Domestic Violence Is Under-Reported/Texaas Domestic Violence Is Under-Reported
NANCY MARTINEZ
c. 2006 San Antonio Express-News
Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate
Photo: Spanish Ministry of Social Affairs/NYT
A poster urges Spanish women to denounce domestic violence. It reads: "If you don't say anything, at the end you will have nothing left".
She was 19 and he was 26 when their mothers introduced them. They married a year later. But it wasn't a happy union. Nadia Alvarez claims she was severely abused in every way by her husband of 23 years. Once, she alleges, he raped her in front of their 5-year-old daughter. The abuse finally ended three years ago, she says, when he died of cancer.
Alvarez was like scores of women who don't report their abusers, leading authorities to believe the already-high rate of domestic abuse cases in San Antonio -- tied with Houston as the second-highest among large cities in the state -- probably is much higher. Still, domestic violence advocates are optimistic.
They hope a new police administration and a new justice program aimed at narrowing an average nine-month gap between abuse and arrests will help curb a hidden crime that often leads to other problems, like depression, homelessness, job loss, substance abuse, divorce and broken families.
From the most affluent communities to the poorest, children are witnessing the blows and hearing the screams, and families are falling apart, local domestic violence prevention advocates say.
Last year, the San Antonio Police Department reported 12 women were killed in domestic violence disputes. No men were reported killed.
And although statistics show violence has touched families in almost every community in the county, arrests are few. San Antonio police reported 13,129 family violence incidents last year, an all-time high. The county Sheriff's Department added 1,317 more.
Of the 13,129 city incidents, police made only 2,626 arrests. The number of arrests has remained about the same since 2001, while the number of reported incidents has risen more than 3,000.
Officials in the district attorney's said those cases are evaluated, and if a crime is determined to have been committed, an arrest warrant is filed.
Proving a case can be difficult, they say, especially when offenders leave the scene. About 3,000 warrants for misdemeanor domestic violence were issued last year.
They also say the long wait between incidents and investigations often gives the victim and offender time to make up.
Joyce Coleman, board chairwoman of Family Violence Prevention Services, which runs the Battered Women's Shelter here, said she suspects officers don't respond to incidents because of the extra work involved.
But Head said the Police Department takes domestic violence seriously, though that wasn't always the case.
"A long time ago, we'd show up and just say, 'Somebody's gotta (leave the
home) or someone is going to jail,"' said Deputy Chief David Head. "In traditional policing, these cases were seen as a nuisance."
Last year in Texas, 187,811 incidents of family violence were reported, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety's latest Texas Crime Report.
Of those victims, almost half were married.
Dallas had the highest rate of reported domestic violence cases last year among the state's largest cities -- 12 per 1,000 people, according to DPS data. Houston and San Antonio had about the same rate -- 10 per 1,000 people -- according to the data. Austin's rate last year was nine cases per 1,000 people.
The low arrest rate isn't unique to San Antonio. Of the 14,445 cases last year in Dallas, police officials there say 3,414 resulted in arrests -- slightly higher than San Antonio's rate.
Alleviating domestic violence will take more than law enforcement initiatives, says County Judge Monica Guerrero, who exclusively hears domestic violence cases.
"There needs to be more resources dedicated to dealing with drug problems and mental health issues," Guerrero said. "Many of these cases have these issues involved. People think it's poverty, but there are so many other factors."
Alvarez, now 47, now shares her story of survival with victims of abuse. She also is working toward a degree in social work, which she hopes will help her help more victims.
http://health.theledger.com/article/20061027/TOPSTORY/2363/-1/RSS2&source=RSS
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