By MARIE LUBY

ALBANY - Dozens of people stood together in Albany Wednesday night with candles, as part of a statewide campaign to "Shine the Light on Domestic Violence."

News 10's Marie Luby shows us why their message has new urgency during this Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The purple lights outside Albany Law School are there to draw attention to domestic violence. The speaker at Wednesday night's vigil says it's a situation that almost took her own life.

Activist Karla DiGirolamo says, "Thirty years ago I found myself as a young woman with a newborn baby, in a relationship that was very violent."

DiGirolamo survived and turned the 30 years since into activism. Her message is timely; New York saw a 25 percent spike in intimate partner homicides from 2007 to 2008.

After lighting candles in song, many call out names of survivors, and others killed at the hands of their partners.

DiGirolamo points out failures to protect victims, saying, "Am I guaranteeing that I have a safety net for them, am I guaranteeing a bed in my shelter, am I guaranteeing that the police will arrest, that the prosecutors will prosecute and the judges will convict? I'm not."

The words hit home for Christina Tripoli, who says her grandmother suffered a lifetime in silence. "It was ignored for 25 years," Tripoli explains. Through tears, she adds, "This was...a big deal for me."

It was also a chance to shed new light on warning signs.

"No, it's not okay that he doesn't want you to go out on Friday night," DiGirolamo explains. "So we all have to own this and speak to our sons and daughters, our sisters and our brothers, our friends and colleagues. We have to speak up because our silence allows this to continue."

Those braving the cold beneath the purple lights hope having more of those discussions will prevent passing the legacy of violence down to another generation.