Domestic Violence & Stalking Violates Human Rights

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

I could get into a long, drawn out discussion of women's rights in America, but let's leave that to the lawyers and historians. Despite the failure of Equal Rights Amendment ratification attempts and the ambiguity of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, I believe that women already have basic human rights as defined in the quote above. In my opinion, the crime of stalking violates those rights by limiting a person's ability to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Consider the following statistics:

1. In 2000, relationship data between victims and their offenders indicated that 44.3 percent of the victims were acquainted with or related to their assailants. Familial relationships existed between 13.4 percent of the victims and their murderers; acquaintances murdered 30.9 percent of the victims. 
2. Husbands or boyfriends murdered 33.0 percent of the female victims, and wives  or girlfriends killed 3.2 percent of male victims during 2000.

In other words, nearly half of all homicides against women that year were committed by someone they knew; of those, nearly one third were female victims of intimate partner homicide. This staggering result of domestic violence is often inflicted AFTER a women announces her decision to end an intimate partnership - the most dangerous time for her. Some of the domestic homicide victims had an active protective order in place, but others were denied it, or simply too embarrassed to seek legal help; they hoped the abuse would eventually stop. Many of those women knew their days might be numbered, telling friends and family how they feared for their life. These victims were existing inside a fragile bubble with little hope for intervention from law enforcement or from the courts. The tragic loss of life for most of these women was highly preventable.

Survivors who aren't killed by their ex-partner are left with years of trauma and hardship, and many do not see an end to the threats and violence; they are restrained from living a life of freedom. We must understand that stalking is not a one or two-time occurance; rather, it is a repetitive pattern of behavior meant to harrass, threaten, and intimidate over a long period of time. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2010,

   3. 1 out 6 women are stalked at some point during their    
      life, and two-thirds of them are stalked by intimate  
      partners.

Incidents of stalking are often underreported due to a victim's inability to prove that the legally required "persistent pattern" of stalking incidents has occured. Most police departments don't have effective protocals and most officers lack adequate training for handling a stalking case. Even if a woman doesn't give up after receiving the typical law enforcement response, she will likey see that prosecution is an extremly rare occurance - regardless of overwhelming evidence. She accepts her fate, struggling to maintain gainful employment and attempting to prevent her credit from being destroyed by her abuser. Unable to move about her home and community freely, she weathers an extreme amount of daily stress, which slowly destroys her physical and mental health.

There is only today for each one of these women, because tomorrow is too terrifying or too overwhelming to grasp hold of. Every day is a battle of survival. They have difficulties advancing in the workplace and obtaining higher education. Most take on a posture of defeat, choosing to put every ounce of energy into protecting their children in lieu of bettering their own lives. They minimize health and wellness issues, preferring to deny a problem until it becomes unavoidable. They don't socialize beyond a small circle of trusted family members, choosing instead to stay home where it is "safe." Suicide is a backup plan for them if all else fails. These women observe their stalkers enjoying personal liberties in the most grotesque forms, while their own plight is rejected as an invalid concern or completely ignored.

There are numerous excuses provided by governments for this travesty of justice: 

• victims don't understand the legal process
• they don't get adequate representation
• there aren't enough resources for victims
• they are bound by ignorance and poverty
• there isn't enough law enforcement manpower
• funding for advocacy programs has been cut
• criminal trials against abusers are too costly and time-consuming
• there are more important crimes we must deal with

Within all this chatter, we are sending out two crystal-clear messages:

• Female victims of domestic violence, having put themselves in a compromising position, are of little or no human value to society.

• Men are somewhat discouraged from, yet with few extreme exceptions, entitled to abuse and enslave their branded romantic partners.

Until we, as a society, reject premises which systematically encourage abuse, human rights violations against American female victims of domestic violence will continue to prevail. There are numerous effective, documented solutions for changing the course of domestic violence in the US; however, our male-dominated government has made a conscious choice to maintain misogynistic principles in our country.  I hope to develop a national movement among progressive citizens, which challenges the belief that men are entitled to ownership of women, and as such, women are less important members of society.

1 & 2. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports “Crime in the United States, 2000,” (2001).

3. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf