Police say a poor economy no excuse for domestic violence

By Amelia A. Pridemore

Editor’s note: This is the first story of two parts exploring whether a lagging economy contributes to an increase in domestic violence.

Continued economic downturn has struck families like a ton of bricks.

The stress levels of many have reached the breaking point, and people are frightened as they wonder how they will survive.

Agencies serving domestic violence victims are aiding significantly more people than usual.

While the economy may be gasoline on an already-fiery, violence-plagued home, but police and domestic violence advocates emphasize it is not the cause. Those who terrorize their intimate partners and families, then blame finances, are only making excuses. Batterers on solid financial footing will just devise another excuse.

Patricia Bailey, executive director of the Women’s Resource Center, has seen the need for the agency’s services increase. Its shelter in Glen White that houses both victims and their children, has been full for the past two months. The number of people seeking outreach services has significantly increased. The organization serves Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas and Summers counties.

Whether Raleigh County law enforcement agencies have seen domestic-related calls rise depends on the agency.

The Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department compiled a month-by-month list of reported domestic incidents between September 2008 and September 2009. The numbers are largely steady, minus a few minor fluctuations. The reports also declined during some months of the economy’s darkest days and even during times when law enforcement traditionally handles more domestic incidents.

The national economic collapse reached a fever pitch in mid-October 2008, when Wall Street investors lost $2.4 trillion in one of its worst weeks in history. October 2008 had the sheriff’s department’s highest number of domestic incidents, 37, for the reported time period.

Domestic incidents, though, fell to 16 in December 2008 — the lowest for that time period. This was during the holiday season, a time of year both police and advocates say reports tend to increase. Contributing factors include financial stress, as well as increased time at home, unwanted visiting relatives and alcohol consumption.

Deputies handled 21 incidents in September.

These figures, Detective Sgt. Jim Bare noted, do not count other incidents that turn out to be domestic-related. Overall, he believes the report numbers are consistent and do not show an overall rise or fall.

“Compared to last year, there seems to be no swings upward or downward,” he said. “... I’ve never seen a correlation, personally. Certainly, economic conditions have led to more larcenies and property crimes, but I haven’t seen a correlation with domestics.”

While the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department has seen its numbers remain relatively steady, the Beckley Police Department is seeing a small increase.

In 2008, Beckley PD responded to 1,163 domestic-related calls. From January through September 2009, it handled 1,001 calls — a difference of 162 calls compared to all of 2008. Chief Tim Deems said the city’s numbers shift from month-to-month, but the overall numbers are up.

“If this continues, we are going to see a slight increase in domestic calls this year,” Deems said.

Deems provided month-by-month domestic call numbers for 2008 and through September 2009. The month with the highest call number was July 2009. Beckley Police handled 146 domestic-related calls then. Exactly one year before, in July 2008, the department had its lowest number with 78.

For this time period, about 15 to 20 percent of these calls resulted in an arrest.

Beckley officers handled more than 120 domestic-related calls in one month’s time from June through September of this year.

Like Bare, Deems also noted these numbers do not count the incidents reported as something else that turned out to be domestic-related. Likewise, police are often called to a reported domestic dispute that is actually something else.

Whether economic downturn is the reason for the city’s increased domestic calls cannot be determined, Deems said. Numerous factors, such as weather, can influence an increase or decrease with any crimes.

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Domestic violence offenders may blame their actions on bad economic conditions — but Bailey, Bare and Deems said that is only one of numerous excuses they make.

“A batterer is a batterer is a batterer,” Bailey said.

Whether the economy is to blame is difficult to determine, because those who abuse their intimate partners tend to make up excuses for their actions, Bailey said. Economic conditions, just as drugs and alcohol, can make a violent situation more volatile.

“I don’t think anyone beats their intimate partners because of the economy,” she said. “Often, there’s violence in the home anyway. These people are batterers anyway.

“Maybe they’ve had their hours cut, have been laid off or have been moved to part-time. You’ll often see alcohol and drugs in these situations, too. That’s like pouring gasoline on a fire.

“... If drugs and alcohol are involved, they’re not the cause. They just make it worse.”

Bailey said people of both genders can be batterers or victims. The majority of WRC clients, she said, are women abused by men. But she said the vast majority of men, regardless of their economic conditions and other stressors, will never hurt the women in their lives and their children.

“Most men don’t batter and would die before they lifted a finger to hurt their wives or girlfriends,” she said. “Batterers — regardless of their social positions — are still batterers.

“... Economic conditions don’t make someone batter. They’re going to batter anyway. Economic conditions are just another excuse. We have to take their excuses away and hold them accountable for their behavior.”

Bare said offenders often tell police economic problems were behind their crimes, whether they be domestic-related or not, Bare said. However, most use this and other factors as an excuse to justify their actions. People with violent tendencies will also unleash their rage upon family members, even when finances are not a problem.

“People with a propensity for violence — it doesn’t take much to agitate them,” he said. “Some use the economy as an excuse, but that’s a broad statement. With any crime, they’re looking for an excuse for their behavior. You generally don’t see people who own up to what they’ve done.

“... It’s always someone else’s fault and never their own. Someone may say, ‘This is forcing me to be violent to my family.’ ... But I think people who are violent to their families will be that way — bad economy or not.”

Domestic violence victims and offenders encompass all people of all economic classes, Bare said. Also, practically anything can spark a domestic attack, Bare noted.

“Some of it is very trivial — like someone not doing the dishes,” he said.

Deems agreed.

“You do run into that,” he said. “People try and justify their crimes to minimize those crimes. You’re always going to see that with any crime when you’re interviewing a suspect.”

Those prone to violent behavior, Deems said, will be violent regardless of how much money is in their wallets.

“I think people who have the tendency to be violent will be violent to not only the people they live with, but also with others. A person with violent tendencies also seems to have no respect for authority, either.”

If economic woes truly are aggressors’ reasons for being violent to their families, Bare urged them to realize their victims are not responsible.

“If the economy is truly the reason why someone is being aggressive to their family, they should realize the family is not the cause,” Bare said.

Monday: Economic considerations a reason for staying in an abuse relationship.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com