April 01 Newsletter


< back April 01 Newsletter Dear Friends, Now is the time to be strategic about moving forward in healing domestic violence in your communities. You can use the Results book to educate, to persuade and to motivate groups to get Results projects started. GIve copies of the book to key leaders, government officials, task force leaders, organization presidents. Choose the project that your organization is most drawn to and start a small group to get it moving. And please let me know what happens. I can feel the excitement building already as word of new ventures keep coming in. In the last section of this week's newsletter I have posted the new domestic homicide data for each state for 1998. These data depict domestic homicides of women 18 and older by intimate partners as collected by the FBI in its Supplemental Homicide Report. They claim 92% accuracy. The general trends are these: Twenty-six states decreased their domestic murder rates, twenty-two states increased their domestic murder rates, twelve states had 2.50 or fewer domestic homicides per million (same as 1997) and twenty-one states were in the middle rate per million (same as 1997). The states with the largest decreases in domestic homicides per million were Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Dakota. The states with the largest increases were Arkansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Vermont. The countdown to 2010 has begun. The programs we start the first few years of this Millennium will have the best chance to really make a difference. It sometimes takes awhile for a program to show success. Thanks to all of you who are committed to Silent Witness and to really making a difference. As I've said before, you are angels. Welcome new email correspondents: Anamah Tan (Singapore Council of Women's Organizations), Hedwig Anuar (AWARE, the Association of Women for Action and Research, Singapore), Sharon Loris (State Board of Control, Sacramento), Donna White (Tigard, Oregon) NEWS FROM THE STATES/COUNTRIES: ALASKA: Marsha McKinzie, our AAUW Silent Witness coordinator in Alaska writes: Just to let you know - Alaska's Silent Witnesses are traveling to Sitka for display during the month of April. The Sitka-Mt. Edgecumbe Branch of the American Association of University Women is sponsoring the display and working with the local women's shelter to help increase public awareness of domestic violence in this small community. This means that Alaska's project will have been displayed in six different communities and have traveled several thousand miles, not counting their first trip to Washington, D.C. CALIFORNIA: Catherine Benson from Cal State Long Beach writes: Again, it has been a long time since I have written to you!! But I have been reading about all the wonderful developments in the program. Hurray!! I want to add that, I plan on writing down my experience with co-ordinating the Silent Witnesses on campus....it was incredible. I left an abusive husband and I really did a lot of healing through this project. A LOT. Thank you for that. Thank all of you for making this happen. This is beauty at its best. Catherine, letters like this keep all of us going for a very long time. Please write about your experiences with Silent Witness. It would be very healing for you and for many others. And we heard from Sharon Loris who is the public information officer for the State Board of Control in Sacramento. The Victims of Crime Program is using 30 of the California Silent Witnesses from April 9-14 to display throughout the Board of Control building. Also four of the Witnesses are going to be displayed in the Consumer Services Agency. She said they might make a large poster like the one in our book, the Silent Witness Story so the impact of the Witnesses will be even greater. Thanks Sharon for informing us of this great opportunity for the Silent Witnesses to raise more awareness in Sacramento. Other states might want to duplicate the poster in our first book which we called the "red book." It has an all black background and white lettering. Kinkos could do a good job of enlarging it and duplicating it. KENTUCKY: Connie Fox, our NCJW Court Watch mentor in Louisville, writes that the NCJW committee chairs (Connie and Diane Graeter) have now assisted more than 100 communities across the United States by sending out training materials and conducting court monitoring workshops. They also donate several dozen teddy bears each year to the Jefferson County Police Department Domestic Violence Unit. The NCJW Court Watch Committee knitted sweaters and hats and made necklaces with loving messages for each of these bears. The bears will be distributed to small children involved in domestic violence calls. This is all in addition to the wonderful news we reported last month that they are now going to have a trial period for a separate criminal domestic violence court in their county. Connie and Diane, this is great news. We're so proud of all the hard work you do on behalf of your court watch project and Silent Witness as well. Way to make a difference!! MINNESOTA: Large thanks go to Lorraine Hart of the Minnesota Women's Consortium, Silent Witness' mother organization for several years. Lorraine has done our bookkeeping for several years in her spare time for a pittance. She is a wonderful person and a great supporter. We applaud her work and thank her whole heartedly. Kudos to Lorraine. Carol Lee, one of the sisters of a Minnesota Silent Witness has helped a resident council of the St. Paul YWCA create a set of their own Silent Witnesses. The Resident Council is made up of current and past participants of the Transsional Housing Progamm of the Y. The Council took on the job of tracking the stories, making the figures and then taking them to special events. Their Witnesses will appear along with the original Silent Witnesses at the Mall of America in early April and at the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African-American Community's Forum at the University of Minnesota in June. One of the Witnesses Carol Lee was helping to make struck very close to home. She found out that the young woman whose throat was slashed and her body thrown from a balcony was the sister-in-law of a man who she works with every day at the Radisson Hotel. Carol Lee, this is such a great effort that you and the resident council are doing. We are so grateful. And these women's lives will never be forgotten. MONTANA: Jerri Miller writes us from Montana: Hi there, my friend. Just read the latest issue of the newsletter--good things happening! I, too, loved the results book, and am happy to tell you some of the great things we have going on in Montana. We had a Board of Directors meeting of our 501c3 a week ago and elected 3 new Board members. All wonderfully committed women who really love the Silent Witness movement. We are glad to have Eleanor Challen, Caryl Wickes-Connick and Anna Marie Barber on board. One of the certified counselors who attended our Stosny and Court Watch seminars last October has decided to take Stosny's comprehensive training this spring and will do so in May in Tulsa. We are going to do some extensive fund-raising to help him with his expenses as he has agreed to use this model in Montana once his training is complete. We are planning another Board meeting in May, and will hopefully be meeting with the state Attorney General (who is running for governor this year). We are hoping he will continue his support for SW into the Governor's mansion, but in the meantime, we are going to be asking him for support in setting up some new reporting measurement guides as we have such difficulty getting information out of the County Attorney and Coronor offices. Our legislature will be in session this next January, and we are already working on having the Witnesses on display for the entire month of February. And, we are STILL looking for a good trailer to both house and transport our ladies. Jerri this is more testimony to your strong persistance. It always pays off. We are grateful to you and we wish you the best in all these endeavors. As an aside, one of their board members, Tracy Lakatua, is visiting Minneapolis this week and I'll be able to meet with her. It'll be like old home week, since she was one of the coordinators for the MN contingent that went to Washington in 1997! NEW JERSEY: Susan Waldman writes with an idea that some of you might want to latch onto: It struck me while I was reading about the work being done in Michigan with the Girl Scouts (bless them) that what really needs to be done is to have a "good relationship" badge for the BOY SCOUTS!!! I wonder how many Boy Scout leaders are women. Even if the leaders are men it would be a worthwhile venture. We always teach girls to be careful, what to watch out for, etc. when we really need to teach the boys how to be respectful, kind people. Susan, Thanks for the great idea. If anyone wants to work on this we can connect you with Susan and you can go for it. Let us know what happens. More and more good ideas. SINGAPORE: Two of our recent international contacts, Hedwig Anuar and Mrs Anamah Tan of Singapore both responded to our inquiry about what they are doing in their region. They gave us an exciting update. Hedwig Anuar (who runs AWARE) writes: Delighted to hear from you after Lois Herman told us about the good work you are doing to elimnate domestic violence against women - a very ambitious goal indeed. When Aware was first founded in late 1985, we concentrated on the issue of violence against women, including domestic violence, and war rape eg. we had a big exhibition last year on rape of Chinese women in Indonesia during the recent upheavals in that country. We have liased with the police, the doctors & the lawyers to have them better informed on the issue. There's now a Rape Crisis squad of policewomen in the Police Force who will accompany rape victims to the police, doctor & court. One of the Family Service Centres (these are set up by various NGOs) has initiated a project for men who batter & this seems to be getting positive rsults. We brought out a book "Men, women and violence" jointly with Singapore Assn of Women Lawyers in 1988, and also had pamphlets, talks, forums, exhibitions, seminars etc. on the subject. One of our past Presidents, Dr Kanwaljit Soin, was a Nominated Member of Parliament & inrtoduced a Family Violence Bill in Parliament in 1995 during her term of office. This was defeated, but some of its provisions were incorporated in the revised Women's Charter, first passed in 1961, which gave women a large no. of rights, eg right to vote, to retain own name on marriage, to own property etc. The revisions include elder and child abuse, not only abuse against women. We feel there is much greater awareness of the issue now and are turning our attention to the problems of combining work & family, since there's a high participation of women (about 50%) in the labour force. I'll be happy to send you some material on Aware & its activities, eg our telephone Helpline, face to face counselling, legal clinic, & our materials related to violence against women. I look forward to receiving your materials in return, & to accessing your website. Hedwig Anuar And Mrs. Anamah Tan writes: Thank you for your welcome to Silent Witness Network. Lois Herman is a fantastic network agent - Yes we are very interested in your work as it is one of our 3 priorities - to eradicate violence in the family. We even have the backing of the police and the Minisries of Home Affairs and Community Development in this area. It is now very simple for abused spouses to get protection orders and there is a one stop counter in the Family Court with a doctor in attendance andfree legal counselling and advice to assist the abused victim. The laws against domestic violence has been given a lot more teeth in the revision in 1996 in which we took a very active role and made many of the proposals for the amendment. The police force has been very supportive and one of our affiliates has been proactive in the training of their recruits, their middle managements, their investigators and commanders! We have an Inter-Ministry Committee set up with Government ministries and NGOs such as ourselves to look into case management, the enforcement of laws and the raising of awareness of this social ill which we want stamped out. We are certainly interested in your Silent Witness exhibit in Singapore. With Warmest Regards. Mrs Anamah Tan President, SCWO This is absolutely thrilling. We can learn so much from our sisters around the world. We share so much in common and at the same time have such unique perspectives. You two and your organizations are doing so very much. You are to be commended. Thanks for all this hard work and congratulations on all the success. We hope to be able to collaborate on some Silent Witness activities too. TEXAS: Recently there was a long article in the Corpus Christi paper about a wonderful couple, Bob and Barbara Arnett. They are parents of Bonnie Arnett who was a thriving young lawyer in Texas until her husband murdered her. They had to fight with the legal system to get her death considered a homicide since her husband said she committed suicide. After hiring a private detective they finally got the grand jury to consider her case and in the ensuing trial the husband was convicted of murder. The Arnets are working tirelessly for a battered women's shelter in Corpus Christi now. In March they helped organize an ambitious black tie fund-raiser among other things. They're also contributed generously to a women's safehouse in Arlington and a refuge for victims of domestic violence in Fort Worth. In addition they have started a scholarship for universtiy students who aspire to someday help victims of domestic abuse. One of the reasons this story is so poignant for me (Janet) is that Bonnie was the niece of one of my dear friends here in Minneapolis. Great work, Barbara and Bob. We are very grateful for you. Keep up this incredible dedication. NEWS FROM NATIONAL HEADQUERTERS: MURDER METERS ARE DESIGNED AND READY TO BE SENT: Joanne Coghill of the Jr. League of LA has completed the design and photos of the Silent Witness Murder Meter. It is so wonderfully visual and will be a great way to focus on how your state or city is doing in bringing down the domestic murder rates for women. I will send anyone photos and construction plans if you just send me your name and address. We are so anxious to get these plans out to you so you can have these meters ready for your October events.The display has three sections, one with the Silent Witness information, logo and mission statement on it, one with the US domestic homicide rates and the other with your state or city domestic homicide rates for women. Huge kudos to Joanne for doing this work. JUNIOR LEAGUE LINKS WITH SILENT WITNESS AT NATIONAL LEVEL A note from Kirsten Jennings, the Jr. League domestic violence guru in New York at Headquarters. This is the piece they posted on their web bulletin board about Silent Witness. I am pleased to be starting a new effort to use this message board to periodically update you on the great work that Junior Leagues are engaged in to end domestic violence. On a monthly basis, I receive an email newsletter from Janet Hagberg of the Silent Witness National Initiative. Below, I have attached portions from that newsletter describing exciting work being done by the Junior Leagues of Los Angeles, CA, Ann Arbor, MI and St. Paul, MN. For those of you not familiar with the Initiative, Silent Witness is a campaign to raise public awareness about domestic homicides with a travelling exhibit of free-standing, life-size silhouettes, each bearing the name and story of a woman killed by an intimate partner. Recently, League Presidents and SPAC Chairs received copies of Results, which was just published by the Silent Witness National Initiative to describe the progress of each state and major city in the United States toward reducing its domestic homicide rates for women. Also included are descriptions of specific programs that have shown results in reducing domestic violence, eliminating domestic murders, or changing undesirable behavior. Since Silent Witness genesis in 1990, Junior Leagues have been an important part of this ongoing awareness campaign. The Junior League of Minneapolis, MN participated in founding the organization, and throughout the past ten years, 49 Leagues in 17 states as well as in Canada and Great Britain have given their time, labor and support to the Silent Witness Initiative. Currently, Junior Leagues active in the initiative include Leagues in California, Great Britain, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Please post information you would like to share regarding work your League is doing to end domestic violence. SUMMARY OF STATES' RESULTS IN REDUCING DOMESTIC HOMICIDES OF WOMEN 1998 The overall number of domestic homicides for women in 1998 was 1317, for men 512. The number of women murdered by intimates represents 31.9% of all women murdered and the number of men murdered by intimates represents 4.0% of all men murdered. The domestic homicide rate for women is up more than 100 in 1998 over 1997. The columns below will not transfer on email very well so if you would like me to fax them, just let me know. They will be transferred to our web site within the next month. State 1998 DV Homicides/Women DV Homicides/women per million Direction of change Alabama 26 5.97 down Alaska 3 4.89 down Arizona 26 5.57 up Arkansas 26 10.24 up California 132 4.04 down _________________ Colorado 20 5.04 up Connecticut 8 2.44 down Delaware 3 4.03 down Florida no report Georgia 40 5.23 down _____________________ Hawaii 4 3.35 down Idaho 3 2.44 down Illinois 22 1.83 up Indiana 25 4.23 up Iowa 8 2.80 up _____________________ Kansas no report Kentucky 15 3.81 down Louisiana 36 8.24 up Maine 7 5.63 up Maryland 21 4.09 down ______________________ Mass 9 1.46 down Michigan 23 2.34 down Minnesota 6 1.27 down Mississippi 15 5.45 up Missouri 19 3.49 down ______________________ Montana 2 2.27 down Nebraska 5 3.01 up Nevada 7 4.01 down New Hamp 5 4.22 down New Jersey 32 3.94 up ______________________ New Mexico 8 4.61 down New York 48 2.64 down North Carol 55 7.29 down North Dakota 1 1.57 up Ohio 44 3.93 up _______________________ Oklahoma 20 5.98 down Oregon 12 3.66 down Pennsyl 50 4.17 up Rhode Is 2 2.00 up South Carol 46 11.99 up ______________________ South Dakota 1 1.36 down Tennessee 25 4.60 down Texas 110 5.57 up Utah 7 3.33 up Vermont 3 5.08 up ______________________ Virginia 47 6.92 up Washington 19 3.34 up West Virginia 11 6.07 up Wisconsin confirming data Wyoming 3 6.24 down If your state had the same number of domestic murders in 1998 as you did in 1997 and you wonder why the homicide rate per million has decreased, as is the case in several states, it is because the population increased and you are actually doing a better job keeping the murder rates down than you might have thought. I leave you today with a blessing that I hope will stimulate your thinking as much as it did mine. May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships... So that you will live deep in your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people and the earth... So that you will work for justice, equity, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer...So you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy. And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world... So you will do things which others say cannot be done. Anonymous Cheers, you angels who are blessed with foolishness! Janet Cheers, Janet `< back`