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Domestic violence grant OK’d


Washington County News: News >
Tue Jan 22, 2008 - 02:55 PM

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Washington County Domestic Violence Deputy Stephen Reed thinks of himself as the safety net.
After everyone has left the scene of a domestic violence call, Reed comes back. He checks on the victim, takes out any protective orders or arrest warrants if need be and makes sure the victim received services.
“A lot of people won’t tell the first officer on the scene,” he said.
He also said that if he wasn’t here a lot of people would fall through the cracks. That won’t happen this year.
The Sheriff’s Office has been approved for a $48,220 state administered federal grant to continue the V-Stop Program, a program that provides for information and assistance to victims of domestic violence in obtaining warrants, protective orders, etc,
Reed works together with the courts and victim advocacy organizations to guide victims through the process of seeking help whether or not they prosecute their abusers.
In a month, he handles about 20-25 domestic violence cases between intimate partners. This month, he said, has been particularly active.
In 2007, Reed investigated 111 domestic violence cases between intimate partners. In 2006, he investigated 126.
“There are always going to be arguments and some people can handle them better than others,” he said. “Some people become violent.”
He said domestic violence cases are different than other cases deputies deal with in that they are highly personal and emotional and it’s harder for the victim to walk out the door especially when children and finances are involved.
He said that a lot of victims who have had religious upbringing won’t leave their abuser because they feel that they’re marriage vow is binding for life.
He also said most of the abusers often convince their victims that they’re dependant on them.
“A lot of men feel property rights toward the victim, especially if children are involved,” he said. “They’re connected probably for life.”
“I try to show the victims that there are alternatives,” he said.
This is the eighth year the Sheriff’s Office has received this grant. Reed said that in another two years they might lose 15 percent of their funding, which would impact the number of cases he’s able to handle.
He said that it’s vital that all facets of the system work together from the deputy on the scene to the courts to the local organizations designed to get victims back on their feet.
“Studies have shown that children raised in abusive homes grow up to be abusers or victims,” he said. “Boys grow up to be abusers and girls grow up to be victims. We’re trying to do our small part to break that cycle. Everything is geared around helping the family, keeping the family together and trying to stop the abuse.”
Abuse Alternatives: (800) 987-6499
local office (276) 628-6940
Domestic Violence Deputy Reed (276) 676-6031

Reader Reaction:

Washington County Domestic Violence Deputy Stephen Reed made sexist comments that assumed males are the primary perpetrators of domestic violence, such as saying “A lot of men feel property rights toward the victim” and “boys grow up to be abusers and girls grow up to be victims.” 

Harvard Medical School just announced a study showing half of heterosexual domestic violence is reciprocal and women initiate most reciprocal and non-reciprocal violence. 
http://www.patienteducationcenter.org/aspx/HealthELibrary/HealthETopic.aspx?cid=M0907d 

Men are less likely to report it, which makes crime data unreliable; but sociological research consistently shows women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men and that men suffer one-third of injuries, as Cal State University Professor Martin Fiebert shows in his online bibliography at http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, every year there are 4.8 million incidents of intimate partner assaults and rapes against women and 2.9 against men, with 25% of the deaths being men.  And that data is partly crime-based so it is inaccurately low for males.  http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/ipv_factsheet.pdf

No matter what the percentages are, male victims and their children don’t deserve to be left invisible like that.  I work with men who have been stabbed, cut with glass, had their teeth knocked out with ashtrays, etc. by wives or girlfriends.  They and their children deserve the same dignity as female victims.  If I was one of these men I’d be frightened to call Officer Reed for help, giving his presumptive comments. 

A global coalition of concerned experts has formed to combat this politically-driven problem.  Their website is at http://www.nfvlrc.org/.

A recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found women are as violent and controlling as men in relationships worldwide. http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/em_060519male.cfm?type=n
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf 

The University of Florida recently found women are more likely than men to “stalk, attack and abuse” their partners.
http://news.ufl.edu/2006/07/13/women-attackers/

The University of Washington recently found similar results. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625111433.htm

A recent study in the Journal of Family Violence found many male callers to a national hotline experienced high rates of severe forms of violence from very controlling female partners. http://www.springerlink.com/content/a7q0032j88817218/fulltext.pdf

A University of Pennsylvania emergency room report found 13% of men reported being assaulted by a female partner in the previous 12 months, of which 50% were choked, kicked, bitten, punched, or had an object thrown at them, 37% involved a weapon, and 14% required medical attention, at http://www.aemj.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/8/786

University of Pennsylvania Professor Richard Gelles states: ‘Contrary to the claim that women only hit in self-defense, we found that women were as likely to initiate the violence as were men,‘ in his article reprinted at http://www.ncfmla.org/gelles.html

This data is recognized by the American Psychological Association.
http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct06/pc.html

This Canadian government report also recognizes the above data.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/familyviolence/pdfs/Intimate_Partner.pdf

Archer, J., ‘Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review,‘ Aggression and Violent Behavior (7) 2002, 313-351, http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/Dutton_Corvo-Transforming-flawed-policy.p
http://www.maennerbuero-trier.de/Archer_2002.pdf

Dutton, D., & Corvo, K., ‘Transforming a flawed policy: A call to revive psychology and science in domestic violence research and practice,‘ (11) 2006, 457-483, http://www.nfvlrc.org/docs/DuttonCorvo.policypaper.pdf

Dutton & Nicholls is “The gender paradigm in domestic violence research and theory: Part 1—The conflict of theory and data”, which is on our website at http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/Dutton_GenderParadigmInDV-Pt1.pdf

Straud & Scott, “Gender Symmetry in Partner Violence: The Evidence, the Denial, and the Implications for Primary Prevention and Treatment” http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/V70 version N3.pdf

More sources on CDC study
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/5/941

Posted by Marc E. Angelucci, Esq. from Los Angeles  on  01/23  at  09:11 AM
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