Lies By Omission, An Open Letter to Congress re DV Awareness Month by R. Davis

The Lies By Omission, An Open Letter to Congress regarding Domestic Violence Awareness Month March 28, 2008 The Lies by Omission Chapter 12 of Domestic Violence: Intervention, Prevention, Policies, and Solutions is an open letter to the members of the U.S. Congress. Reading from September 25, 2007 of the Congressional Record it seems to me that the members (it passed 395 – 0) who voted for resolution, H. Res. 590 (view below), may not be aware of what they voted for. Representative Dan Burton claims that Congress is very much aware of domestic violence statistics while in reality, as the resolution obviously documents, he and Congress are either unaware of the statistics concerning male victimization or they purposely choose to exclude those statistics. Representative Jim Costa notes that, “We must remember that domestic violence victims are our sons. They are our daughters. They are our sisters and our brothers, even our parents and our neighbors.” Representative John Kline claims we only think of women and not men as victims of domestic violence. Kline seems unaware that he plays an integral role in that misrepresentation. All the members of the 110th Congress seem unable or unwilling to understand that their resolution implicitly presents males as violent and aggressive abusers and females as their passive and docile victims by its exclusion of statistics concerning male victimization. Apparently when he voted Costa forgot to remember the victimization of our sons and brothers. It appears that Burton, Costa, Kline and all the members of Congress do not recognize that the resolution they voted for is clearly filled with the lies of omission. The resolution begins with, “Whereas one in four women will experience domestic violence sometime in her life.” Apparently no one in Congress noticed this very clear and purposeful exclusion of male victimization. And with this omission of male victimization and female offending comes the thinly veiled implication that males are the cause of domestic violence. The resolution reports that 13 percent of teenage girls who have been in a relationship report being hit or hurt by their partner. The resolution does not report the fact that the same study on the same page documents that 17 percent of teenage boys report being hit or hurt by their partner. The resolution, through the use of a single study about “abusive” fathers not fathers in general, implicitly paints all fathers who have been involved in custody disputes as little more than violent and cruel men who abuse both their wives and children. The resolution includes some statistics concerning the homicides of women and the attempted suicides of girls while it excludes any mention of the homicides of men and the suicides of boys involved in intimate relationships. Regardless of percentage differentials, excluding the murders of men and boys in intimate relationships both minimizes and trivializes their deaths. Because I do not believe that many, if any, members of Congress will read my book I have decided to place Chapter 12 of my book, in its entirety, on the internet in hyperlink format for use by anyone concerned about domestic violence awareness. I urge anyone that wants to remember the victimization of both their daughters and sons to place this introduction and Chapter 12 on their website. And please pass this open letter along to others who will do the same. I also ask that the readers pass this open letter on to whoever represents them in Congress. Afterword 12 ____________________________________________________________________ William Jennings Bryan: “I do not think about the things that I do not think about.” Clarence Darrow: “Do you ever think about the things that you do think about.” Inherit the Wind Introduction This is intended to serve as an open letter to the members of the U.S. Congress. The very weekend I intended to submit the manuscript for this book I received an email from http://http://www.mediaradar.org/ concerning the following Congressional resolution, H.RES. 590. which was waiting the approval of the 110th Congress. I absolutely agree with the 110th Congress that it should become involved in raising awareness about the devastating effects domestic violence has on families and communities. The most important goal of this book, in general, and this chapter, in particular, is to help our public policy makers to ruminate on the things they are thinking about when they think about domestic violence. If the members of Congress do not have enough time to read this book, I request that, in the interest of raising awareness, the members of Congress find the time to read this short chapter. When the members of the 110th Congress thought about domestic violence they did think about women, and, as the bill clearly documents, they did not think about nor report about men as victims. In the Congressional resolution that follows men are portrayed as abusers, not as victims; boys are portrayed as abusers, not as victims. Although members of Congress may want to raise domestic violence awareness, in their resolution they simply ignore the victimization of men when they write, “Whereas one in four women will experience domestic violence sometime in her life.” The Resolution 110th CONGRESS, 1st Session, H. RES. 590 Supporting the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should raise awareness of domestic violence in the United States and its devastating effects on families and communities. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 31, 2007 Mr. POE (for himself, Mr. COSTA, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. COHEN, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. HOLDEN, Mrs MALONEY of New York, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. FILNER, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. ELLISON, Mrs. DRAKE, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. MICHAUD, Mrs. BIGGERT, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. NADLER, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. WYNN, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, and Mr. SHAYS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor Resolution Supporting the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should raise awareness of domestic violence in the United States and its devastating effects on families and communities. Whereas one in four women will experience domestic violence sometime in her life; Whereas domestic violence affects people of all ages, racial, ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds Whereas women ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rates, per capita, of intimate partner violence; Whereas 13 percent of teenage girls who have been in a relationship report being hit or hurt by their partners and one in four teenage girls has been in a relationship in which she was pressured into performing sexual acts by her partner; Whereas there is a need for middle schools, secondary schools, and post-secondary schools to educate students about the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking; Whereas the annual cost of lost productivity due to domestic violence is estimated as $727,800,000 with over $7,900,000 paid workdays lost per year; Whereas homicides were the second leading cause of death on the job for women, with 15 percent of the 119 workplace homicides of women in 2003 attributed to a current or former husband or boyfriend; Whereas landlords frequently deny housing to victims of domestic violence who have protection orders or evict victims of domestic violence for seeking help, such as by calling 911, after a domestic violence incident or who have other indications that they are domestic violence victims; Whereas 92 percent of homeless women experience severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lifetimes; Whereas Americans suffer 2,200,000 medically treated injuries due to interpersonal violence annually, at a cost of $37,000,000,000 ($33,000,000,000 in productivity losses, $4,000,000,000 in medical treatment); Whereas people aged 15 to 44 years comprise 44 percent of the population, but account for nearly 75 percent of injuries and 83 percent of costs due to interpersonal violence; Whereas 40 to 60 percent of men who abuse women also abuse children; Whereas male children exposed to domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners; Whereas children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, and engage in teenage prostitution; Whereas adolescent girls who reported dating violence were 60 percent more likely to report one or more suicide attempts in the past year; Whereas 13.7 percent of the victims of murder-suicide cases were the children of the perpetrator and 74.6 percent were female while 91.9 percent of the perpetrators were male; in 30 percent of those cases the male perpetrator also committed suicide; Whereas a 2001 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on homicide among intimate partners found that female intimate partners are more likely to be murdered with a firearm than all other means combined; Whereas according to one study, during court ordered visitation, five percent of abusive fathers threaten to kill their spouses, 34 percent of abusive fathers threaten to kidnap their children, and 25 percent of abusive fathers threaten to physically hurt their children; Whereas 88 percent of men think that our society should do more to respect women and girls; Whereas homicide is the third leading cause of death for Native American women and 75 percent of Native American women who are killed are killed by a family member or an acquaintance; Whereas men say that the entertainment industry, government leaders and elected officials, the sports industry, schools, colleges and universities, the news media and employers should be doing more to prevent intimate partner violence; Whereas individuals and organizations that are dedicated to preventing and ending domestic violence should be recognized: Whereas there is a need to increase funding for programs carried out under the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA 2005), Public Law 109-162, aimed at intervening and preventing domestic violence in the United States; and Now, therefore, be it resolved, That the House of Representatives-- Supports the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month; and Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should continue to raise awareness of domestic violence in the United States and its devastating effects on families and communities. Thinking about Thinking I suggest that if the members of Congress want to raise awareness about domestic violence and its devastating effects on families and communities the members of Congress need to become more aware themselves of the complexities of domestic violence. This Congressional bill demonstrates that the members of Congress are unaware of or have chosen to ignore the data reported in the following studies funded by Congress. Although the 110th Congress Resolution 590 claims that Congress wants to raise awareness of domestic violence, it actually demonstrates the lack of awareness they have about male victimization, i.e., the Resolution claims that “one I four women will experience domestic violence sometime in her life.” This claim most likely results from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) which shows that nearly 25 percent of women report victimization. However, why does Resolution 590 make no attempt to raise awareness about the fact that 7.6 percent of surveyed men also report being domestic violence victims (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000a, p. 111)? Congress is most likely not aware that the NVAWS also reports that women are twice as likely as men to report their victimization. Resolution 590 also claims that “13% of teenage girls who have been in a relationship report being hit or hurt by their partner.” There is no reason to dispute that, but what the Resolution does not report is that claim most likely comes from the Teen Relationship Abuse Survey, which reports on the same page (11) that 17% of teenage boys report being hit or hurt by their partner. Is the 110th Congress not aware of that data, or has it chosen to raise the awareness of the victimization of our daughters while ignoring the victimization of our sons? Resolution 590 does nothing to raise awareness that domestic violence can affect all people of all ages, racial, ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds (Wallace, 2002). It does nothing to raise awareness that women who abuse men also abuse children (McDonald, Caetano, Green, Jouriles and Ramisetty-Mikler, 2006). In fact, a careful reading of the Resolution shows that it often reports male offending and rarely documents data that now report male victimization (Fiebert, 2005). "Advancing the Federal Research Agenda On Violence Against Women” The Federal public policy makers and their staff, as I have previously noted, need to become aware of the “Advancing the Federal Research Agenda on Violence Against Women” (Kruttschnitt, McLaughlin & Petrie 2004) http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10849.html . The Congressional resolution herein clearly documents that the members of Congress have either ignored or are unaware of the above report. "The Exposure Reduction or Backlash? The Effects of Domestic Violence Resources on Intimate Partner Homicide” A National Institute of Justice (NIJ) sponsored study that Congress needs to be read is The Exposure Reduction or Backlash? The Effects of Domestic Violence Resources on Intimate Partner Homicide (Dugin, Nagin, and Rosenfeld, 2001) http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/grants/186194.pdf. This report notes simply being willing to prosecute cases of protection order violations may aggravate already tumultuous relationships. As prosecution willingness increases, we observe increases in homicide for white spouses… Also, more white females are killed by their boyfriends. The largest effect is for white married females… As the willingness index increases by 1, the expected number of white wives killed nearly doubles. "Controlling Violence against Women: A Research Perspective On the 1994 VAWA’s Criminal Justice Impacts” Congress also needs to be aware of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report, Controlling Violence Against Women: A Research Perspective on the 1994 VAWA’s Criminal Justice Impacts (Ford, Bachman, Friend & Meloy, 2002, p. 75) http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/197137.pdf. which concludes the following: But strong evidence that one policy is more effective than another in addressing recidivism is elusive. We still have much to learn about the differences in offenders and differences in populations of victims to justify advocating one policy over another without qualification. On the next page it concludes that: Above all, they [public policy makers] need to know that their policies and practices will not endanger women [emphasis added]. Unfortunately, there are too few preventive impact evaluations of policies already in place and fewer still that approach methodological standards insuring sound data for shaping policy (p. 76). The fact that there are no evaluations in place, no methodological standards and no data that can demonstrate that mandatory domestic violence policies and practices will not endanger some victims did not prevent federal and local public policy makers from implementing those policies. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): Overview The members of Congress, particularly those who sponsored the above resolution, H.RES 590, provided in its entirety herein, because it includes the victimization of females and excludes the victimization of males, need to become more aware of the findings from National Violence Against Women Survey that is cosponsored by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control (Tjaden and Thoeenes, 2000a, p. iii). http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf This research has been available to the members of Congress since July of 2000. Intimate partner violence is pervasive in U.S. society. Nearly 25 percent of surveyed women and 7.6 percent of surveyed men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some time in their lifetime; 1.5 percent of surveyed women and 0.9 percent of surveyed men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a partner in the previous 12 months. According to these estimates, approximately 1.5 million women and 834,732 men are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States. Because many victims are victimized more than once, the number of intimate partner victimization exceeds the number of intimate partner victims annually. Thus, approximately 4.8 million intimate partner rapes and physical assaults are perpetrated against U.S. women annually, and approximately 2.9 million intimate partner physical assaults are committed against U.S. men annually. These findings suggest the intimate partner violence is a serious criminal justice and public health concern. On page 24: For example, 40% of surveyed women and 54% of surveyed men said they were physically assaulted as a child by an adult caretaker. On page 29: Research on violence in same-sex relationships has been limited to studies of small, unrepresentative samples of gay and lesbian couples. Results from these studies suggest that same-sex couples are about as violent as heterosexual couples. On page 49: The survey found that women who were physically assaulted by an intimate were significantly more likely than their male counterparts to report their victimization to the police (26.7% and 13.5%, respectively). On page 50: A comparison of police responses to reports of physical assault committed against women and men by intimates showed that police were significantly more likely to take a report and to arrest or detain the perpetrator if the victim was female. And the final sentence in the report on page 57: Given these findings, criminal justice practitioners should receive comprehensive training about the safety needs of victims and the need to conduct community outreach to encourage victims of intimate partner violence to report their victimization to the police. Conclusion As stated in the resolution the Congressional goal is to, “raise awareness of domestic violence in the United States and its devastating effects on families and communities.” Perhaps it is time that Congress become aware that domestic violence has devastating effects on children, siblings, spouses, intimate partners and the elderly regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Perhaps sometime in the 21st century Congress will become aware of the reams of data that document male victimization and female offending _______________________________________________ Richard L. Davis President, http://www.familynonviolence.org/ http://us.f557.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=rldavis@post.harvard.edu