October is Domestic Violence Month
Domestic violence is the most common cause of injury to women
and children. Last year, more than 13,400 domestic violence
crimes were reported to local law enforcement. That figure
doesn’t begin to tell the whole story because domestic violence
is one of the most seriously under reported crimes.
As your
The long term impact of early childhood violence is actually
proven and quite astounding. In 1998, two physicians, Vincent
Felitti, M.D. and Robert Anda, M.D., published a major report
that clearly demonstrated
the link between childhood maltreatment and later life
health and well-being. Their study involved over 17,000 adult
volunteers who were asked if they had grown up as children
experiencing any of the following: emotional or physical
neglect, recurrent physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual
abuse, substance abuse, a mother who was treated violently, or a
household member who had been incarcerated.
The higher the participants scored, meaning having experienced
one or more of these traumas, the significantly higher the
likelihood for criminal activity and self-harming behaviors in
adulthood, such as drug use, violent behavior and prostitution,
in addition to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension,
coronary artery disease and morbid obesity.
A striking finding by the physicians after this massive
number of interviews was that adverse childhood experiences and
maltreatment are vastly more frequent and common than previously
recognized or acknowledged.
As your county prosecutor, I am deeply committed to decreasing
the amount of domestic violence in our community. Here’s what my
office is doing about it.
First, we continue to work with law enforcement to ensure that
cases are appropriately investigated to enhance the preservation
of evidence. We
continue to work vigorously, aggressively and in a timely manner
to prosecute domestic violence to ensure that the offenders are
held accountable, and to protect the safety of the victim and
the community.
To address these goals,
Domestic Violence (DV) Court ensures that violent, serious and
repeat offenders do not slip through the cracks by guaranteeing that
all domestic violence cases are first reviewed by one judge, one
prosecutor and one victim advocate.
The worst offenders are kept in
We also continue to work to ensure that victims and their children
are afforded specialized crisis services by our Victim Witness
program, and appropriate follow-up services from community
organizations to enhance victim safety and ease victim trauma.
Lastly, we continue to hold offenders accountable, and when
appropriate, see that they are afforded rehabilitation and
treatment.
The
My office also provides the leadership and infrastructure for a new
broad-reaching community domestic violence task force that has
recently formed to deal with issues of inter-agency collaboration,
training, resources and victim services.
It is anticipated that these programs will lead to even more
collaboration and partnership with local agencies and organizations,
and provide opportunities for non-traditional, creative and
innovative strategies to further decrease the effects of domestic
violence.
We can never arrest and prosecute our way out of domestic violence.
When domestic violence is looked at from the medical, social,
economic and criminal justice
perspective, it is clear it affects all of us--our safety,
possibly our own personal health, our health care system and our
criminal justice system are at risk.
Medical findings alone strongly document the need for
communities to act with more intensive prevention and intervention
strategies.
As you read this, stop and pause for a moment. Think of what we could do as a community if we could raise just one generation of children without experiencing domestic violence. Just one generation. Think of the possibilities.