Ed Kemmick
October is domestic violence awareness month, but it already seems to have been domestic violence awareness year.
There has been an outpouring of stories on the subject since football player Ray Rice’s brutal assault of his then-fiancee Janay Palmer early last month was captured on videotape.
And whether it was a coincidence or a change in emphasis to reflect growing interest in the subject, the Billings Gazette has been jammed with stories of arrests, arraignments and convictions of men charged with domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, as it’s coming to be called.
On Page 2 of the Gazette’s Local & State section, in the midst of the usual parade of drunken drivers and meth dealers working the Bakken, lately there has been a rash of people charged with domestic violence.
Even after wading through all those ghastly accounts of violence, I’m sure many readers were shocked by the case involving Todd Michael Johnson, accused of beating four women in five separate assaults.
“Charging documents state,” the Gazette reported, “that in addition to using his fists and feet, Johnson has also used objects that include a belt, frying pan, 10-pound dumbbell and a pistol to beat women in five assaults dating back to April.”
In the face of such horror, there may be a tendency for awareness to turn into benumbment. It may seem too overwhelming. What else can we do but let the cops and courts do their job after the fact?
Well, how about this: You could support the YWCA Billings. The YWCA is not just the main provider of services to the victims of domestic violence in Billings. Its Gateway House domestic violence shelter is the only such shelter in a seven-county area encompassing 18,512 square miles.
In the past year, it gave 7,816 nights of safe shelter and respite from violence to 132 women and 122 children. It also provided victim support to 457 adults and 1,563 children.
On its 24-hour help line, the YWCA took 1,648 calls from people seeking information and counseling. Its counselors accompanied 114 rape victims to the hospital and provided follow-up services.
This fall, that ad campaign will be appearing on the front page of the Gazette’s sport section on NFL and college game days. As Merry Lee Olson, CEO of the YWCA Billings, said in a recent op-ed piece in the Gazette, “The timing of this campaign could not be more poignant or needed.”
You can also support efforts to expand programs that seek to break the cycle of domestic violence. It seems like an intractable problem, but it’s not. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, “Decades of studies show that about 60% to 70% of abusive men who complete a comprehensive batterer treatment program can reform.”
The most effective treatment programs were small, combining education and therapy, and meeting at least once a week for four months to a year. Given the horrible costs to society of domestic violence, providing this kind of treatment seems like a fairly small investment.
And then let’s support aggressive prosecution of perpetrators who can’t or won’t reform. According to the same Wall Street Journal article, experts say there is a subset of abusers they call an “intimate partner terrorist.” Such a man — say the kind of person who would attack four women over a short period of time — is “obsessed with power and control, terrorizes his partner, erodes her self-esteem, wields financial control and is jealous and possessive,” according to the Journal.
All you can do with a terrorist is put him away as long as possible.
That will make it easier to help those who truly want help. And in the meantime, you can help the victims of domestic assault by going to the website of the YWCA Billings and clicking on “Donate Now.” The same page will tell you all sorts of ways you can get involved as a volunteer.
