Vol. 4, No. 24
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October 15, 2007
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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COPYWRITING
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Top News Story:
Domestic Violence
Addressed By State
Nevada Leads Nation In
Number Of Women Killed
by Johnny Gunn
There are as many myths and urban legends dealing with domestic violence as there are cases of domestic violence it seems, one of which never goes away: she asked for it. In almost every case that is investigated, the perpetrator used or attempted to use some form of control, physical, psychological, or implied violence, and this is what most in the business of stemming the tide of domestic violence concentrate on during investigations.
Domestic violence can be spousal abuse, child abuse, or elder abuse, and it isn't always a man being the violator although men are in the majority by a considerable margin. One thing that rings true in just about every case, the violator feels he must be in control, must control every aspect of the other person's life. Often we hear or read about abuse stemming from a drug or booze binge, and they may be contributing factors, but the real factor is the violator's sense of power and control.
Domestic violence reveals many of the same techniques as the captor’s coercion of a prisoner of war. A particular problem in domestic violence, as with highly trained combat solders, is that many battered women are actually strong individuals who will not give in. The stereotype that battered women are weak, pathetic, and easily manipulated is not borne out by the evidence. The FBI reports that a woman is beaten every ten seconds, but a better way to understand the actual dynamics of domestic violence is to realize that a woman resists battery every ten seconds.
Intimidation is one of the main points in control; creating an atmosphere of fear by smashing walls or breaking lamps and furniture, threatening the other person or the children. Coupled with other forms of control, an abuser always feels the right to be in control; it goes with the territory. Isolation is a serious form of control in which the violator won't allow the other person to work outside the home, won't allow the other person to have friends, is often extremely jealous, and even goes so far as to determine what the other person is allowed to read.
A violator will often blame the violated person by saying, it was just a joke, a little tap on the chin, when in reality, the woman has broken teeth and a split lip. She over reacted, she knows all the right buttons to push, she knows I don't like my eggs cooked that way. Shifting the blame, claiming innocence, even denying the event are all part of the controlling of another person.
In Nevada, domestic violence is a major factor in the overall crime rate, with the Silver State having more female violent deaths per capita than any other state. Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is leading the fight statewide. “Addressing the issue of Domestic Violence in Nevada is one of my top priorities as our state’s Attorney General and working with law enforcement and prosecutors is key to offender accountability,” she said. General Masto announced the implementation of two statewide programs to address domestic violence in the state.
One program is intended to assist law enforcement officials, the other to assist prosecutors. “These two programs are important because they are giving valuable information to our state law enforcement and prosecutors on how to best handle cases of domestic violence.” Some 300 training CDs will be available for law enforcement training and would be used by as many as 16,000 officers at the local level. The program was put together in a collaborative effort between the AG and the Nevada Commission on Peace Officers Standards Training, known as Nevada POST.
“The problem most prosecutors face in a domestic violence case is that most of the time, the victim will end up recanting his or her story, so the prosecutor needs to rely on physical evidence that a crime has been committed and prosecutors rely on the responding law enforcement officers to provide that evidence,” said Kareen Prentice, Nevada’s Domestic Violence Ombudsman. “This training CD will assist law enforcement officers and those who complete it will also receive POST credits toward their annual certification requirements.”
The other program is aimed at helping Nevada’s prosecutors in prosecuting domestic violence cases. In 2004 the Prosecution Advisory Council initiated the Nevada Domestic Violence Prosecution Best Practices Project, which utilized federal grant funding to convene a multi-disciplinary advisory group that surveyed current prosecution practices and developed a statewide set of Best Practices to enhance victim safety and offender accountability.
Pilot implementation sites in several communities are now building the best practices into their current infrastructure with technical assistance from NVPAC. This grant is from the Office of Violence Against Women and is administered by the Office of the Attorney General. Those communities include the City of Henderson and Churchill, Eureka, Humboldt, Lincoln and White Pine Counties.
One of the problems with domestic violence stems directly from the dominating and controlling individuals, the threats of violence, the actual violence with threats of more if the person who has been abused goes to the police. Children are used as shields, threats of being left destitute are regularly used, telling the victim that the police will never believe such nonsense. It takes a strong person to get out, and luckily for many, there are ways to get help getting out.
One of those is called an Order of Protection or more commonly a protective order sometimes simply a court order, and it is designed to require "an abusive household or family member or dating partner to do or not to do certain things," according to the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence (NNADV). The protective order law came into effect in 1985 and involves a civil court proceeding that specifically addresses domestic violence situations. It has probably saved many lives, protected many adults and children in its short life.
There are two kinds of protective orders, temporary and extended. There is no cost to acquire an order of protection, no attorney is needed, and the order is given within one day. For a temporary order, the victim goes before a judge, the accused is not called on for testimony, and the judge must find there is good cause to grant it. Temporary court orders are in effect for 30-days. The order must be served on the accused before it goes into effect.
With a temporary court order, a judge can order any or all of the following:
• Forbid any further threats, harassment, or injury
• Order the abuser to vacate the home or not to enter the shared home for a period of time
• Prohibit the abuser from entering the victim's place of employment, school, or other specified location
• Award temporary legal custody of any children involved
• Any other relief the court considers necessary
An extended order involves a hearing with both parties present and usually follows a temporary order. An extended order can last for up to one year and usually has a few more restrictive prohibitions.
The key for relief is to get out, go to the police for help, get that court order, and follow through all along the process. It is only through power and control that an abuser wins, gets away with destroying a life, and doing hateful and harmful physical violence. Nevada's First Lady Dawn Gibbons is quick to comment when asked about domestic violence, "We must be vigilant in ensuring all women and children are safe from violent acts that are perpetrated against them by either a stranger or a loved one until there is---never again another abused woman or child"
When a person is faced with possible physical abuse, immediately call 911 and leave the scene to find help from a neighbor or friend. If the abuse is feared and you want help, there is a national hotline, 1-800-799-7233 and a Nevada statewide hotline 1-800-500-1556. Many of Nevada's counties have programs in place to help those suffering domestic violence and abuse.
For more information on the subject, go to the Attorney General's website, http://ag.state.nv.us.
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