Chapter 12
Covering Domestic Violence
By Sarah Huntley

			In this chapter
			• Introduction • What is domestic    violence?    The Worst Case • The Legal System’s   Response to   Domestic Violence    Civil Courts    Criminal Courts • The Social   Response   to Domestic   Violence    Shelters    Hybrid Courts    Interviewing victims     and former victims,     survivors

Introduction

For years, the issue of domestic violence has posed a host of thorny questions for law enforcement and the news media alike.

Among them:

• Faced with recanting victims and disbelieving relatives, whom do you believe?
• How do you break – or help others understand ‑ the pervasive cycle that defines a violent relationship?
• Does the public care about family violence? And how many resources are worth allocating if these crimes aren’t random?

Victims’ advocates and women’s rights activists joined forces in the 1980s, determined to improve the way law enforcement, the government, and the public approached domestic violence. The resulting movement has made considerable strides. Police are less likely to look the other way or treat the issue as a simple “family matter.” The civil and criminal courts systems have designed sometimes elaborate processes and imposed specific requirements for addressing these kinds of offenses. And shelters have cropped up in most communities in America, offering opportunities – with varying success ‑ to victims who want a new and safer life.

Nonetheless, even today, as decisions are made in newsrooms about which stories to cover and how to play them, it isn’t uncommon to hear someone say “it’s just a domestic.”

So why is it an issue worth exploring?

Consider these numbers:

• Approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted in the United States each year by someone who claims to love them, according to a study by the Department of Justice.
• In 2001, 20 percent of non-fatal violent crime against women was committed by an intimate partner, according to another Justice Department report.
• One in 4 women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime, says a study by the National Center for Victims of Crime.

If the statistics aren’t enough to grab readers (or your editor), consider some of the challenges domestic violence presents:

• Recidivism: Repeat offenders continue to confound law enforcement. Because of varying methods of tracking repeat offenders, valid statistics can be hard to come by, and comparing them from state to state is perilous. But many law enforcement agencies attempt to tally the number of people arrested and some have systems for calculating whether the same person has been arrested more than once. In Colorado, that responsibility falls to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Between 1994 and 2005, 84,431 people were arrested in the Rocky Mountain state on charges associated with domestic violence. Of those, more than 50,000 – nearly 60 percent – were arrested on domestic violence charges more than once.
• Resources: Courts and police departments across the country often struggle to keep up. In Denver, home to nearly 555,000, police log an average of 50 domestic violence calls a day. Informational and crisis hotlines, usually run by advocacy groups, receive additional inquiries and complaints, many of which never come to the attention of law enforcement.
• Costs: Advocates point to an extraordinary economic impact. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates a yearly price tag of $5.8 billion in health care expenses, reduced productivity in the workplace, and lost earnings. The figure jumps even more dramatically in studies that have attempted to include the costs of the criminal justice system’s response.

Finally, if you go beyond the statistics and the challenges to law enforcement, you’ll find the makings of journalism at its most compelling. These are stories about people: men, women and children of all races, ages and sexual preferences at all socioeconomic levels. Many have been caught up in dynamics they – and those around them – struggle to understand.

What is domestic violence?

Defining domestic violence is key to shaping your coverage.

Despite the characterizations of some family members and many media outlets, domestic violence is not simply a matter of someone “snapping.” Violence between partners is rarely an isolated incident. In most cases, it follows an escalating pattern that centers on issues of power and control.

The control can be physical: keeping someone from leaving the house or monitoring their movements and free time, for example. But it can also be emotional. Abusers often work to lower their victim’s self-esteem, cut their ties to family and friends and keep close tabs on income and spending.

The legal definition of domestic violence is significant because in many cases, it dictates society’s response to the problem. That definition can vary. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “Most states require the perpetrator and the victim to be current or former spouses, currently or formerly reside together, or have a child in common. A significant number of states include current or former dating relationships in domestic violence laws.”

The Worst Case
Nearly every community has them: Cases that shock the public, capture headlines for days, and in the best case scenarios, galvanize the community to take action. The violence in these is almost always deadly.

Statistics suggest both fatal and non-fatal cases are on the decline. A 2006 U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report shows the number of women killed by their partners in 2005 was 1,181, down almost 26 percent when compared to 1976. Male victims have fared even better. The domestic homicide rate for men dropped by 75 percent over the same 29-year period. At first glance, the statistics for what the government calls “nonlethal” cases also appear to be encouraging. Female victims of non-fatal domestic violence numbered 876,340 in 1998. In 1993 – just five years earlier – 1.1 million women reported they had been victims of non-fatal domestic violence, according to another BJS study. That is a 20 percent reduction.

Amid these numbers, however, is a sobering reality: violent crime in America was dropping during the same time – and it declined at a much faster pace than the reductions in domestic violence. In 2005, the rate of reported violent crime in the United States was 21 per 1,000 people over the age of 12. In 1976, the rate was 48 per 1,000 over the age of 12. If domestic violence had kept pace with violent crime in general, advocates should have seen decreases of more than 56 percent. Women continue to face tough odds. In recent years, as many as a one-third of all women killed in America died in what was supposed to be a loving relationship, according to a 2006 BJS study. White girlfriends, in particular, are experiencing a growing danger. Despite the strides of the past decades, more of them died at the hands of a partner in 2005 than in 1976, according to the report.

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