October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Rene L. Kriener, an ARNP-C in Family Practice at the Ossian Clinic, e-mails this message about October's Domestic Abuse and Violence Awareness Month:

"With the election around the corner I would like to draw voter's attention to a very important issue that will affect most of all of us at some point in our lives. As reported by the CDC, approximately 1 in 3 women will experience domestic abuse and violence, more commonly referred to as intimate partner violence (IPV). Men also experience IPV. Due to the fact that research validates more women than men at proportionately higher rates experience IPV, I will refer to women as being victims of IPV. (This letter is not meant to devalue men's experiences who have been affected by IPV).
 
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious, preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans. The term "intimate partner violence" describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. This type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy. Financial control, physical size used to intimidate victims, isolation of family, friends, clergy, neighbors, co-workers, and community members are common strategies used by abusers to maintain control over victims. Victims do not have to walk around with a black eye or broken arm to experience IPV. As a matter of fact, most victims rarely tell anyone what is really going on behind closed doors.

Research has clearly verified that women and children, rarely make up experiences of IPV. In sharp contrast, the perpetrator is able to convince others due to their skillfull manipulation tactics that they are the victims once the violence is exposed. Many times when victims chose to end the relationship with the abuser, is when the abuser uses his tactics to discredit the victim and children in any way possible. This is a typical smoke screen that many abusers use. Some common tactics include; accusing the victim of being mentally ill, having chemical dependency issues, being unfaithful, and claiming they (the abuser) is the victim when in fact the abuser is performing the same accusations that he is accusing his victim of doing.
In addition, many abusers repeatedly use the court system as a venue to harass their victims with lofty accusations. Unfortunately, many times the courts and legal experts view this as "high conflict" when in reality this is a subtle tactic used to continue abuse. These claims contribute to over-saturation of our legal system and tend to discredit real claims of abuse and unreasonable behaviors by the abuser.

Reasonable persons work out issues. However, you cannot reason with the unreasonable. This consistently leads to the victim being encouraged or forced into demands placed by the abuser by the very institution that is meant to protect them.

Unfortunately many judges and professionals involved in bitter legal battles are not adequately educated on the true underpinnings of IPV, leading to re-victimizing women in court. How would you vote for a female (or male) judge if an abused woman had the courage to request a protection order for herself, and it was denied because, "she did not experience enough abuse?" There have been reports of judges making comments in court documents about placing children with abusive fathers so the children "learn how to respect men." Would you retain a judge if she (or he) refused to consider victims and their children's history of experiencing IPV in court and has a fairly consistent record of placing these children with their abusive fathers? Would you vote for a judge who repeatedly refused to hold abusers accountable for their actions? There is a growing trend that judges are making harsher decisions for victims and children by placing innocent children with abusers. (Domestic Violence and the Court House:  Understanding the problem…knowing the victim.  Available at http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/domvial/page5.html).

It has been brought to the writer's attention that some female judges and attorneys are making these decisions, occur in higher numbers in comparison to their male counterparts. To retain or not retain judges in your District should be greatly considered along with voting for politicians this November. Keep in mind if you vote a straight ticket, you still need to fill out for each judge to retain or not retain. Make sure you turn over the ballot for careful consideration for individual judicial retention.

If you would like more information on these very important matters discussed in my editorial, please refer to the links I have included. Helping Services in Northeast Iowa is, in my opinion, an organization that does not receive the recognition it provides for many victims and families affected by IPV. The writer does not work for Helping Services of NEIA.

Helping Services of NEIA:  1-800-383-2988
ICODV:  Iowa coalition against domestic violence:  Office (515) 244-8028
Wisconsin coalition against domestic violence:  307 South Paterson Street, Madison, WI 53703
(608) 255-0539
http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence
If you or someone you know is the victim of:
•    Sexual violence, contact the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network  (RAINN) hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE.Intimate partner violence, contact your local battered women's shelter or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline  website.

Additional resources:
•    On domestic violence, sexual violence, funding, research, and international issues: National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women .
•    On sexual violence including statistics, research, statutes, training curricula, prevention initiatives and program information:  National Sexual Violence Resource Center .
•    To watch webinars that discuss the NISVS findings, please visit PreventConnect , a national online project dedicated to the primary prevention of sexual assault and domestic violence.