Myths and Facts About Domestic Violence (Part Three)

Here is the third part in Ben's great series of Myths and Facts about Domestic Violence from the South Carolina Family Law Blog.

Myth: Law enforcement and judicial responses, such as arresting batterers or issuing civil protection orders, are useless.

Fact: There is a great deal of debate about the efficacy of particular actions by law enforcement or the judiciary. Research on the usefulness of mandatory arrest or civil protection orders has yielded conflicting results. Most experts agree, however, that actions by one piece of the system are only effective when the rest of the criminal justice and civil systems are functioning, and that improved protocols can decrease domestic violence related homicides. Thus, law enforcement officers must make arrests, prosecutors must prosecute domestic violence cases, and courts must enforce orders and impose sanctions for criminal convictions. It is important for batterers to receive the message from the community that domestic violence will not be tolerated, and that the criminal justice and law enforcement systems will be involved until the violence ceases.

Myth: Children are not affected when one parent abuses the other.

Fact: Studies show that in 50-70% of cases in which a parent abuses another parent, the children are also physically abused. Children also suffer emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and developmental impairments as a result of witnessing domestic violence in the home. In addition, some children (especially boys) who experience domestic violence in their homes grow up to repeat the same behavioral patterns.

For example, an advocate at a shelter in North Florida reported that one abuser threatened to come to the shelter and kill the victim and anyone who stood in his way. The abuser revealed that he knew where the shelter was because he stayed there as a child when his mother ran away from his father.

Myth: Domestic violence is irrelevant to parental fitness.

Fact:: Because children often suffer physical and emotional harm from living in violent homes, domestic violence is extremely relevant to parental fitness. A history of domestic violence can indicate that the perpetrating parent physically or emotionally abuses the child as well as the other parent. In addition, abusers frequently use the children as pawns to continue to control the other parent. Further, an abuser's focus on controlling the victim undermines the abuser's ability to parent because the primary concern is not the child. Courts should consider the effects of the abuser's behavior on the children when determining custody and visitation arrangements.

Some courts mistakenly penalize the victim in custody cases by assuming that the victim is emotionally unstable because of the violence or because the victim 'let the violence happen.' In most states, however, custody statutes now recognize that domestic violence is relevant to the abuser's parental fitness. Courts in most states are required to consider domestic violence as a factor in custody determinations or employ a presumption that perpetrators should not receive custody of the children.

Source: American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence

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