View Point
Friday, October 15, 1999

By Cynthia Henry Thielen

Our most frightening secret

IT'S not exactly the topic of conversation at cocktail parties. Perhaps you hear about it over the back fence or on a call-in show.

Or perhaps you never hear about it at all. Domestic violence is just not something anyone wants to think about or talk about.

Yet we must increase awareness of this frightening crime, which desperately needs priority attention from our medical and legal communities.

A recent Hawaii Crime Brief issued by the attorney general found that nearly 30 percent of all homicides in Hawaii during a 10-year period were the result of domestic violence. Nationwide, it is half that or 15 percent.

The Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women once estimated that nearly 50,000 women in Hawaii between 18 and 64 had been victims of domestic violence.

I recall a frightening movie starring Julia Roberts called "Sleeping with the Enemy." I don't have to explain the title. Local statistics can do that. The state Department of Health reported that, from 1989-94, almost 100 women were killed by men in Hawaii. Most of the killers were partners, boyfriends, husbands or acquaintances.

It is shocking that one-quarter to one-third of all visits to hospital emergency rooms are made by victims of domestic violence. However, only one in 20 battered women who seek medical care are identified as domestic violence victims.

Also, only a small percentage of abuse situations are reported. By the time an arrest is finally made, the abuse prob-ably has been going on for years.

THE Legislature passed Hawaii's first spouse abuse law in 1972, and it gained teeth when it was amended to require abusers to serve a man-datory 48-hour jail sentence.

This no-nonsense law also gives the police the authority to make an arrest in any apparent domestic abuse situation, increasing the number of domestic violence arrests from 300 in 1986 to 4,665 in 1995.

On the down side, the mandatory 48-hour jail time has increased the demand for jury trials. Combined with the dramatic increase in arrests, there exists a jury trial backlog of thousands of cases.

Judges were reassigned to hear domestic abuse cases, but at least 1,600 cases were dismissed because of a failure to bring the cases to trial within six months of arrest or charge. Consequently, those charged with abuse went right back to the home.

The League of Women Voters of Hawaii advocates a coordinated community response as the key to addressing domestic violence. This requires the cooperation of public and private agencies, including the police, courts, health and other social service agencies.

Efforts along this line have not been entirely successful, since the organizations comprising the domestic violence service community have not yet been able to develop a truly coordinated program.

How can we prevent domestic violence victims from falling through the cracks in the system? Here are three suggestions:

We must make emergency medical service personnel more aware of domestic violence, so they can immediately call in the police.

The courts must be given greater authority to protect victims from their abusers for periods longer than three years so abusers are kept away, when appropriate, from their victims as long as possible.

Criminal penalties must be strengthened, sending a stronger message to the abuser and his "friends" that domestic violence will not be tolerated.

If we do all this, we will have turned the corner on reducing the incidents of this crime that now plagues our neighborhoods.

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State Rep. Cynthia Henry Thielen is the assistant
minority floor leader and co-chairwoman of
the House Women's Caucus.