Abusers Believe Abuse to Be More Common

A study by the University of Washington discovered that men who commit abuse against their partners tend to significantly overestimate how common abuse occurs in other relationships. The study asked 124 men in batterer treatment programs how often they thought other men engaged in different forms of violence against their partners, such as pushing, grabbing, shoving or threatening a partner with a gun. Findings show that these men tended to overestimate by two to three times how frequently other men engaged in this behavior. Perceptions by batterers of how other men treat women tended to be directly related to the degree to which a batterer was abusive: the more abusive the man, the more common he assumed abusive behavior by others to be.

Why do abusers believe this? Abusers may convince themselves of this as a way to justify their own behavior. The researchers of this study propose that by changing the ideas about what abusers think is common behavior, it may help them understand that what they are doing is unacceptable, and encourage them to work towards stopping it.

This study also points to a larger issue in society - - why are men abusive? There are many ways to answer this question. In relation to the study findings, too many boys and men are getting the message that violence against women is a normally occurring experience. Changing this perception, means changing the messages we’re giving our boys. This can happen through better education about domestic violence in schools, changing the way women and men are depicted in the media, increasing counseling services for children who have witnessed violence in the home, and beyond anything else working towards a society that values women as much as men. When we change the way we think, we change the way we act.

To read more about domestic violence and where to get help please visit WomensLaw.org.

Abusers Believe Abuse to Be More Common

You can call the police if someone has committed a crime

Even if you do not qualify for a restraining order, the abuser may have committed a crime. If you call the police, they may arrest him for a crime. Each state has its own list of crimes and definition of crimes. These definitions and explanations are usually located in the Penal Code or Criminal Code of that state's legal statutes.

Even if there is a crime of domestic violence, the definition of that crime may not be the same as the definition of domestic violence used for getting a restraining order. Whether or not a state has a specific crime of domestic violence, it will have other crimes that the abuser may have committed. Crimes in your state may include:

• Assault

• Threats (or menacing)

• Endangerment

• Criminal coercion

• Kidnapping

• Unlawful imprisonment

• Sexual offenses (e.g. sexual assault, rape)

• Trespassing

• Harassment

• Stalking

You may learn more about crimes by calling your local police department, sheriff's department, or district attorney's office. See our Sheriff's Departments page for the contact information for your local sheriff's department.

If you are a victim of domestic violence and have been charged with a crime, you can contact the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women.

Other organizations for victims of crime are listed on our National Organizations page.

You may want to contact the Stalking Resource Center if you are being stalked or harassed: www.ncvc.org/src

You can call the police if someone has committed a crime

Victims of DV with Disabilities

Last month we did a post on Victims with Disabilities. Below are some sad statistics about this problem:

• The rate of nonfatal violent crimes against people with disabilities was 1.5 times higher than the rate for people without disabilities.
• Rates of rape and sexual assault were more than twice those for people without disabilities.
• Youth with a disability ages 12 to 19 experienced violence at nearly twice the rate as those without a disability.
• People with cognitive disabilities had a higher risk of violent victimization than persons with any other type of disability.
• People with multiple disabilities accounted for about 56% of all violent crime victimizations against those with any disability.
• Nearly 1 in 5 violent crime victims with a disability believed that they became a victim because of their disability.

Thanks to the Center for Independent Living of South Florida for this information.

Victims of DV with Disabilities

New Documentary About Abused Women in Prison

Inside the California Institution for Women, the first inmate initiated and led group in U.S. prison history, shatters the misconceptions of domestic violence.

Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA) was created in 1989 to help women inside prison break the silence about abuse and learn more about what they needed to do to help others stop the cycle of violence.

Instead of fighting a system that does not fully comprehend the complexities of abuse, the women of CWAA led an initiative to help educate the system. Through careful orchestration of letter writing campaigns, media coverage, and senate hearings a movement was born and laws for battered women were changed.

New Documentary About Abused Women in Prison

Financial Abuse a Form of Intimate Partner Violence

Financial abuse is one form of intimate partner violence. Withholding money, stealing money and restricting the use of finances are some examples of financial abuse. Think about how you are being treated and how you treat your partner.

Does your partner:

• Steal money from you or your family?
• Force you to give him access to your accounts?
• Make you feel as though you don't have a right to know any details about money or household resources?
• Prevent you from working or attending school or skill-training sessions?
• Overuse your credit cards or refuse to pay the bills (thus ruining your credit)?
• Withhold physical resources including food, clothes, necessary medications or shelter from you?
• Force you to turn over your benefit payments?
• Force you to cash in, sell or sign over any financial assets or inheritance you own (e.g., bonds, stock or property)?
• Force you to agree to power-of-attorney so he can sign legal documents?
• Force you to work in a family business for little or no pay?
  

The Allstate Foundation's Click to Empower Campaign is working to provide financial education and training to victims of domestic violence. Through the website you can download a free copy of the Financial Empowerment Curriculum. For more organizations that provide Financial Info visit WomensLaw.org here.

Financial Abuse a Form of Intimate Partner Violence

Obama's 2011 Budget Makes Domestic Violence a Priority

Shortly after Obama took office, he appointed Lynn Rosenthal as the White House Adviser on Violence Against Women, a new position created to work with the president and vice president on domestic violence and sexual assault issues. Since June, Rosenthal has worked with numerous federal agencies in the White House to make sure the needs of domestic violence and sexual assault victims are being met through funding, advocacy, program implementation and general advancement of services across the country.

One week after his State of the Union address on January 27, 2010, President Obama released the FY 2011 budget.

Parts of the $730 million total allotted funds for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault include:

Emergency shelter, transitional housing, and other local services: $100 million increase from the Crime Victims Fund, a fund comprised of penalties, bail money and other criminal fines.

Shelters and other services: $140 million

National Domestic Violence Hotline and Teen Dating Violence Helpline: $4.5 million

Sexual Assault Service Program, providing services to victims of sexual assault: $30 million

Legal assistance for victims, including services which help victims obtain protective orders and other protections: $50 million

STOP grants, aimed at working towards preventative programs: $188 million

Read more about Lynn Rosenthal and the work she is doing here: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/lynn-rosenthal-on-how-the-white-house-combats-violence-against-women.

Obama's 2011 Budget Makes Domestic Violence a Priority

Intimate Partner Violence: Sexual Coercion and Unintended Pregnancy

Sexual coercion refers to ways in which male partners use sex to impregnate a woman against her will and/or sabotage contraceptives or other practices of safe sex. By forcing a woman to have a child or exposing her to STDs, a man is exerting power and control over his partner in ways which could increase financial, emotional and physical dependence, making it especially hard for a woman to leave. Sexual coercion could be a big reason why women in abusive relationships are more likely to have unintended pregnancies compared to women in healthy relationships. A new study entitled "Pregnancy Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence and Unintended Pregnancy," conducted by researchers at University of California David School of Medicine and Harvard School of Public Health, reveals that more women become pregnant against their will rather than by neglectful use of birth control, as previously perceived.

"This study highlights an under-recognized phenomenon where male partners actively attempt to promote pregnancy against the will of their female partners,” said lead author Elizabeth Miller, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UC Davis School of Medicine and a practitioner at UC Davis Children's Hospital. “Not only is reproductive coercion associated with violence from male partners, but when women report experiencing both reproductive coercion and partner violence, the risk for unintended pregnancy increases significantly.”*

To read more about the study's key findings and methodology, check out The Family Violence Prevention Fund and The Advocates for Human Rights.

* http://www.endabuse.org/content/features/detail/1439/

Intimate Partner Violence: Sexual Coercion and Unintended Pregnancy