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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Trump Administration Quietly Changed the Definition of Domestic Violence and We Have No Idea Why
The Trump Administration Quietly Changed the Definition of Domestic Violence and We Have No Idea What For
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/trump-domestic-violence-definition-change.html
Without fanfare or even notice, the Department of Justices Office on Violence Against Women made significant changes to its definition of domestic violence in April. The Obama-era definition was expansive, vetted by experts including the National Center for Victims of Crime and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The Trump administrations definition is substantially more limited and less informed, effectively denying the experiences of victims of abuse by attempting to cast domestic violence as an exclusively criminal concern.
The previous definition included critical components of the phenomenon that experts recognize as domestic abusea pattern of deliberate behavior, the dynamics of power and control, and behaviors that encompass physical or sexual violence as well as forms of emotional, economic, or psychological abuse. But in the Trump Justice Department, only harms that constitute a felony or misdemeanor crime may be called domestic violence. So, for example, a woman whose partner isolates her from her family and friends, monitors her every move, belittles and berates her, or denies her access to money to support herself and her children is not a victim of domestic violence in the eyes of Trumps Department of Justice. This makes no sense for an office charged with funding and implementing solutions to the problem of domestic violence rather than merely prosecuting individual abuse
Restoring nonphysical violence to the definition of domestic violence is critical. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, over one-third of U.S. women (43.5 million) have experienced psychological aggression at the hands of an intimate partner. Experts have long recognized that the manipulative behaviors identified in the Obama-era definition as restricting a victims liberty or freedom can cause greater and more lasting damage than physical harm. I know this from my experiences over a decade working with survivors of domestic violence. In nearly every case, the bruises and broken bones eventually heal, but the psychological scars can last a lifetime.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Sigh.
Why do this? Fuck.
SunSeeker
(51,516 posts)Republicans hate women.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Its the only explanation I can think of. Everyone in this administration is serving only themselves. There is no altruism, no searching for whats the best thing to do, but there is systematic destruction of the rights of everyone but themselves.
Its like getting punched over and over again. Sucker punched because we cant see it coming until its happened.
SunSeeker
(51,516 posts)2naSalit
(86,332 posts)something to do with organized human trafficking?
pansypoo53219
(20,955 posts)malaise
(268,713 posts)How many abusers were/are in this administration starting with the Con.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)James48
(4,427 posts)If you have been convicted of domestic violence, you cant buy a firearm.
The NRA is narrowing the definition of domestic violence, so that they can sell more firearms .
Its not rocket science.
Its the NRA.
groundloop
(11,514 posts)no_hypocrisy
(46,028 posts)I represented a woman whose husband choked her. She got away and called the police. He was arrested. And he called her from prison and convinced her to rescind her complaint which she was allowed to. And because she rescinded her complaint, Child Protection came into the picture and the agency removed their five children and gave them to foster parents.
For 3-1/2 years our law firm fought for her. We got her into therapy. She divorced her husband. She fought hard to get the children returned to her as a single mother.
She initially didn't see herself as a victim of domestic abuse. Ironically if her ex-husband had not choked her, I maintain one day she could have been killed.
barbtries
(28,769 posts)trump and republicans hate women. fuck them.
ProfessorPlum
(11,253 posts)what a stupid title
sakabatou
(42,136 posts)machoneman
(3,997 posts)In cases brought by local authorities, shouldn't they be unaffected by this Federal change?
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)Grasswire2
(13,565 posts)The protections are also lost for them.
(Speaking as the mother of one who was deeply emotionally battered.)
bdamomma
(63,799 posts)continues lashing out and of course goes after women, because he hates them.
Takket
(21,529 posts)Domestic violence is something that is usually handled at the local or state level by police and prosecutors enforcing state or local laws. So how does this change effect a woman's experience when she is the victim of the sort of abuses covered by Obama's DoJ but not drumpf's?