Domestic Violence: Most Underreported Crime In America :: Violence Against Women Essays

Found at the scene of the crime two dead bodies stabbed brutally, and left to die at their house. This was the story that shocked the country in 1991. This was the start of the O.J. Simpson domestic maltreatment case. Unfortunately events like this happen many times over everyday in many setting all over the United states however the victims of the other cases dont get nearly as much publicity.Some facts about domestic abuse     An average of nine out of 10 women have to be turned away from shelterson.     The reason so few cases get assigned initially is the patrol usuallydont have enough officers to meet the demand     At the Portland Womens Crisis Line, where calls have doubled since thekillings of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, they welcome the increasedattention.From July 19,through March 31, 1993 a total of 3,665 domestic force-outcases were reviewed in Portland Oregon. Of those, only 281 cases resulted insome a ction taken against the accused abuser. Some of this is because there isnot enough police, but it is mostly because the abused somebody is scared.For the last six months of 1993 and the first three months of 1994Portland averaged about 1,000 calls each month or 12,000 calls a year.     In January 1992, 30 criminal domestic violence complaints were issued.For January 1994, the offspring was more than 100.     Nationally, estimates range from 2 to 4 million women assaults each year.Some studies show that 20 to 30 percent of all women who seek help athospital emergency rooms are there because of domestic violence.Kyra woodwind never made it to the emergency room. Whoever killed her saw tothat. She suffered 13 stab wounds to the back cinque of them so violent the knifecame out the other side of her body.Woods mother, Mable, and two aunts wept quietly in a back row of thecourtroom as the prosecution argued against bail for Woods former boyfrien dJackson. Rod Underhill, the prosecutor, painted a picture of domestic violence.He told of a dramatic moment after the killing, when Woods 4-year-old son,holding a teddy bear, re- enacted the attack. "He put his hands around the neckof the bear and shook it," Underhill said. "He began to pound it with a closedfist and slug it."Mable Woods said that her daughter never told her much about any abuse.Neighbors, however, told police of hearing the couple fight violently. Accordingto police reports, one neighbor said, "They fought so hard the pictures on thewall shook back and forth.