The Domestic Violence Project

Journalism students Kellie Applen, Amy Bradley, and Julie Kroenig collaborated with law students Rebekah Bromberg, Stanley Clark, and Brendan Kelley in an investigative project examining the response to violence against women in four rural Missouri counties. The project was done with the guidance of journalism professor Kent Collins and law professor Mary Beck.

The investigation resulted from disappointing experiences with rural law enforcement and police in one particular county where the Clinic obtained orders of protection for abused women but police refused to arrest men who violated the orders and prosecutors failed to prosecute violators. One case involved a man who violated a victim’s order of protection by repeatedly harassing her at her new workplace and then threatening to cause trouble in the workplace if the manager did not fire the victim. Abusive men typically try to prevent their victims from achieving independence i.e. by preventing or sabotaging their work, because it threatens their control over their victims. So one of the objectives of the Clinic is to help abused women develop an action plan aimed towards financial, emotional, and social independence. In this case, the victim’s action plan included getting a job and the woman had just landed a job when the manager fired her following the harassment.

The police refused to arrest the abuser and the court failed to enforce the Clinic’s Writ of Mandamus against the police to require them to enforce the protective orders. Another case involved a woman who was raped by her abusive husband’s friend. Despite obtaining a rape kit at the hospital (which would provide credible evidence at trial), the police refused to arrest the rapist implying that the prosecutor would not prosecute.

In the wake of these cases, the Clinic initiated an investigative project with the University’s top ranked Journalism School. The result was the comparative investigation into law enforcement, prosecutorial, and judicial responses to violence against women in 4 rural Missouri Counties.

The investigation revealed circular systemic problems in that police do not make optimal responses to domestic violence calls where prosecutors do not charge abusers, and where judges do not admit domestic violence evidence in trials where the victim fails to testify. The students’ investigation also revealed that where county law enforcement does not keep records of domestic violence police calls, that county’s prosecution of abusers is lower than expected on a per capita basis. The students’ research and investigative products include several KOMU television reports and a paper under development titled, “Investigating the Response to Violence Against Women in 4 Missouri Counties” that has been accepted for publication in the Missouri Bar Association Journal. The KOMU television series drew widespread attention and Professor Beck was subsequently invited to apply for Department of Public Safety funds to extend the investigation statewide. That proposal was submitted in September 2003 by Psychiatry Department’s Dr. Niels Beck. Journalism School’s Professor Kent Collins, and Law School’s Professor Mary Beck.

An important but subtle change resulting from the students’ investigation is that law enforcement in the one county whose actions prompted the investigation is now keeping records of domestic violence police calls. Record keeping commenced for the first time ever in that county within four months of the students’ obtrusive attempts to collect data on domestic violence calls received in that county. The journalism/law student/faculty team believes that improved police record keeping may break the systemic cycle failing to protect women in that county.

Generally, the improved response to violence against women includes several features - chiefly, police responding to the site of the domestic disturbance, careful collection of evidence, attentive law enforcement record keeping of responses to domestic violence calls, appropriate prosecution of abusers, and use of evidentiary techniques in civil and in criminal domestic violence cases that reflect an understanding of the psychodynamics of domestic violence. Because domestic violence affects approximately 1 in 4 women in the United States, and because it accounts for 1 out of every 9 visits to hospital emergency rooms; the importance of the response to violence against women is critical to at least half of the citizens of the United States. Professor Beck believes that the 20,000 women living in that particular county will benefit directly from the investigation of the law and journalism team because police are keeping records of domestic violence calls.

The collaborative project is significant not only because it has already precipitated an important change for citizens in one Missouri County, but also because the collaboration itself was an amazing effort that surprised faculty and students alike. Problem solving was dynamic and infectious. When one profession was befuddled by obstacles, the other profession had solutions. When one profession was lost by the meaning of the myriad of statistics obtained (and not obtained), the other made sense of it. The students enjoyed working together and forged lasting friendships, learned the magic of the other profession, and met no barrier they could not overcome.