assault. He says according to the FBI 2022 Crime in the Nation Statistics, New Orleans Intimate Partner Homicide Victims Report, New Orleans Domestic Violence Fatality Summary 2012 – 2020, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization, 2022, 33% of the violent offenses in our city are intimate partner violence.
“When children grow up in a home, where there is violence, they become at risk for participating in those same kinds of violent activities asked as adults,” he said. “We need more services that specifically address the root causes of intimate partner violence.”
Dr. Parquet said, “Offenders of domestic violence, they're not going to come out and seek help. You have to find them… you have to engage in in-reach.”
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Dr. Parquet says the key to curbing this crisis starts at home. He says investing in parenting programs could reduce adverse childhood experiences. “We have to involve our churches as well. Oftentimes, before a victim or survivor of domestic violence will go to a professional, they will confide in a priest, or their rabbi, or their pastor, and the pastors need to find ways to engage with the professional providers so that they can get the proper help.”
Burton says the stain of his domestic violence charge has cost him job opportunities. “A lot of people, you know, looked at me different because of this.” He’s calling on the city to provide former abusers with mental health services, something he believes New Orleans is lacking. “I paid attention to my own actions. As I reflect back on, those are some things I've seen, I needed to change.”
Now in a relationship, and a father, he said, “Dealing with women moving forward, you know, it affected me greatly. You know, it affected my choices and decisions, you know, even to materialize into the man who I know, I am.”
He’s launched three organizations of his own and wants to work with young men, educating them on the devastating outcomes violence can have, and could ultimately land them in an orange prison jumpsuit.
Burton said, “Having that place where they can come and discuss those issues and have an opportunity to release mentally, you know, what they need to release, you know, and be free.
The state Department of Corrections said in a statement, "The Department of Corrections offers rehabilitative programming aimed at those convicted of violent crimes, and encourages inmates to take advantage of this programming. However, it is not mandatory unless the court or the Board of Pardons/Committee on Parole make participating in such programming a condition of parole release."
If you are experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline anytime at 1-800-799-SAFE. You can reach the New Orleans Family Justice Center here.
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