The link allows downloading the fourteen page full item in pdf form. Here is the abstract and citation info, from the link, with a link there to download.
The Dangerous Shortage Of Domestic Violence Services
Radha Iyengar 1* Lindsay Sabik 2
1 Radha Iyengar is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics, London School of Economics.
2 Lindsay Sabik is a graduate student in health policy at Harvard University in Cambridge.
*Corresponding author.
Abstract
Domestic violence is a serious, preventable health problem affecting more than thirty million Americans annually, yet little is known about federally funded service provision. We used the National Census of Domestic Violence Services, an innovative victim-safety focused survey, to count services provided by more than 2,000 programs. During the twenty-four-hour survey period, 48,350 people used these services. The results show substantial unmet demand for services (10 percent of requests) because of resource constraints, particularly in rural, economically disadvantaged, and minority communities. Greater funding of domestic violence programs, particularly housing support, is likely to be a cost-effective public health investment. [>Health Affairs 28, no. 6 (2009): w1052-w1065 (published online 22 September 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.w1052)]
Key Words: Consumer Issues, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Maternal And Child Health, Public Health
Presumably the GOP is satisfied with the status quo, here as elsewhere.
..............
Update - Aside from the post and the comments, we live in an imperfect world. This is what the Abuse Statute ought to have prevented. With all the tortured souls out there - us, in a way but certainly more extreme - some of them deserving protection are insufficiently protected while in other cases some mean-hearted bozo can abuse that statute and cheapen it. Misuse of the statute offends the entire world and should not be. But, as both comments indicate, people are imperfect and justice is imperfectly handled, with some trying to make it better and some consciously misusing laws, to make it worse. More important by far, however, is when sad situations we all know should be preventable, are unprevented, and the system fails in a manner as the Strib item reported. That is a far heavier weight on society than any abusive use of the statute could ever be, and we are fortunate if we avoid living in the kind of hell that leads to a murder-suicide between spouses of twenty-two years.
There have to be better ways.
2 comments:
Domestic abuse is going the same was as sexual harassment. No one supported a boss demanding sexual benefits in exchange for a paycheck (except perhaps Letterman) so sexual harassment laws were enacted. Suddenly talking about last nights sit-com became sexual harassment. It cheapened what true sexual harassment victims had endured.
Now the same thing is happening with domestic violence. No one wants to see women or men beaten up but let’s not define down the offense to the point that changing the TV channel is abuse.
When everything becomes a crime everyone becomes a criminal.
Anon - Good point. The clerks in the Court Clerk's office can get overzealous, and any asshole off the streets can abuse the Abuse Statute by filing a "harassment" complaint against a stranger, not a household member, and get an ex parte restraining order signed by some inattentive judge on the chambers calendar in Anoka County. Notice automatically is given the police who then must at public expense involve themselves in such a match.
Then the victim must defend against the asshole.
It's unjust, it's excessive, it's cheapening to the intent of the statute, but there are people who will do that.
That entire process can be used to attempt a prior restraint on speech - say a blogger publishes, and one commented on instead of claiming to have been defamed, says "harassment" and uses the family law calendar to impede constitutional rights. It can happen.
Still, you cannot throw the baby out with bathwater solely because of such despicable folks being alive and active.
Spouse beating or child beating is so serious a thing that you must tolerate some things that are outrageous in order to not lose the protections that matter against physical harm.
Post a Comment