Domestic violence calls are second only to burglary for law enforcement. Police regard them as among the most dangerous in terms of officer safety because of the violent emotions often in play when they arrive at the scene. Arrests and prosecution are part of the picture, but only a part. Victims need options, shelter, counseling, financial assistance, and education. Victims who want desperately to leave violent domestic situations without police intervention often need those resources even more.
It is in this context that states across America, faced with mounting budget crises, are slashing domestic violence programs and funding. The most widely reported has been the use of the Governor’s veto pen in California. But domestic violence prevention and service funding has also met the budget ax in states like Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri and others.
Shelters are closing, leaving victims with no place to go for protection from their abusers. Public and private education programs are being eliminated. Counselors are being let go. Those sheltered traditionally for up to 30 days before being asked to seek employment are now being sent out to look for jobs immediately, before the opportunity for counseling.
Domestic abuse is more than physical violence or even verbal abuse. At its core, domestic abuse is a coercive environment in which the abuser controls every aspect of the victim’s life. The courage required of a victim, accustomed to being coercively controlled, to leave such an environment is extraordinary in the best of times. Fearful, intimidated by the abuser, often unable to fend for themselves after years of abuse, these victims need that protection and assistance to provide the opportunity to escape. They need the time to heal before being short-termed out of a shelter for budgetary reasons. They need the counseling and the time to recover and understand before being forced into the workplace. They need the education programs to be aware that they have alternatives to being personally suffocated and physically damaged in an abusive relationship.
Now, of all times, the resources provided for victims of domestic abuse are essential. Domestic abuse reporting is already down as a result of the recessionary economy. More and more abuse victims are choosing to remain in coercive relationships for the economic security provided for them and their children. Funding cuts exacerbate the problem as their options are cut off. And, all too often there are children involved who will be subject to the same abuse, perhaps growing up to be abusers or pre-indoctrinated victims themselves.
To leave the coerced, physically injured, and intimidated victims of domestic violence under protected, under served and under funded is to our disgrace whatever the budgetary excuses.
[Author’s Note: The problem is not limited to state budget cuts. Federal funding and charitable giving are equally strained.]
Cross posted at Elijah’s Sweete Spot. COMMENTS/DISCUSSION welcome at Disqus™ enabled Thread One.
Contributor, aka tidbits. Retired attorney in complex litigation, death penalty defense and constitutional law. Former Nat’l Board Chair: Alzheimer’s Association. Served on multiple political campaigns, including two for U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR). Contributing author to three legal books and multiple legal publications.