By\u00a0Alvin Buyinza | ABuyinza@masslive.com<\/p>\n
Warning: This article mentions domestic violence. If you or a loved one need assistance, please contact Safe Link, a 24\/7 domestic violence hotline at: 800-799-7233. Additional resources can be\u00a0<\/b><\/i>found here<\/b><\/i><\/a>.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n Dover police<\/a> found a mother, father and teenage daughter dead inside their home last month in what police believe was the result of domestic violence. The Kamal family killings are part of a \u201cdramatic increase\u201d in domestic violence incidents across Massachusetts, according to a recently released state report.<\/p>\n The number of murders and \u201cnon-negligent manslaughters\u201d in the Commonwealth increased from 21 in 2020 to 28 in 2022, according to federal data cited in the\u00a0State Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team\u2019s 2023<\/a> annual report.<\/p>\n Except for kidnapping and intimidation, other crimes such as aggravated assault \u2014 which includes assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation and assault and battery on a pregnant person \u2014 have increased from 5,690 cases in 2020 to 6,102 in 2022.<\/p>\n In Dover, local police were called Dec. 28, 2023 to check on the people at 8 Wilson\u2019s Way from a family member concerned about the Kamal family.<\/p>\n Police said they not only found a gun in the house near the deceased body of Rakesh Kamal, 57, but they also found his wife, Teena Kamal, 54, and daughter, Arianna Kamal, 18, dead as well \u2013 evidence that points to an incident of domestic violence.<\/p>\n A similar case played out in February 2023, when mother and son\u00a0Linda and Sebastian Robinson were shot and killed by Andrew Robinson<\/a> \u2014 Sebastian\u2019s father and Linda\u2019s husband \u2014 in their Andover home.<\/p>\n The report suggests Massachusetts bolster its efforts in educating the public on how to identify red flags in relationships, and provide more resources to support survivors of abuse as well as offenders seeking to change their behavior.<\/p>\n Oftentimes when people think of domestic violence, they imagine physical violence in a home setting, Hema Sarang-Sieminski, the deputy director at Jane Doe Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of domestic violence, told MassLive. But the reality is, although physical harm is one form of domestic violence, several other forms of abuse can take form in a relationship, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important thing to understand is that at the core of domestic violence or intimate partner violence or partner abuse, as it can be referred to, in many ways is about power and control and the abuse of that power and control,\u201d Sarang-Sieminski said.<\/p>\n Behaviors such as isolating people from their family and friends, over-monitoring their social media or restricting what they can do in their free time can all be signs of intimate partner abuse, according to Sarang-Sieminski.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are the types of behaviors that we really feel that as community members, as coworkers, as colleagues, as folks who are in schools together \u2013 we can all play a part in spotting some of those kinds of dynamics and reaching out to our friends and family who might need some support,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n In 2018, Massachusetts launched\u00a0RESPECTfully<\/a>, a statewide campaign aimed at educating teens on how to build healthy successful relationships, the report said. The campaign included a series of short, animated videos that taught audiences how to navigate issues such as jealousy, conflict and name-calling in relationships.<\/p>\nWhat needs to be done?<\/h2>\n