David Paterson

Domestic Violence: A Problem Behind Closed Doors No More

They say home is where the heart is, but for many home is a place of heartbreak. The month of October was Domestic Violence Month in New York, so it is worth taking stock of where we are in protecting our families from domestic abuse and how we can think differently about helping its victims.

Soon after his inauguration, Governor Eliot Spitzer asked me to lead a statewide effort to fight against domestic violence. I have been honored to do it. Domestic violence is a problem that we are too often unwilling to discuss or to recognize, erroneously thinking of it as a family matter rather than a societal one.

Over 350,000 domestic violence incidents were reported to police in New York in 2005 - an average of 620 per day in New York City alone. It is important to raise awareness of the frequency of this problem because much can be done to help its victims protect themselves.

Three changes in our thinking are critical: First, domestic violence does not just affect its victims at home. Second, domestic violence is not limited to married couples and their children. Third, money matters.

Abuse can dominate a woman's life. One abused woman told me of the several times she was embarrassed to arrive late to work because of her husband's abuse at home. She needed time in the mornings to recover from bouts of violence, to protect her children from taking the brunt of it, and to hide the physical evidence from her colleagues. At work she would receive threatening messages. She did not have the time to seek the help she needed while meeting the demands of her employer during the day.

In October, Governor Spitzer announced an executive order that begins to address these larger effects of domestic violence. The order requires state agencies to accommodate, to provide avenues of counseling, and not to discriminate against victims of domestic violence. The order is only a first step, but it is important that the State support its employees who are working through this problem and that we provide a model for the private sector. A handful of private employers have already taken somewhat similar initiatives. In partnership with them, New York can lead the way in encouraging more businesses to follow suit.

On my second point, New York must catch up to the rest of the country in recognizing that nearly 50% of domestic violence incidents occur in non-family relationships. Access to support should include common law spouses, domestic partners, same sex couples, minors in abusive dating relationships, and elderly persons abused by their caretakers. New York is currently the only state in the nation that does not permit unrelated people to obtain a court's protective order from abusers, while 36 other states and the District of Columbia go so far as applying
domestic violence protections to people who are simply dating.

Finally, about money: it is important that help for victims be as affordable as possible because domestic violence's victims often do not control their family's finances and because domestic violence disproportionately affects lower income households. The simple act of obtaining a court's order of protection has required the victim to pay a fee, in addition to the fees to pay their lawyers.

We passed legislation this year to prohibit sheriffs' offices from charging fees when serving such orders of protection and also to allow victims to break their residential leases without penalty in order to escape abuse. In order to help victims navigate the legal system, we are also expanding state revenue for civil legal services through creative financing that takes advantage of current state saving accounts (called "IOLA" funds, which are funded by fees paid by practicing lawyers). When fully implemented, we will be able to dedicate up to $60 million a year to these civil legal services, a four fold increase from about $14 million in 2007.

The Governor and I are not alone making this fight for domestic violence victims a priority. In October, the Domestic Violence Advisory Council, made of up professionals and officials with expertise in domestic violence prevention, reconvened after years of being ignored. Additionally, we have re-energized the state's Office for the Prevention
of Domestic Violence.

On reflection, New York is beginning to change its thinking about domestic violence and is now taking long overdue steps towards protecting victims. We have more work to do, but there is hope after heartbreak.

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Posted at 1:57 PM, Nov 13, 2007 in Domestic Violence
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