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| No Excuse For Abuse Battered Women Aided |
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| Wednesday, April 7,
1999 Page M03 By Hamil R. Harris As Kinaya Sokoya, executive director of the Family Crisis Center of Prince George's County, well knows, domestic abuse takes many forms: A 35-year-old Riverdale woman is ordered to her knees. Then her husband slips the cold barrel of a gun into her mouth but does not pull the trigger. Two Hyattsville teenagers are not even married. She looks at another man. He feels disrespected in public, so he beats her up. A Mitchellville couple drives to the counseling session in separate Mercedes Benz sedans. The wife wants a divorce. The husband doesn't want to get stuck with a mortgage, so he gets physical. Sokoya cites these cases to show how domestic violence touches people in all social and economic groups. "By the time many women get here, the violence is so bad [and] the hope of getting back together with their mate is not good," said Sokoya, who runs a private nonprofit that is the county's only shelter specifically for battered women. She knows firsthand of the terror. In 1971, she used a kitchen knife to protect herself and her daughter from an angry boyfriend. Two decades later, she is one of the county's leading educators against domestic violence. "Usually women feel responsible for the problems in the relationship. They feel a lot of guilt. This center is the last resort for a lot of families," Sokoya said. From Shon Miller, who walked into New Saint John Fellowship Baptist Church in Gonzales, La., and fatally shot his wife and 2-year-old son, to Tsu "John" Liu, who killed his wife and her daughter outside a Howard County courthouse, domestic violence is a deadly problem that spares no racial or economic group. According to a study funded by the National Consortium on Violence Research, the number of women slain by their "intimate partners" over the last two decades has remained high, even though the number of men killed by their girlfriends, wives or ex-wives has dropped by more than two-thirds since 1976. In an analysis of FBI statistics from the 29 largest U.S. cities, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Missouri found that 1,357 men and 1,437 women were killed by their partners in 1976. In 1997, the number of male cases fell to 430, while the number of women killed was 1,174. In the Washington area, the number of men killed by their partners fell from 22 in 1977 to 4 in 1996, and the number of women killed fell from 27 in 1977 to 16 in 1996. In Maryland, state officials said, domestic violence remains a big problem. The annual report of the Maryland Judiciary shows Prince George's County leading other Washington area jurisdictions in the number of domestic violence hearings from July 1, 1996, to June 30, 1997, the latest year for which statistics are available. During that period, there were 2,572 domestic abuse hearings in Prince George's County courts. In Anne Arundel County, there were 1,185 hearings. Montgomery County held 843, and Howard County held 237. Baltimore City reported the greatest number with 2,876. Although Prince George's appears to have the greatest number of reported cases in the Washington area, state officials are quick to point out that the figure could result from a greater education effort in the county. Last year, the Prince George's sheriff's department served more than 6,000 restraining orders in domestic violence cases to spouses, relatives and other domestic partners, compared with about 3,000 in 1993. "Domestic violence is the last thing people can resort to when they have problems," said Prince George's County Sheriff Alfonso D. Black, whose department was the first local law enforcement agency in the state to track domestic violence cases. Lt. Louis Oertly, commander of the department's Domestic Violence Unit, said: "The numbers of cases have been going up every year, but we don't know if there are really more cases of domestic abuse or just more people reporting abuse. . . . We are trying to let people know that early intervention is the key. . . . This is a problem in every neighborhood and social economic group, from Woodmore to Accokeek." As part of their legislative agenda, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) and Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., co-chairs of the Maryland Family Violence Council, are supporting a number of bills that deal with the issue of domestic violence. "It's an enormous issue because it affects not only women primarily," Townsend said. "It also affects their children and the next generation, because we see that violence learned from a father is often passed on to the son." One of the bills, introduced by Sen. Delores Kelley (D-Baltimore), would expand those eligible for protective orders to include people involved in dating relationships. Currently, Maryland law allows protective orders only for people who have children with, live with, or are or were married to an offender. Del. Ann Marie Doory (D-Baltimore) introduced legislation that would grant judges authority to order law enforcement officers to search and seize guns from abusers at protective order hearings. Del. Sharon Grosfeld (D-Montgomery) has introduced yet another bill that would make it easier for victims of domestic violence who are fleeing abusers to relocate in Maryland. Currently, out-of-state victims are denied protective orders if the home they shared with the abuser is in another state. "If we are going to make a difference fighting domestic violence, we have to protect victims, notwithstanding they may be unmarried or live out-of-state," Curran said. The Rev. Imagene B. Stewart, who operates House of Imagene shelters for battered women in the District and Maryland, said she has noticed an increase of girlfriends and unmarried women coming to her shelters. "There is so much tension between men and women today," said Stewart, an outspoken activist who thinks some women have contributed to the problem. "We as women need to look at ourselves." The Family Crisis Center, which opened its doors in 1983, offers various services for couples and an emergency shelter for women. There is a conflict resolution program, counselors, a program for children who witness abuse and a "Rights of Passages" program to teach children how to relate to the opposite sex. Sokoya said her facility needs more than just money to remain viable. Because of the state's reimbursement system, she said, she routinely has doled out as much as $60,000 while waiting at least 45 days for state checks. "We have been experiencing a cash flow problem because our contracts are paid on a reimbursement basis," said Sokoya, whose facility has an $800,000 budget, $295,000 of which comes from the county, $291,000 from the state and the remainder from private donations. Sokoya said her organization provided emergency shelter for more than 300 women last year and counseled 500 others. "With many adolescents, you have these de-facto marriages. Young people are checking up on each other, this leads to domestic violence," Sokoya said. "We have to get involved with people early." Townsend said: "Too often, women were ashamed and were not financially capable of taking care of themselves and would agree to live in an abusive relationship. Now women have many more options." Townsend said domestic abuse can be prevented with more education. "We can help stop it by encouraging women to come forward, so they are no longer in that abusive relationship," she said, "and by underscoring that the first slap is unacceptable and that women and men can get help quickly." For more information about domestic violence: Lt. Governor's Family Violence Council: 410-576-6953 The Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence: 301-352-4574 The Family Crisis Center Hot Line: 301-864-9101 Prince George's sheriff's department Domestic Violence Unit: 301-952-4000 © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company |
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