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Domestic and Sexual Violence

Domestic and Sexual Violence

Domestic and intimate partner violence involves physical and sexual attacks against women in the home, within the family or within an intimate relationship. Women are more at risk of experiencing violence in intimate relationships than anywhere else.In no country in the world are women safe from this type of violence. Out of ten counties surveyed in a 2005 study of the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 50 per cent of women in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Tanzania reported having been subjected to physical or sexual violence by intimate partners, with figures reaching staggering 71 per cent in rural Ethiopia. Only in one country (Japan) did less than 20 per cent of women report incidents of domestic violence.

An earlier WHO study puts the number of women physically abused by their partners or ex-partners at 30 per cent in the UK, and 22 per cent in the US.Based on several surveys from around the world, half of the women who die from homicides are killed by their current or former husbands or partners. Women are killed by people they know and die from guns violence, beatings and burns among numerous other forms of abuse. A study conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil reported that 13 per cent of deaths of women of reproductive age were homicides, of which 60 per cent were committed by the victims’ partners.In the USA, 700,000 women are raped or sexually assaulted each year, with 14.8 per cent of women reporting having been raped before the age of 17. In a randomly selected study of nearly 1,200 ninth-grade students in Geneva, Switzerland, 20 per cent of girls revealed they had experienced at least one incident of physical sexual abuse. This form of sexual violence also extends beyond the domestic domain.

Although many countries now have legislation that addresses domestic violence, high levels of violence still persist. There is clearly a need for greater focus on implementation and enforcement of legislation, and an end to laws that emphasize family reunification over the rights of women and girls.In many societies, the legal system and community attitudes add to the trauma rape survivors experience. Women are often held responsible for the violence against them, and in many places laws contain loopholes which allow the perpetrators to act with impunity. In a number of countries, a rapist can go free under the Penal Code if he proposes to marry the victim and she consents. In Pakistan and many other Islamic countries, ordinances require women reporting rape to provide a set number of credible male witnesses to verify the crime. Victims unable to provide these witnesses are often charged instead with adultery.

HIV/AIDS and Domestic Violence

Women’s inability to negotiate safe sex and refuse unwanted sex is closely linked to the high prevalence HIV/AIDS. Unwanted sex — from being unable to say “no!” to a partner and be heard, to sexual assault such as rape — results in a higher risk of abrasion and bleeding, providing a ready avenue for transmission of the virus. Both realities obliterate women’s ability to protect themselves from infection.Violence is a cause as well as a consequence of HIV/AIDS: for many women, the fear of violence prevents them from declaring their HIV-positive status and seeking help and treatment. They have been driven from their homes, left destitute, been ostracized by their families and community, and subjected to extreme physical and emotional abuse. In 1998 Gugu Dhlamini was stoned to death by men in her community in South Africa, after she declared her positive status on radio and television on World AIDS Day.

Young women are particularly vulnerable to coerced sex and are increasingly being infected with HIV/AIDS. Over half of new HIV infections world-wide are occurring among young people between the ages of 15 to 24, and over 60 per cent of HIV-positive youth between the ages of 15 to 24 are women. A study conducted in Tanzania in 2001 found that HIV-positive women were over 2 and half times more likely than HIV-negative women to have experienced violence perpetrated by their current partner.A 2002 UNIFEM-sponsored report on the impact of armed conflict on women underscores how the chaotic and brutal circumstances of armed conflict aggravate all the factors that fuel the crisis. Tragically and most cruelly, in many conflicts, the planned and purposeful HIV infection of women has been a tool of war, often pitting one ethnic group against another, such as what occurred in Rwanda

Cultural Violence in Traditions of Other Societes

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM refers to several types of traditional cutting operations performed on women and girls. Often part of fertility or coming-of-age rituals, FGM is sometimes justified as a way to ensure chastity and genital “purity.” FGM occurs primarily in over 25 African countries, among some minorities in Asia and immigrant communities in Europe, Australia, Canada and the US. An estimated 130 million women today have undergone FGM, and an additional 2 million girls and women are being subjected to it each year. Since the late 1980s, opposition to FGM and efforts to combat the practice has increased.

Some countries have passed legislation to regulate or ban FGM.— UNIFEM supported a project in Kenya, which involved local communities developing alternative coming-of-age rituals, such as “circumcision with words” — celebrating a young girl’s entry into womanhood with words instead of genital cutting. A joint initiative by UNICEF, WHO, and UNFPA seeks to drastically decrease the incidence of FGM, including assisting governments to develop and implement national polices to abolish the practice. (click to read more at Share Legal Awareness – our associated blog)

OK…..Now What??

Everybody wants battered women to ‘make better choices’, or to ‘get out’ or ‘leave their abuser’ and ‘dont go back…’

I did that… okay, now what?

I know women who did everything right, called the police, got the protective order, left, moved, ceased contact, got a job, never went back; and 10 years later their child got kidnapped because nobody believed that her abuser would really plot, wait and pounce that many years later… okay, now what?

I’m blogging from a hotel room; weekly rates; on a computer borrowed from a friend. I’m not sure where I’ll be next week; what I’ll eat tomorrow, or if I have the strength to keep on… yeah, I left my abuser …
okay, now what?

See when the abuser isn’t convicted the battered woman is left without crime victim services.

When the abuser isn’t at the front door or on top of the victim, the shelter isn’t available – and when it is, its only available for a brief 30 day stay…

When the abuser flees the state with your child, the victim falls through the cracks of the jurisdictional boundaries and the police that pass the buck instead of enforcing out of state protective orders – – now what?

When the abuser finally goes to prison for unrelated crimes, and the victim tries to prosecute, its impossible to get law enforcement to take the case seriously because they figure he’s already in jail and it’d be a waste of time, so, now what?

When the abuser isn’t expected to get out of prison until your children are over the age of 18, the state no longer seeks enforcement of the child support arrears he owes, so, now what?

When the abuser can’t use his fists anymore and uses the system, it can revictimize the survivors and sometimes paralyze them emotionally when the children are used as pawns; already disabled from the beatings years before, now suffering eternal grief for the emotional beatings of the court system and flawed social services system; a victim is on an uphill battle to survive; and when she becomes homeless, penniless and hopeless … she’ll ask everyone who wanted her to get out… okay…now what?

Now what????

RATE OF FAMILY VIOLENCE DROPPED BY MORE THAN ONE-HALF FROM 1993 TO 2002

RATE OF FAMILY VIOLENCE DROPPED BY MORE THAN ONE-HALF FROM 1993 TO 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The rate of family violence fell by more than one-half between 1993 and 2002, from an estimated 5.4 victims to 2.1 victims per 1,000 U.S. residents 12 years old and older, reflecting the general decline in crimes against people during the same period, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today.

Family violence accounted for 11 percent of all reported and unreported violence between 1998 and 2002. Of these offenses against family members, 49 percent were a crime against a spouse, 11 percent a parent attacking a child, and 41 percent an offense against another family member.

Seventy-three percent of family violence victims were female and 76 percent of persons who committed family violence were male. Simple assault was the most frequent type of family violence.

Drugs or alcohol were involved in 39 percent of family violence victimizations. In 20 percent of family violence incidents, the offender had a weapon.

About four in 10 family violence victimizations did not come to police attention between 1998 and 2002. Thirty-four percent of victims of unreported family violence said they did not tell law enforcement officials about the matter because it was private or personal. Another 12 percent said they did not report it to protect the offender.

One-half of convicted family violence offenders in prison in 1997 were serving a sentence for committing a sex crime against a family member. Forty-five percent of convicted family violence offenders in local jails in 2002 had been subject to a restraining order at some point in their life.

About one in five persons murdered in 2002 was killed by a family member. In all homicides that year, almost 9 percent were the killing of a spouse, 6 percent the murder of a son or daughter and 7 percent the killing of another family member.

Fifty-eight percent of family murder victims were female, and 26 percent were under age 18. Among murdered children under age 13, 66 percent were killed by a family member.

Eighty-three percent of those who killed a spouse were males, as were 75 percent of those who killed a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The average age of a son or daughter killed by a parent was 7 years old, and 80 percent were younger than 13 years old.

The report, “Family Violence Statistics” (NCJ-207846), was written by BJS statisticians Matthew R. Durose, Caroline Wolf Harlow, Patrick A. Langan, Mark Motivans, Ramona R. Rantala, and Erica L. Schmitt. Following publication, the document can be accessed at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/fvs.htm.

Additional information about BJS statistical reports and programs is available from the BJS website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP is headed by an Assistant Attorney General and comprises five component bureaus and two offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime, as well as the Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education and the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy and OJP’s American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Desk. More information can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov.

Breaking The Silence – Moms Losing Child Custody To Their Batterers?

This is an eight minute excerpt of the program that aired on Public Television in October of 2005.

The documentary tells the stories of children who are taken away from their protective mothers.

The Domestic Violence Wheel

Source: Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, Duluth, MN

The Violence Against Women Act

(Source: NNEDV)
For a one-page overview of VAWA 2005, please download our VAWA 2005 Fact Sheet (PDF). For a full summary of program changes, please download our VAWA 2005 Summary (PDF). You can also download the VAWA 2005 statute, (PL 109-162).

On January 5, 2006, the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 (VAWA) was signed into law by President George W.Bush. VAWA reauthorizes existing
programs to combat domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking, and creates new ones to meet emerging needs of communities working to prevent the violence.

The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) praised Congress and the Administration for their continued dedication to improving the lives of women and children.

“The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act ensures that communities have the tools they need to intervene in and ultimately prevent violence in our homes,” said Lynn Rosenthal, President of NNEDV. “They has taken an important step forward in saving lives”.

Rosenthal credits Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI-5), Mark Green (R WI-8), John Conyers (D-MI-14), Hilda Solis (D-CA-32), Ginny Brown-Waite (R FL-5), Deborah Pryce (R-OH-15), for championing the bill, saying “their efforts to pass a strong, comprehensive bill show a true commitment to ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.”

VAWA 2005 takes a more holistic approach to addressing violence against women. In addition to enhancing criminal and civil justice and community-based responses to these crimes, VAWA creates notable new focus areas such as:

developing prevention strategies to stop the violence before it starts,

protecting individuals from unfair eviction due to their status as victims of domestic violence or stalking,

creating the first federal funding stream to support rape crisis centers,

developing culturally- and linguistically-specific services for communities,

enhancing programs and services for victims with disabilities, and

broadening VAWA service provisions to include children and teens.

“The housing provisions are of particular importance,” said Rosenthal. “Ninety-two percent of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives. We thank Representatives Michael Oxley (R-OH-4), Barney Frank (D-MA-4) and Bob Ney (R-OH-18) and Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) for their leadership in ensuring housing protections and resources for victims.”

Initially passed in 1994, VAWA created the first federal legislation acknowledging domestic violence and sexual assaults as crimes, and provided federal resources to encourage community-coordinated responses to combating the violence. Its reauthorization in 2000 improved the foundation established by VAWA 1994 by creating a much-needed legal assistance program for victims and expanding the definition of crime to cover dating violence and stalking.

“The reauthorization of VAWA shows that our nation’s policy makers recognize domestic violence as a devastating social problem,” said Rosenthal. “By applying a more comprehensive approach, we move one step closer to eradicating domestic violence.”

NNEDV has been a leading force in efforts to reauthorize VAWA. NNEDV and its member state domestic violence coalitions also played a crucial role in the passage of VAWA in 1994 and its reauthorization in 2000. NNEDV’s sister organization, the National Network to End Domestic Violence Fund (NNEDV Fund), has been instrumental in assisting state domestic violence coalitions and local communities in implementing current VAWA programs.

NNEDV is now working with state coalitions and national organizations to ensure VAWA is fully funded. Join us in this effort! Click here to join our VAWA Mobilization Campaign and receive VAWA mobilization action alerts.

You also can take action today by writing or calling your member of Congress or Senator and urging them to fully fund VAWA. For more information about funding for VAWA, including a sample letter you can use, click here.

Congressional offices and media, please use the email form for immediate answers to questions related to VAWA appropriations.

Faillure to Protect – The Castle Rock/Gonzales Case

(Source: NNEDV)
TOWN OF CASTLE ROCK, CO v. JESSICA GONZALES – 2005
The Supreme Court examined if Jessica Gonzales, whose three daughters were killed by her estranged husband, can raise a procedural due process claim in federal court for the Town of Castle Rocks failure to enforce her protective order.

• NNEDV’s amicus brief supporting Jessica Gonzales’s case (PDF)
• The Supreme Court’s opinion in Town of Castle Rock, CO v. Jessica Gonzales (PDF)
• Concurring Opinion by Justice David H. Souter (PDF)
• Dissenting Opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens (PDF)
• Statement by Fernando Laguarda, NNEDV board chair and counsel of record, regarding Town of Castle Rock v. Jessica Gonzales (PDF)