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Don't ignore scientific
studies
Is there something inherent in the nature of domestic violence
advocates that requires they exaggerate and misstate the facts with
regard to what is admittedly a nasty problem?
In both the article by
Lynn Tolson in the October 6th edition and the article by
Debbie Kelley in the October 8th edition quoting Connie
Brachtenbach, it is stated that the Colorado Springs Police
Department annually ³receives 15,000 to 20,000 domestic violence
calls.² The
annual report for the CSPD, easily available via the city web
site, for 2008 shows (p. 10) 9,506 domestic disturbance calls and
3,259 calls for a family disturbance, a total of just 12,765 for the
year. That is down from a high of 14,916 domestic disturbance calls
in 1994 despite a 35% increase in population. In fact the decrease
in 911 domestic disturbance calls is
one of the most distinctive results of the passage of the 1994
DV laws in Colorado.
It might also be reasonably expected that the director of a charity
like
TESSA, with an annual income of $1.7 million, would be cognizant
of the science that has for 30 years conclusively shown that women
are as abusive, or more abusive than men in intimate relationships.
My colleague, Prof. Martin Fiebert, has compiled
an annotated bibliography that examines 256 scholarly
investigations: 201 empirical studies and 55 reviews and/or
analyses, which demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive,
or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their
spouses or male partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed
studies exceeds 253,500. Many studies have shown that in
younger couples women are two to three times more aggressive and
physically violent than their male partners. And in about half of
violent couples the violence is mutual with women more commonly
initiating the violence. Further, lesbian relationships are the most
violent of all. Yet Ms. Brachtenbach ignores these findings and
claims that ³90% of offenders are male² in the October 8th article.
Violence is a real problem in many intimate relationships but we
canıt address the issue by ignoring scientific studies and
presenting exaggerated statistics and false factoids. The problem is
particularly acute in Colorado Springs with our thousands of troops
returning from multiple combat tours suffering from PTSD and TBI. We
must seek real answers, not adhere to a disproven ideology using a
dysfunctional legal system.
Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., F.G.S.A.
Colorado Springs
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