Queens Responds To Domestic Violence

The statistics are shocking: a woman is battered every 15 seconds in the United States. In New York City alone, almost 2,500 domestic violence victims were treated at public hospitals in 2000. And in Queens this year, there have been 11 domestic violence homicides.
The facts are sobering, but help for victims is out there, as evidenced by the 350 committed professionals who gathered at York College recently for an all-day conference on domestic violence.
The theme of the conference, which was sponsored by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, was "A Fresh Look At An Old Problem."
In eight different workshops, social workers and other service providers exchanged ideas on new ways to assist victims and treat offenders, from drug treatment and alternative sentencing to spirituality and meditation.
An emerging theme at the conference was the need for service providers to expand their definition of abusephysical, emotional and financialand their recognition of victims, including men.
In one workshop on battered men, Stanley Green described the beatings he endured at the hands of his ex-wife, a doctor.
"It took six months to recover from the physical injuries, and a lot longer to recover from the psychological ones," said Green, an advocate with Stop Abuse for Everyone (SAFE), a group dedicated to helping underserved domestic violence victims such as men, gays and lesbians.
Hands trembling, Green described his injuries, which included broken ribs, and the treatment he received when police arrived after one beating.
"Of course they believed her [story], because she was the physician, she was the woman," said Green, who said he was turned away from several domestic violence programs because he was male.
Mark Rosenthal of the Maine-based Battered Mens Helpline spoke of growing up watching his father suffer verbal and physical abuse by his mother. His father was almost a foot taller than his mother and nearly 100 pounds heavier, but was regularly beaten by her for the slightest infractionas was Rosenthal.
"It is about a pathological need to control others, and women are just as prone to this as men," he said, decrying the lack of services for battered men and the tendency of police to stereotype men as the aggressors in any domestic incident.
Other workshops at the conference addressed emergency room responses to domestic violence and how to help children cope.
Though the day was devoted to a somber subject, Yolanda Jimenez, director of the citys Office to Combat Domestic Violence, presented a faint ray of hope.
Jimenez told The Queens Courier that domestic violence-related fatalities, rapes and felony assaults, were down 18% from last year.
"The city has been doing a great deal to talk about the issue, but we are still concerned about the large volume of calls a day to police," she said.
The figure of 11 domestic violence-related homicides in Queens may be shocking, but its down from 17 last year.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced two initiatives designed to fight domestic violence: a new digital recording system for 911 calls, and an advertising campaign to raise public awareness about domestic violence.
Digital recordings are expected to facilitate prosecutions against perpetrators, as they can serve as evidence in a trial if a victim is too afraid to testify. They are also immediately available to prosecutors, unlike manual recordings which took up to three months to prepare.
The advertising campaign will consist of over 12,000 posters in English and Spanish on public transportation throughout the city, emphasizing the seriousness of domestic abuse as a crime.
Catherine Moore, the borough presidents special assistant for womens issues, helped organize the event at York, but had this to say afterward:
"Hopefully one day, we wont need to have this kind of conference."