Assault arrests in Lexington surged 53% between 2023 and 2025, driven largely by domestic violence cases, according to a Lexington Observer and Boston University investigation published Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Police arrested 15 people on simple and aggravated assault charges in 2023. By 2025, that number climbed to 23. Charges for other crimes stayed the same or decreased over the same period.

"For the past few years, domestic assault and battery has been our leading statistic for arrest," Lexington Police Chief Michael McLean said.

The trend is not unique to Lexington.

FBI data showed 25,374 domestic violence incidents reported to Massachusetts law enforcement in 2020. By 2024, that number reached 26,297, according to the state Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team. The Boston Herald reported in June that domestic violence-related murders and manslaughter in Massachusetts hit a five-year high.

The Observer-BU analysis covered 131 total arrests from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2025. Domestic violence charges in the data included assault and battery on a household member, strangulation, harassment and violating court orders, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office.

Advocates cautioned that arrest numbers capture only a fraction of the problem. Nithya Badrinath, policy director of Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, said arrests reflect how police respond, not the full scope of violence in a community.

Jacquelin Apsler, executive director of the Domestic Violence Service Network, which partners with Lexington police and 11 other departments, said rising arrests can signal that residents trust their local officers enough to call for help.

A 2018 state law requires all 470 Massachusetts law enforcement agencies to report arrest data quarterly. But those records do not label incidents as domestic violence, and police reports on such cases are not publicly available.

Residents experiencing domestic violence can reach the Domestic Violence Service Network's confidential help line at 888-399-6111.