Recurring Theme in Domestic Violence Cases

The National Domestic Violence Hotline reports that 33 million or 15 percent of adults polled in a 2006 Harris Poll admitted that they were a victim of domestic violence, defined as "behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other" by domesticviolence.org.

Domestic Violence continues to be in the news on a daily basis. While most of it is bad news, there is also some hopeful news on the subject. For example, on July 23 it was announced that an interactive computer questionnaire may give family doctors a better opportunity to identify and intervene with patients who are victims of domestic violence, according to a new study from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

The interactive questionnaire is perhaps a step in the right direction and tackling this growing problem.

Three homicides in California's Sacramento County during the past week provide startling examples of how domestic violence can escalate unexpectedly and with deadly consequence.

Each of the deaths offers a stark reminder of an age-old problem, but they don't appear to signal a greater trend, according to data and officials' accounts.

Detectives have identified domestic violence as the motive in just four of the 30 homicides committed this year in the Sacramento city police and Sacramento County sheriff's jurisdictions – or 13 percent.

That number has fluctuated over the last several years: In 2008, 6 percent of homicides in those areas were attributed to domestic violence, down from 13 percent in 2007. The year before, it was 8 percent.

So far in 2009, city and county authorities have made 942 arrests for domestic violence. At that rate, arrests would be down only slightly from last year's total of 2,091.

What triggered each of the recent homicides – one in Elk Grove; one in Folsom, in which police say the shooter then committed suicide; one in Sacramento – remains unclear. But officials say economic turmoil often is behind surges in problems between partners or family members.

The past week's bloodshed has been particularly troubling to advocates for victims of domestic violence.

Beth Hassett, executive director of Women Escaping a Violent Environment, recently told the Sacramento Bee that her organization, which fields up to 20,000 calls a year, has not seen a spike in calls regarding domestic violence. But she said that more of the callers are reporting physical abuse – rather than verbal, emotional or financial abuse – and that money is a recurring theme.

"We're seeing already stressed relationships are getting more volatile," Hassett told The Bee. "It's terrible, but it seems it's a result of the bad economy and everybody being in such a terrible space right now."

Recently the case of Chris Brown and Rihanna brought the issue of domestic violence brought a little more attention to domestic violence. R&B singer Brown, 20, assaulted his former girlfriend, pop artist Rihanna, 21, at a Grammy Awards pre-party on February 8.

He was convicted of felony assault in June and will be formally sentenced to 180 days of community service and five years of probation on August 5. He will also attend a two-week course on domestic violence.

People seem to be divided in their views about his actions. Some think we should let him serve his sentence, the standard for first-time offenders, in peace.

Others are outraged at the idea of letting him get out of jail time and pardoning him.

Recently retired National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy wrote online that the coverage was a prime opportunity to tackle the issue: "Much coverage, unfortunately, has been from the celebrity scandal angle with precious little substance. It’s no wonder that so many women and men have engaged in an enormous amount of victim-blaming. Outrageous comments about Rihanna, and what she must have done to 'deserve' a beating, are all over the Internet. As frustrating as these comments are, there is much to be learned from them."

I, myself, believe the best thing we can all learn from Brown and Rihanna is to be aware of domestic violence, to understand that it is prevalent; not sweep it under the rug or shrug it off as another one of those things that only happens to other people. To reach out to and empower victims, to educate ourselves and direct our resources toward ending the violence can be our apology to victims, our way of saying that we’re sorry, we are listening and we do care.