Domestic Violence
**Click here for Domestic Violence Awareness Month materials.**What is Domestic Violence? Domestic Violence - also called intimate partner violence, battering, spouse abuse, and date rape - occurs when people use physical violence (or the threat thereof), sexual violence, psychological or emotional abuse, stalking, and/or economic abuse to establish a pattern of coercive power and control over their intimate partner. The victim could be their spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, or current or former dating partner.
Domestic violence knows no boundaries; it is not isolated to a particular class or ethnic, cultural, or religious group. It can be found anywhere. Statistics collected by the National Institutes of Justice and the Bureau of Justice indicate that women are more at risk for becoming victims of domestic violence and men are more at risk for becoming perpetrators. According to their studies, women make up 90-95% of domestic violence victims while as many as 95% of domestic violence perpetrators are male.
Statutes
Domestic Violence is a crime. Montana's statute refers to it as Partner or Family Member Assault. Click on the statute number to read the actual definition (MCA 45-5-206).
Montana Statistics
Direct service programs across the state have been busy. In calendar year 2003, they reported (through PDQ) helping 18,044 individuals, providing them with 215,186 separate services - such as shelter, personal advocacy, transportation, crisis counseling, and legal advocacy.
More than half of those individuals - 11,200, to be exact - sought help because of domestic violence. Statewide, the numbers of people seeking help because of domestic violence increased by about 16 percent increase over 2002. Each year between 10,000 and 11,000 babies are born in Montana. Last year, then, more people were abused by a batterer than babies born.
The Montana Silent Witness Project has determined that abusers have killed 47 women and 5 children between 1990 and 2001. This number does not include domestic homicides committed in the past two years, and in 2003 alone batterers killed an additional 11 people, including 2 children and 1 sheriff's deputy. The number of deaths attributable to domestic violence almost double when you also factor in the deaths of the batterers who killed their intimate partners and then committeed suicide.
The Costs
In addition to the lives lost, the human costs of domestic violence are devastating for individual victims, their children, and their families. The financial costs associated with domestic violence are also huge. In March 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report estimating that through their abuse, batterers ring up a tab of over $5.8 billion per year nationally in their victims' health care costs and lost productivity alone.
The $5.8 billion total does not include the costs incurred by law enforcement agencies as they respond to and investigate domestic violence calls, nor does it factor in the amount of time and money spent in other branches of the civil and criminal legal system.
What you can do to stop Domestic Violence
The Centers for Disease Control have termed intimate partner violence as the number one health threat facing women in the United States today. The human and financial costs associated with domestic violence are high, and it is not just batterers' victims who pay the price. Most of us have been directly affected - either as victims, family members, neighbors, coworkers, or perpetrators - and many of us want to do something to help stop family violence.
By the way that we act and react in our everyday lives, we can personally broadcast the message that we support survivors, hold batterers accountable for their violent and controlling behavior, and will not tolerate violence. Modeling respectful behavior can carry a lot of weight. In addition, a number of groups and organizations have formed around this issue, check out the Family Violence Prevention Fund Web site for more information.
Related Topics
Domestic Violence is a complex issue and its presence permeates our society in many ways and has many consequences. Below is a list of related topics that you can click on for further information. It is by no means complete and, as we collect information, we will be adding and adapting this material.
Principles of Advocacy and How to Support Victims
Common Myths and Misconceptions
Expert Witnesses for Domestic Violence
Workplace Violence
Elder Abuse
Dating Violence
Batterers' Intervention Programs
Child Protective Services and Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence and Guns
Stalking
Domestic Violence Resources
Since you are here, you are probably interested in building a better understanding of domestic violence. Below are some of the resources that we use on a regular basis. This is not an exhaustive list and we would welcome any comments or additions you might suggest. (Please e-mail your suggestions to MCADSV)Reports and Publications
A number of organizations and groups are conducting studies and publishing reports and papers that contain helpful information. Below are some of the ones we've found most helpful or most interesting in our work.
Domestic Violence: A National Curriculum for Family Preservation Practitioners (This is in the MCADSV Resource Library, you can check it out by referring to the number DV 145)
The Start-Up Manual: A Workbook for New Domestic Violence Service Providers. (MCADSV Resource Library number: DV 241)
Links
A lot of groups are working in this field and have Web sites that could provide important information. Below are some links to Web sites we use most often for information, insight, and ideas about how to address inequality and violence in our society.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
The Family Violence Prevention Fund
The Feminist Majority Foundation Online
The American Bar Association
SAFETY ALERT: Home computers can pose a safety threat if you are being abused. When you visit this or any other site about domestic or sexual violence, it is possible for your abuser to find out that you have been getting information on domestic or sexual violence. There are some precautions you can take (click here for more information).
If you feel you are in danger after reading this, please call your local crisis hotline or the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). If the danger is immediate, call 911.
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