The words "domestic violence" typically invite images of bruised women and children - and male perpetrators. But the real picture of domestic violence isn't so clear-cut. And the solution to family violence is far more complex than our current criminal justice approach can handle.
For about 30 years now, we've been throwing money and punishment at domestic violence with not enough to show for it. Estimates are that more than 32 million Americans are affected by domestic violence each year, with many of those in need of help never reporting their abuse.
These are among the important findings of Linda Mills - attorney, social worker and survivor of a violent relationship as well as professor and senior vice provost at New York University - whose new book, Violent Partners, tackles the myths of domestic violence and suggests new ways of dealing with the problem.
One of the primary myths - and the one that meets with the most resistance - is that only men are violent. Women and children indeed suffer the worst injuries and more often die as a result of those injuries, but women initiate violence as often as men.
Feminism deserves credit for putting domestic violence on the radar back when what happened in a "man's castle" was considered no one else's business. But we now know a great deal more about what happens behind closed doors.
According to Ms. Mills, studies now confirm that women initiate violence in 24 percent of cases in which the husbands don't fight back, while men initiate violence in 27 percent of cases in which women don't fight back. In the other 49 percent of cases, both partners actively participate in the violence.
What this tells us is that violent partners frequently have a relationship problem that is never addressed under our system of arrest-and-punish. Moreover, says Ms. Mills, a majority of families with violence issues don't want to shatter the family, as our criminal system often encourages. They just want the violence to stop.
Yet many states have a "must-arrest" policy if a call to police is made. Many also take a "primary aggressor" approach in determining who should be arrested. Even if the man calls the police, says Ms. Mills, he's often the one hauled off and charged, based on the assumption that he, the physically stronger, is more dangerous. Consequently, the underlying problem of violence isn't addressed and people needing help won't call police for fear of the draconian measures likely to follow.
The solution to domestic violence, says Ms. Mills, begins with recognizing it as a cyclical, intergenerational family problem that usually begins in childhood. Research shows that children raised by violence are more likely to become violent or be the victim of violence in their own adult relationships - and so it goes from one generation to the next.
Allowing exceptions for the most violent abusers, Ms. Mills proposes a broad, systemic approach to domestic violence that includes counseling and at least the option of restorative, rather than punitive, justice. The current approach to "treatment" usually consists of sending men to classes on how to be less sexist.
Ms. Mills is testing an alternative program in Nogales, Ariz., that brings the whole family together to learn how the cycle of abuse works within families. Without blaming the victim, Ms. Mills insists that everyone has to take responsibility for his or her role in the dynamic that leads to violence.
It is brave of Ms. Mills to invite these challenges. But if we're really serious about reducing domestic violence, we have to recognize that demonizing men isn't the answer and that sexism isn't the only question.
Kathleen Parker's syndicated column appears regularly in The Sun. Her e-mail is kparker@ kparker.com.
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