Nationwide, domestic violence advocates took a collective sigh of relief when the 6-2 ruling in Voisine v. United States was released by the Supreme Court on June 27. Co-plaintiffs Stephen Voisine and William Armstrong, both residents of Maine, argued that their misdemeanor charges of reckless domestic violence should not prohibit them from possessing firearms.
To understand fully why this ruling upholds a critical protection for victims of domestic violence, it’s important to first understand the nature of intimate partner abuse and lethality in high risk domestic violence cases.
Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior, used by one person in a relationship to gain and maintain power and control over the other person. The tactics used by an abusive partner can include forms of physical violence, sexual assault, verbal and emotional abuse, stalking, isolation, economic control, intimidation and threatening behaviors. Each incident of abuse increases the perceived and real danger, fear and intimidation felt by the victim.
When an abuser introduces a firearm to the home, more often than not, it communicates an implicit threat to the victim, who experiences a reasonable fear for his or her life. According to the American Journal of Public Health, the presence of firearms in domestic violence situations increases the chance of homicide by 500 percent, and women are more likely to be murdered by a firearm than by all other means combined. Every year in Maine, about half of all homicides are the result of domestic violence — a significant number of these homicides being perpetrated with the use of a firearm.
It is precisely these facts that make this Supreme Court ruling in Voisine v. United States such a critical piece of protection for victims of domestic violence.
In celebrating this ruling, however, it is important to remember that the discussion about safety in high-risk domestic violence cases cannot begin and end with firearms. Stalking, explicit or implied threats, and strangulation can all be indicators of lethality with or without the presence of a firearm.
Sixty-one percent of female victims and 44 percent of male victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partner. When an abuser stalks their victim they are sending the clear message that they are in control. No matter what the victim does to get away, the abuser will find them, follow them, control them and very likely harm them.
Like stalking and other forms of domestic violence, non-fatal strangulation is a common tool used by abusers. Strangulation is a form of power and control that tells the victim, “I can control you down to your next breath,” permanently altering the dynamics of the relationship by putting the victim in constant fear that their partner can kill them at any time.
Advocates and law enforcement officers look for incidents of non-fatal strangulation to assess the lethality of domestic violence situations. According to the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, even one incident of non-fatal strangulation can increase the likelihood of being killed by an intimate partner by 800 percent.
In 2011, the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence conducted a three-month survey of 151 survivors of domestic violence in Maine, finding that 72.8 percent reported being strangled by their current or former partner, with 79.3 percent stating that it happened more than once.
To fully address domestic violence in our communities we know that we need to continue to strengthen and enhance our community-based collaborations aimed at addressing abuse. One of the key observations made in the annual report of the Maine Domestic Violence Homicide Abuse panel was that “the use of High-Risk Response Teams within the state represents best practices for victim safety and offender accountability… [and]has been shown to effectively reduce homicides and serious assaults.”
At Safe Voices, we employ a full-time High Risk Coordinator who leads these collaborations throughout the tri-county area. The High Risk Coordinator also assembles the High Risk Response Team. This team is part of a coordinated community response effort, bringing together stakeholders, including law enforcement, victim services and probation, to examine a specific high-risk case and develop strategies to increase victim safety and offender accountability.
Funded by a grant through the Office on Violence Against Women and facilitated through the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, this position is cultivating strong local investment in addressing these issues and creating a community where victims feel protected, supported and, above all, that they are not alone.
Rebecca Austin is director of outreach for Safe Voices.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, or to learn more about Safe Voices’ High Risk Response efforts, please call Safe Voices 24-hour helpline at 800-559-2927. This is a free and confidential service.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
