Domestic Violence Fatalities in Georgia 2004 - 2006

 

Her name was Virginia and she called the hotline looking for shelter. She was quickly screened and promised two beds: one for her and one for her 15 year old daughter. She told the advocate that she would be there right after work. She would pick up her daughter from school and be right there. Although the writing had been on the wall for a while, Dean, her husband of 16 years had refused a divorce or separation. He had said more than once, “If I can’t have you nobody can.” It had been said as a promise, as a dare and as matter of fact-ly as pass the cornbread. It stopped having its impact. So, Virginia had enough of all of it. All of it. She was ready.

 

Five o’clock came and went. Five thirty. Six o’clock. Then, the eleven o’clock news.

 

At about 3:30 Dean called to admit his defeat. He said he knew Virginia was unhappy and had been for a long time. He was sorry he had caused her so much pain. He never meant to hurt her. As a peace offering, he was willing to give her what she wanted. He wouldn’t cause her any more grief. He would leave the house and let her come get her things. She could take whatever she wanted. He would sign any papers, but wanted to keep the house because it was inherited from his parents. It was just what Virginia hoped would happen.

 

So, Virginia picked up her daughter and got a few empty boxes and went to get her things. She made it out of the car and a few steps before the shotgun blast pierced the air and ended her life. Within seconds, the 15 year old fell dead next to her mother.

 

Twenty seven years ago, that event sealed the career of a young advocate with a few days on the job. There have been several others, but none affected me more what happened to Virginia Morgan so long ago.

 

We have made progress in domestic violence advocacy since then. We especially have improved safety planning, separation strategies, and protocols for helping someone get into shelter. We have not, however, figured out exactly how to keep women alive when batterers are determined to snuff-out their final destiny.

 

Domestic violence continues to be a leading cause of death for girls and women between the ages of 15 and 44 in Georgia.[1]

 

Georgia currently ranks 7^th in the country for its rate of female homicide.[2]

 

From the data collected here in Georgia between 2003-2006, we know that an average of 120 domestic violence homicides occur each year in the state.[3]

 

Due to shortcomings in the way data is collected, reported and analyzed, there is a widely held belief that this number is, in fact, lower than the actual number of deaths.

 

The information I want present today comes from finding within the Georgia Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project. This is joint effort of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence and the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

 

These two organizations facilitate the research and analysis of domestic violence deaths in Georgia through local Fatality Review Teams.

 

Our teams are situated in local communities around the state and consist of a variety of participants including, for example, prosecutors, police detectives, probation officers, DCFS workers, attorneys, and advocates.

 

In some communities the teams include clergy members who understand the spiritual dynamics of battering and animal control workers who comprehend how killing a family pet is often an indicator or precipice to killing a human family member.

 

Although we have statistics, our Fatality Review Teams pride themselves on qualitative analysis of homicide cases: on peeling away layers of information and learning true-to-life facts about victims and perpetrators.

 

These facts, we assume, will not only point to some pre-homicide indicators of domestic violence to better assist in the prevention of death, but also to create meaningful early intervention.

 

Our greatest hope would be to interrupt violence before it leads to homicide ---- or prevent domestic violence altogether in some or many cases. This education today is part of our prevention effort. I challenge you to go to our websites and read the entire 2006 Fatality Review Report. (By the way, to web addresses are www.gcadv.org and www.gcfv.org)

 

What have we learned about domestic violence homicides in Georgia?

 

(Side note: In considering domestic violence, in general, and especially the homicides, I submit that we will learn more and be more effective if we focus on the batterer not the victim. If we major on the batterer and minor on the victim, we will gain more insight and knowledge of how it goes from control dynamics to violence to homicide. If we look at the victim, our pro-active choices will be contaminated, for the victim is not the aggressor.)

 

We have confirmed some knowledge that advocates have assumed for years; such as most batterers use guns to kill their victims, that most are killed at home and that there is a large correlation between homicides and victims’ desires to separate from their batterers. We will talk more about these in a few minutes.

 

So, let me give you some of the actual findings[4] and see if we can draw some conclusions together.

 

1. In our overall findings, 96% of domestic violence primary victims in Georgia were female. Within the 4% male victims, 2% were same sex-partners and 2% were female perpetrators.

 

Types of cases.

2. In 2006 60% of our reviewed cases were single-death incidents. In other words, one fatality per crime scene. That means, however, that in 40% of the cases, others people were also killed.

 

30% of the cases were homicide/suicide events and 10% included the deaths of others, such as children (6%), family members, friends or bystanders.

 

An example of a bystander would be someone nearby in the workplace or on the street. Half of the victims were murdered in their own homes.

 

3. For those of us who think it could never affect us, 7% of the murders were committed in front of strangers--- people unknown to the batterers or their victims, but whose lives were also deeply impacted by the crime and now at risk for the effects of trauma.

 

By the way 87% of the murders were committed in close proximity to potential witnesses, for example in an adjoining room or standing a short distance away.

 

Think of the times you may have witnessed public arguments or fights. Think of your own proximity to the action. If this had been one of those cases, could you have reacted fast enough, rationally to save your own life?

 

The unfortunate truth is that many people wander in and who die at other people’s crime scenes.

 

Batterers: Depression and Suicide

4. We found that 37% of homicide perpetrators were known to have threatened or attempted suicide prior to committing the homicide against their intimate partners.

 

31% either attempted or completed suicide at the scene or soon thereafter. 26% were known to have had a history or current problems with depression.

 

So, if you are in a position to know a depressed

batterer or one who has threatened suicide, this should be a call to action.

n     Incorporate this into all safety planning for victims

n     Always ask about depression and suicide thoughts of batterers

n     Always accommodate safety for not only the primary victim, but children and others at risk

n     Determine whether involuntary mental health assessment is appropriate.

 

I hesitate to push this subject too far because of one case in which I provided some small advocacy.

The husband had not only threatened and acted out dangerous behaviors, he had stalked and, at one point, waved a gun in front of the house of the friends to which his wife had to for help. So, he was involuntarily committed for 72 hours. He calmed down. He took medications. He assured doctors he was okay now. They had no legal ability to keep him, as they could see apparent differences in him since admission. A few hours after his release, he showed up in the parking lot of her place of employment and waited for her to get off work. He shot her, then himself, leaving a young teenaged daughter to adjust to life.

 

So, although treatment may deescalated batterers, and provide valuable time. Advocates and counselors, family members and friends are charged with the responsibility of interpreting the potentials. We must assist women in arranging for safe alternatives and plan for worst case scenarios. As intervention, no matter how well intentioned or effective, can also escalate batterers’ intent to control.

 

Please do not assume that taking medication will make the battering go away. It will more likely change some of the triggers and alter some dynamics.

 

Some dynamics:

n     If the batterer takes medications inconsistently or not at all, it could make him less predictable for victim

n     victim may get a false sense of security.

 

Weapons of Choice

5. Half of the murders and murder suicides, in our 2006 review, were committed with guns. 20% were by stabbing, 10% were by strangulation and 20% by blunt or sharp force trauma.

 

Regardless of where you stand on the general issue of guns, I wonder whether I can convince you that batterers with guns is a bad idea?

 

How about depressed or suicidal batterers with guns?

 

There are current Federal laws that empower the removal of guns from batterers who have protection orders against them or who have been convicted of certain misdemeanor domestic violence crimes.

 

Unfortunately, far too few law enforcement agencies are removing guns from perpetrators. Far too few judges are ordering gun removal in protection order hearings.

 

Since we know that most domestic violence homicide victims are killed with guns by people with a violent history, we should insist on the enforcement of the Federal law in our local communities. It is not my intention to pile-on the police. In fact, decisions about these issues are typically made at high levels. If you are a law enforcement officer, please take up the cause. Talk with your superiors about existing law and ask for support on this issue.

 

Victims Help Seeking

6. 62% of Georgia’s domestic violence homicide victims had reached out to law enforcement for help prior to being murdered. 96% (2004-2006) had no major documented injury. Our assumption is that police didn’t see obvious evidence of injury. It is difficult to fully comprehend the implications of this, however, it is conceivable that battered women often call police to prevent injury, rather than to have a witness to it. We have known for years that over time and without significant intervention, the levels of danger typically escalate. This may especially be true in cases where victims reached out for help, but batterers were not held into account. It is very common for victims to tell their advocates that failed intervention bolsters a batterer’s power.

 

Criminal History.

7. The batterers in 57% of the cases had at least one violent offence arrest in their history. 39% of them were convicted felons. Either way, it is clear that this contact with the justice system is an indicator of ongoing risk. To assume that batterers make lifelong changes because of an arrest is a mistake. Whether within the justice system, intervention systems or in the community, being arrested for domestic violence is a strong indicator of future risk of more violence, including homicide.

 

I challenge those of you who are dating to consider whether your current partner has been arrested for domestic violence. No matter how innocent the story sounds, it’s in your best interest to educate yourself about warning signs of dating and domestic violence.

 

Separation and Divorce

8. In our 2004-2006 research, many victims had initiated thinking or actions to separate or divorce from their intimate partner. In 17% of the cases we have reviewed to-date, the victims had court-issued orders for protection.

 

Five cases had pending divorces. Clearly ¾ of the victims were employed and personal wages were their main source of support. The concept that financial dependency on the batterer is the reason victims stay is called into question in our findings. I contend that it is not the income that is the most forceful problem for victims, but the rules around spending that batterers enforce.

 

Advocates in the field of domestic violence response have known for a long time that leaving a batter is a dangerous time. We have always been nervous when others insist that she leave and get a protection order. A lot of our safety-planning interventions are built around escaping the home and being safe during those first weeks and months afterwards. The usefulness of protection orders should be closely evaluated. Will it provide real tools for safety or will it look like a red flag waving in front of a bull? Will is represent ultimate loss of control?

 

There is one fatal flaw with the traditional way we have approached the issue: we have not agreed on a definition of what it means to separate from a batterer.

 

In analyzing lethality, we have discovered that the definition of separation is in the hands of the batterer: the person we have the least access to and the one we are least likely to interview. The truth is that separation may happen in a batterer’s mind long before it enters his victim’s. The reality is that it does not matter what the victim intends to do as much as what the batterer thinks she is going to do. I have met countless battered women who insisted they had no thought of separation until their batterers acted on their suspicions of it. It can be subtle: she takes a class, changes her hair, gets a promotion, or loses weight. The victim is forced to live with whatever interpretation put on her behaviors by the batterer.

 

The Role of Family, Friends, and Community

9. Consistently in our researched findings, in fact about 2/3 of the time, family, friends and the immediate community around victims knew more than anyone else about the dynamics and events which indicated danger leading up to the homicides. With few exceptions, they were certainly poised to connect with this information.

 

This one should not be a total surprise to the advocates in the room. Although we often focus on how batterers isolate their victims from their families and friends, we are aware that this is usually systematic and that family and friends often make conscious choices not to watch the demoralization of their loved one. We hear a lot from victims about their family getting exhausted over time due to being targeted by the batterer, or due to watching the victim return to the batterer after a separation or because they simply do not know what to do.

 

 

Regardless of the reason, it’s clear to our team that those socially and spiritually closest to the victim are the ones who are in the best positions to make a difference.

 

As an adult survivor of watching my own mother being battered, this is a hard subject for me. I have a confession. After seeing my mother with numerous swollen, darkened eyes; after picking her up out of a ditch where she hid for hours until we could get there; after seeing her get over 100 stitches in her thigh due to the abuse of my step father, I found myself, as a college student living 2 hours from home turn my back on my mother. I remember telling her, during a failed attempt to offer her help, “don’t you even call me again until you are ready to leave this --- man--- for good.” She didn’t.

 

Although she did successfully leave him several years later, it wasn’t I who was there for her. It was strangers and friend of hers.

 

I was never called again.

 

It wasn’t until long after that night that I was told how close she came to death on several occasions. It wasn’t until after that that I was told how she stayed with him, in part, because of what he threatened to do to me if she left. What hurts most is that I actually did see her in those interim years, but she marked me off the list as someone to call for help. She called a stranger.

 

I often wonder how I would have lived with myself if he had killed her.

 

 

So, I ask you, what difference can you make?

 

How many times are you willing to go to the well for someone? You don’t have to approve of her staying with a batterer. You don’t have to give up your resources or money or put yourself in danger.

 

You can be the one who verbalizes the obvious. You can say:

 

You are being abused. It hurts me to watch this, but I am here for you.

 

I may not be able to give you money or a place to stay, but I can find you to a place that can help.

 

I will always have the hotline number when you need it.

 

Tell her she does not deserve to be abused, no one does.

 

It is not necessary or helpful to trash the batterer (it just tells her what you think of her decisions so far).

 

It is not helpful to give her deadlines or ultimatums. The batterer does that for her. We don’t want to act like the batterer, otherwise, why would she choose between look-alikes?

 

Remember, you may be the only person able or willing to do this for her.

 

 

 

So, it is clear to see that there are lessons and strategies we can all derive from these findings. Whether you are a law enforcement person, a counselor/clinician, a judge, a clergy member, an employer, friend or family member. The statistical snapshots call to us for action.

 

I read a quote recently that stated “every domestic violence death is a cry for change.”

 

For the legacies of those who taught us these lessons and for the lives of those on the brink of disaster, we cannot afford to be silent. We should not afford ourselves the luxury of believing it to be someone else’s responsibility to act. It is time for change.