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While intimate partner violence affects millions of Americans, women disproportionately find themselves victims at higher rates than men. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention, 49 percent of women will experience a domestic violent encounter, compared to 25 percent of men.
The news gets worse for North Carolina residents. World Population Review, which tracks domestic violence incidents each year, reports North Carolina places fourth in the nation for highest incidents of IPV at 43.9 percent.
This is grim positioning when compared with the entire nation. The first-place state, Oklahoma, had 49.1 percent of its population reporting a domestic violence event. That’s a narrow 5.5 percent range from fourth to first.
The nation has been battling these alarming statistics for decades. Thanks to U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti’s advocacy in 1984, the Task Force for Family Violence began researched the growing problem of intimate partner violence across the nation.
Child abuse amendment
The group’s landmark findings instigated open congressional hearings offering advocates and victims the chance to speak directly to lawmakers about their needs and concerns. In October 1984, Congress signed into law The Family Violence & Prevention Services Act Title III Child Abuse Amendment.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence played a major role in the act, as well as declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month three years after the act was approved. Their aim was to educate the population on domestic violence and advocate for legislative reforms. Among those reforms, the coalition has fought for better protection for victims of intimate partner violence, especially after reporting.
Sadly, with even with herculean awareness campaign efforts, yearly statistics show that domestic violence incidents have not decreased the risk women and some men experience inside their homes. Additionally, younger generations continue to live within the cycle of abuse they witnessed as children.
Focusing on the problem
To that end, in 2010, Congress stepped in again, this time focusing its attention on teenage dating violence by declaring February as National Teen Dating Violence Awareness & Prevention Month. In 2022, the CDC reported that 1 in 12 girls experience physical dating violence.
Those statistics are identical for sexual violence in dating. The 2010 National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey, funded by the CDC, showed that 22 percent of girls experience their first intimate partner violence between ages 11-17. The violence explodes to 47 percent for those 18-24 years old.
In 2016, N.C. Domestic Violence Counts surveyed the 86 identified domestic violence programs in North Carolina for a 24-hour period. On that one day, 1,502 domestic violence victims received shelter, legal assistance or counseling across the state.
About 513 people called into a domestic abuse hotline within that 24 hours. With North Carolina ranking so high in reporting across the nation, aside from national awareness campaigns and funding to research female victimization and reporting, what else can be done?
Reducing the violence
Cherokee County predominately relies on two organizations to help reduce intimate partner violence: the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Victim’s Advocacy Office and Reach of Cherokee County Inc. Additionally, the county participates in the Domestic Violence Registry, domesticviolenceregistry.net, which catalogues all arrests made in the county related to domestic violence.
The registry operates under the same criteria as the Sexual Predatory List, meaning it’s free to the public and holds credibility, as it is culled from court records. The registry’s purpose is twofold:
- One, it’s meant to be punitive, or prohibitive, against the offender. Because the list is available to anyone with internet access, it may work as a deterrent to keep arguments safe inside homes. A potential offender may unclench a fist if he feels a national audience peering into his living room.
- Two, it works as a public service announcement. Dating websites, for example, allow each participant unmonitored permission to present themselves through a positive-only lens. Once a person reveals a name, the Domestic Violence Registry can fact check that name, seeking arrest records based on domestic violence incidents. This registry also helps shift the balance of power.
Domestic violence has long held a stigma for the victim. Because most assaults occur between family or household members, victims are often reluctant to report the crime.
In smaller counties like Cherokee, where neighbor knows neighbor, there is more pressure to keep quiet. But the registry inverts the shame factor by placing it where it always belonged – onto the perpetrator.