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Fathers & Families Hosts Debate Between 2 Leading Domestic Violence Authorities
 Domestic violence and the DV policies of family courts and law enforcement is a multi-faceted issue that has an enormous impact on American families.
During the 1970s, feminist organizations fought hard to make domestic violence a public issue, as opposed to a private one, and to gain governmental and societal support for policies aimed at protecting abused women. Current policies have largely been shaped and influenced by the DV establishment which arose from that movement.
However, today those policies are coming under increasing attack from dissident domestic violence experts, as well as civil libertarians and fathers' advocates.
Fathers & Families is hosting a debate between two of North America's leading domestic violence authorities, feminist DV expert Professor Evan Stark, PhD, MA, MSW, and dissident DV expert Dr. Donald G. Dutton.
Professor Stark (pictured, upper right) is the Chair of the Department of Urban Health Administration at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. He is the author of numerous books, including Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life and Women at Risk: Domestic Violence and Women's Health. To learn more about Professor Stark, click here.
 Dr. Donald G. Dutton, Ph.D. is the author of Rethinking Domestic Violence, The Abusive Personality, Domestic Assault of Women: Psychological and Criminal Justice Perspectives, and The Batterer: A psychological profile. Dutton (pictured, middle right) has served as an expert witness in criminal trials involving family violence, including his work for the prosecution in the O.J. Simpson trial. He is currently a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. To learn more about Dr. Dutton, click here.
The debate will run in several segments and will be posted on both www.fathersandfamilies.org andwww.glennsacks.com. Readers are asked to keep comments respectful and on topic. Our rules of moderation can be seen here.
Professor Stark begins our debate below.
Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families
Fathers & Families' Question #1: The Obama administration recently appointed Lynn Rosenthal as the first-ever White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. Vice President Biden, who wrote the Violence Against Women Act, said that creating the post will help the White House focus on stopping domestic violence. The mainstream domestic violence establishment arguably now has the most sympathetic administration ever. What should the administration do to improve how the United States deals with the problem of domestic violence?
Stark's Response: Current domestic violence policies are predicated on four widely shared assumptions, that abuse can be equated with physical and sexual assaults; that a straightforward calculus of physical injury and psychological trauma or fear can be used to assess its seriousness (and by implication to ration services); that criminal justice should be the front-line response to perpetrators and shelter for victims; and that female victims and male perpetrators should be the major targets of this response.
I disagree with the first two of these beliefs and at least one of my suggestions, that a new crime of “coercive control” be added to existing domestic violence statutes, arises from this disagreement. In general, however, I think major changes in policy are unlikely in the near future. As a result, my suggestions for Lynn Rosenthal and the Obama administration are incremental and build on the current framework.
The appointment of Ms. Rosenthal represents the first time an advocate for domestic violence services has been in the White House, a major step forward. Ms. Rosenthal’s role has yet to be defined, however. The Obama administration may turn out to be “sympathetic” to our concerns as the question suggests. Thus far, however, there have no specific policies or proposals to show that this is so.
"It is a mistake to believe that funding or support for domestic violence services is a liberal issue...[current DV policies] have had broad bipartisan support."
It is a mistake to believe that funding or support for domestic violence services is a liberal issue. In every instance, policies based on the four assumptions above have had broad bipartisan support...Senator Biden played a key role in drafting VAWA. But it only passed because of support from Newt Gingrich, Utah Senator Orin Hatch and other conservatives. The two Bushes took a more low-keyed approach, though they supported VAWA, formed various advisory panels of domestic violence experts and various reviews of research and services in the field.
"[O]pposition to mainstream [DV] beliefs, initiatives and policies has been minimal...[anti-VAWA] protests were ineffectual, the arguments transparent, and never commanded an audience in the scientific community. They were a non-factor when VAWA came up for its various reauthorizations."
It is also important to appreciate that opposition to mainstream beliefs, initiatives and policies has been minimal. While “conservative feminists” like Christina Hoff Sommers and some conservative journalists publicly railed against VAWA, these protests were ineffectual, the arguments transparent, and never commanded an audience in the scientific community. They were a non-factor when VAWA came up for its various reauthorizations.
The goal of these proposals is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of current interventions in establishing safety for victims and accountability for perpetrators.
Proposals for Change
I: A National Surveillance System
Problem:
Currently, there is no consensus in the research or service community about what constitutes a “case” of domestic violence. Current attempts to apply a definition of violence as a discrete act or assault are drawn from criminal justice and have hopelessly confounded data collection and analysis, making it impossible to distinguish incidence (“new cases”) from prevalence (the total burden on the community at any time.).
In contrast to this definition, the research we have from surveys and service sites shows that abuse is typically ongoing or repeated and continues for somewhere between 5.5 and 7 years in a typical case. Cross sectional or survey data make no useable distinction between new and ongoing cases. Since the aim of prevention is to reduce the number of new cases (incidence) and the aim of other interventions is to reduce the total burden abuse places on the community (prevalence), we can neither design effective interventions or evaluate them without accurate information on incidence and prevalence...
"[T]he executive branch should use its influence to develop a national surveillance system that can provide accurate and regular data on the incidence and prevalence of domestic violence."
Proposal
Working with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, the executive branch should use its influence to develop a national surveillance system that can provide accurate and regular data on the incidence and prevalence of domestic violence. This would be comparable to the current surveillance systems used for other health problems as well as for child abuse and neglect...
"[Most abuse victims] have experienced...tactics to degrade, isolate, intimidate, exploit and control them...this pattern of abuse has been...termed...coercive control...[we need] legislation to make coercive control a federal crime akin to kidnapping or hostage-taking."
II. Criminalize Coercive Control
Problem
Recent evidence suggests that between 60% and 80% of the victims who currently seek outside assistance have experienced a pattern of abuse that includes tactics to degrade, isolate, intimidate, exploit and control them as well as to hurt them physically. This pattern of abuse has been variously termed intimate terrorism or coercive control, the term I prefer.
The harms occasioned by coercive control extend to basic liberties and rights, including rights to speech, association, movement, communication, work, and to control one’s own resources. For instance, more than half of the persons arrested for domestic violence in Quincy, Mass. admit they have taken their partner’s money and ‘controlled’ them in other ways. Many of these tactics are currently offenses if committed against person in the public sphere. Current laws target physical assault and threats almost exclusively and result in little or no significant jail time for perpetrators even when an arrest occurs.
Proposal
Working with the Justice Department and the Judiciary Committees in the House and Senate, the executive branch would prepare and submit legislation to make coercive control a federal crime akin to kidnapping or hostage-taking and encourage states to adapt similar legislation defining a new class A felony. These laws would supplement rather than replace existing domestic violence laws. Current attempts to criminalize coercive control in Maine, Missouri and Florida could provide a starting point.
To comment on Stark's assertions, click here.
[This ends Part I of Stark's answer to question #1. Part II, in which Stark deals with Family Courts and custody, will follow after Dutton's response to Part I. All of the posts relating to this debate are available here--GS]
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Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families |
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Kids & Dads |
‘Jepsen turned to his father, Randy, if only in heart and mind — Randy Jepsen died nearly six years ago’
From the Los Angeles Times:
Angles relief pitcher Kevin Jepsen could feel his season, if not his career, slipping away.
So Jepsen turned to the one guy who had always been there for him — the one who had taught him the game, bandaged his bruises and fanned his competitive fire so many times.
Jepsen turned to his father, Randy, if only in heart and mind — Randy Jepsen died nearly six years ago.
“Sometimes I’ll sit there when I’m alone and thoughts will pop in. And I’ll sit there and I’ll talk to him,” Jepsen says.
Jepsen didn’t share what his father told him, but whatever it was worked. Since July 1, a newly confident Jepsen has pitched himself into the setup role in the Angels’ bullpen, holding opponents scoreless in 29 of his last 36 appearances. |
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My dad was honest to a fault, and totally loyal to my mother, who he supported all his life. He became a philanthropist working for his new country—America—and for those who were impoverished. Anyone in need could come to him and, if sincere and honest and down on their luck, he would help them–even at great expense to himself.
He adored me and gave unceasingly and was there whenever I needed him. He stood by my mother when she had to have at that time terribly destructive and disfiguring surgery for cancer. He was even more with her than ever after that, always shoring up her confidence and self esteem.
With his last breath when he was dying he patted my cheek and adjusted my tie and smiled warmly at me. |
| —Longtime Fathers & Families supporter Arnie Robbins, MD, about his father |
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