What a Disgrace: Domestic Violence Needs to be Stopped Now

A few years ago an old friend reached out to me for help. He wasn’t someone I had considered a best friend but he was a person I had done things with at times. He was very secretive about his personal life however so it prevented anyone from being too close with him.

He was having marital problems and so he wanted someone to talk to. In time I realized he never had any negative things to say about his role in the marriage. Now anyone who has ever been married knows it is a two way street. No honest person would not admit they contribute to the hard times.

Without going into details, that frankly I want to forget, it became obvious that he was hiding something. Added to these events I had unfortunately seen the effects and symptons of domestic abuse on women I had known. In fact I was married to a woman who had been assaulted as a child by a male friend of her parents. To try and help I had done extensive research on the matter.

So my former friends behavior should’ve raised a big fat red flag sooner but you don’t want to believe a person you knew could be such a dispicable human being. But really should I have been that surprised?

Afterall one out of every three women are physically assaulted. 1 out of every 4 women are victims of domestic violence. In fact 1 out of 33 men will have been raped or have been a victim of attempted rape. And this only accounts for the persons who report their experience.

We throw these numbers around but what do we really know about this heinous crime? What we can do to stop it is an even bigger concern.

Keeping in mind that 16% of all violent crime is domestic violence. Again that is of the crimes reported. On average a person will have been assaulted 35 times before they call the police. This is a very high number. It is even higher because men especially are reluctant to report being victims. Nonetheless the fact is there are a countless number of victims who are not accounted for.

Yet despite the fact that it is grossly under reported, domestic violence claims the lives of 2 women every week and 30 men per year. More women are killed at the hand of a intimate friend or spouse then are killed in war, by cancer or in an accident. In fact 22% of all murders in 2002 were family murders.