The Gamble of Domestic Violence

Last week a woman was murdered at her work place, The University of Washington, by a man that had been stalking her for months. She did everything she was suppose to do to protect herself. Of course the restraining order is such a silly piece of paper as most police precincts in Washington state do little to enforce these orders. She notified her workplace of the problem, officials at the University of Washington were even aware of multiple threats made against her by this man and yet they turned a blind eye and never reported the threats to the police. Instead, they all stood stunned the day they found her and her stalker dead in one of the buildings on campus with much handwringing of how could this have happened.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. This state has a terrible track record of protecting women from domestic violence. It is so easy to blame the victim saying 'well she just went back'. It turns out that 9 out of 10 women that seek help from domestic violence shelters in Seattle are turned away. With 90% of the women left to figure out how to keep a roof over their heads and protect their children is it any wonder they stay put? Sometimes the lesser of two evils is the one you know


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/310640_focusdv.html
By MARCIA HELME guest columnist to the Seattle PI, published Monday, April 9, 2006