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Domestic Violence

Women's Law Caucus

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Every nine seconds, a woman is beaten in the United States.
American Institute on Domestic Violence, http://www.aidv-usa.com/Statistics.htm

Warning Signs:

• Do you control your behavior to avoid your partner’s anger?
• Is your partner violent towards you?
• Does your partner isolate you from your family and friends?
• Do you make excuses or minimizing your partner’s behavior?
• Does your partner criticize you and verbally abuse you?
• Does your partner use pressure tactics to get you to do things?

Common Excuses:

• Whatever I did made my partner physically, emotionally, or sexually hurt me.
• I have to choose between my partner and my family.
• Really- it’s nothing. It’s no big deal.
• I deserved it.
• My partner is under a lot of pressure

Legal Corner:

A personal protection order, or PPO, is an order issued by the Circuit Court. It canprotect you from being hit, threatened, harassed, or stalked by another person. The PPO may also stop someone from coming into your home or bothering you at work. It can stop them from buying a firearm or finding your address through school records. It can also stop them from taking your minor children unless required by the court.

For more information, see the Michigan Domestic Violence Act. The act creating the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, defines "domestic violence" for the purposes of that act as follows:

“Domestic Violence' means the occurrence of any of the following acts by a person that is not an act of self-defense: causing or attempting to cause physical or mental harm to a family or household member; placing a family or household member in fear of physical or mental harm; causing or attempting to cause a family or household member to engage in involuntary sexual activity by force, threat of force, or duress; and/or engaging in activity toward a family or household member that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested.” P.A. 389 of 1978 created the MDVPTB within the FIA; 42 U.S.C. 10401 et seq; & Violence Against Women Act

Additional Resources:

• MSU Safe Place
  G-55 Wilson Hall
  East Lansing, MI 48825-1208
  Crisis Line Primary: (517) 372-5572
  www.msu.edu/~safe
  
• End Violent Encounters (EVE, Inc)
  Business Line: (517) 372-5976
  Shelter Business Line: (517) 372-3382
  24-Hour Crisis Line: (517) 372-5572
  Personal Protection Order Office: (517) 483-6545
  
• Council Against Domestic
  Assault (Emergency Shelter)
  (517) 372-5572 (Crisis)
  (517) 372-5976 (Office)
  
• Capitol Area Response Effort (CARE)
  517-272-7436
  
• 1-800-799-SAFE

If you or someone you know needs help, or if you are an abuser, call 1-800-799-SAFE.

• On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day.
  • Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-99, October 2001, http://womensissues.about.com/library
    /bldomesticviolencestats1.htm
• Nearly 1/3 of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.
  • Commonwealth Fund survey, 1998, http://womensissues.about.com/library/
    bldomesticviolencestats1.htm
• Women age 20 - 34 endure the highest rates of domestic violence.
  • American Institute on Domestic Violence, http://www.aidv-usa.com/Statistics.htm
• 45,676 Domestic Violence Offenses were reported to the Michigan UCR Program in 2002.
  • Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center, http://www.state.mi.us/msp/cjic/CrimeStat.htm
• Every nine seconds, a woman is beaten in the United States. American Institute on Domestic Violence,
  • http://www.aidv-usa.com/Statistics.htm

Do not ignore the signs or symptoms. Domestic Violence is REAL.
There is help.
SPONSORED BY THE MSU College of Law WOMEN’S LAW CAUCUS 2003-2004