Domestic Violence in New Mexico - Research Paper Example

Module Domestic Violence in New Mexico; San Juan County INTRODUCTION Domestic violence is also commonly referred to as spousal abuse. When spouses commit domestic violence on their spouses, they are basically reacting from fear that they are not as respected or venerated as they feel they ought to be and are seeking to dominate or control the victimized spouse. Using physical means to assert power over a spouse will result in the victim being alientated from all the people in a position to end the cycle of violence such as parents, siblings, and even coworkers. In many communities around the world, domestic violence is perceived as something that only involves the two people in it. Many people, whether they realize it or not, are reluctant to intervene in cases of domestic violence because they do not have all the facts. Asking questions would seem, to them, as being similar to ‘prying’ or ‘interfering’ in matters that do not concern them (Herring 256). This is particularly true in communities that are conservative. Domestic violence is something that happens to people of both genders, of all ethnic backgrounds and income brackets, and in all age groups. The Occurrence of Domestic Violence in San Juan, New Mexico In San Juan County, which is situated in New Mexico, police officers respond to approximately 1500 incidences on an annual basis- which is actually three times as much domestic violence as takes place in other areas of the nation (Caponera 34). New Mexico is located at the border of the Ute and Navajo American Indian Reservations. San Juan has large populations of mainly three ethnic groups Caucasians, Hispanics, and American Indians. Even though San Juan is considered as being the economic hub of an area that includes northwest New Mexico, southwest Colorado, southeast Utah, and northeast Arizona, its economy is not as prosperous as that of many other parts of the United States. There are larger numbers of jobless young adults than in most American cities. In the past, the excuse of this seeming poverty has been used to explain the high numbers of domestic violence in San Juan. This, however, is a misconception. Even though domestic violence is more common in the financially challenged brackets of the population, it is mainly the result of a culture’s retrogressive cultural beliefs about both genders (Nurius, Macy, Nwabuzor and Holt 562). In some cases, however, poverty exarcebates an already challenging living situation, resulting in anti social behaviours being exhibited. While domestic violence can be used to refere also to sibling on sibling violence or parent on child violence, in San Juan, it is mainly used to refer to the violence meted out by husbands or men on their wives or girlfriends (Caponera 11). In San Juan, eighty-five percent of violence that women experience is perpetrated by their boyfriends or husbands (Malley-Morrison and Hines 951). More than fifty percent of the residents of San Juan are either of Hispanic or American Indian ancestry, while the remaining half are of Caucasian ancestry (Caponera 6). In San Juan, the factors in all present cultures that contribute towards the increase or propagation of domestic violence include financial inequality between women and men, machismo, and the influence of the church. Although there are organizations and individuals working towards altering these retrogressive cultures, there are an assortment of structural barriers they have to combat such as the institutionalized sexism and, in the case of the Hispanic and American Indian sections of the population, breach the ethnic and linguistic divide that have repressed true change. In San Juan, many of the members of the Caucasian population are adherents of the Mormon faith, which encourages retrogressive practices such as polygamy. In all areas of the world where polygamy is practiced, men obviously have a greater amount of power over the women. The women in such societies are socialized to believe that the main purpose of their lives is to be wives and mothers. Such views give men the power to rule over women’s lives; and implement rules that they feel are righteous for their women (Harne and Radford 43). The American Indian and Hispanic ethnic groups also have cultures that seek to affirm the authority of men over women. The societal acceptance of domestic violence in San Juan, which is unspoken but quite evident, basically means that most of the girls or women in relationships essentially live in fear and constantly watch how they conduct themselves when in the presence of their boyfriends and husbands. The Navajo Nation, for instance, which is just one of the groups of American Indians in the area, has a culture of institutionalized violence where families are concerned. This situation is made worse by the lack of basic infrastructure and family social services that can assist domestic violence victims. Even when American Indian women are abused, they are hampered by the lack of transport facilities when they try to leave their homes immediately. In addition, the law enforcement authorities cannot easily reach them when trying to stop the violence.   The domestic violence victims in San Juan have to deal with external as well as internal barriers when trying to leave an violent relationships (Caponera 74). Some of these barriers include embarrasement, fear of physical retribution on the children, hope that the violent spouse will change his behavior, guilt over leaving dependents such as young children, and discouragement from other family members. In the Hispanic and American Indian populations, domestic violence victims have to contend with the language barrier (Hovell, Seid and Liles 144). The inability to comprehend the English language actually can prevent domestic violence victims from both of these ethnic groups from understanding where they can access resources to save them from abusive relationships. In addition, community education and outreach for Spanish and American Indian -speaking domestic violence victims is basically non-existent. Native American women undergo the highest rate of domestic violence of any ethnic group in the United States (Caponera 46). A recent Department of Justice discovered Native American women experience domestic violence three and a half times more than the women in all other ethnic groups do. Native American women not only experience sexual and domestic violence, but also have to combat institutionalized racism. Past researches have established that there exists a great amount of tension between police officials residing near reservations and their Native American women. This is because many police officials, many of whom are American Indians, are biased, due to social upbringing; and tend not to believe what the women say when they report instances of violence. A recent study conducted on from the American Indian Women in the San Juan established that three-fourths of the respondents asserted that they had been exposed by the ir spouses to sexual and domestic assault (Klostermann and Fals-Stewart 589). The women, the research established, remain silent because of the fear that they will be alienated, and also because they do not trust the white dominated agencies. In addition, domestic violence victims may often have experienced apathy from tribal institutions or agencies that seek to correct issues. Therefore, they become reluctant to run to the authorities every time they experience any type of abuse. Many times, police officials who are not of American Indian ancestry express frustration when faced with domestic violence cases in reservations (Caponera 27). This is because of the confusion that exists between whether to follow tribal or federal jurisdiction when judging such cases. Tribal regulations originate from a culture that is male identified. It is therefore not suprising that, when left to the auspices of tribal agencies, domestic violence is hardly ever addressed and culprits are actually reassured of their position as the bona fide heads of their homes. It is therefore not surpising that Native Americans experience the most blatant violations when compared to all the women of all other ethnic groups in America. Technically, crimes involving a Native American victim and a non-Native American perpetrator ought to be decided through federal jurisdiction. In addition, Native American women do not have many facilities for counseling, and do not usually attend higher levels of education in large numbers. This means that they are economically dependent on their husbands or boyfriends (Caponera 52). The Role of religion. Domestic abuse remains a big problem in society even when both the victim as well as the abuser belittle it and claim that it is irrelevant (Grossman and Lundy 1030). For many victims of domestic abuse, whenever they experience problems, they will go insearch of meaning or withdraw into themselves in order to find out why the incident happened and what they may have done to provoke it. Religion provides meanings for all manner of situations. When in crisis, many domestic violence victims first divulge the details of their suffering to priests, rabbis, or imams; and then seek for counsel from them. The problem comes when religion is used to define purpose in suffering. The issue of the submission of women is one that is touted by all of the world’s major religion. Most people believe that suffering is a normal part of human life and should not necessarily be viewed as being an abnormality. Even among those religious adherents that claim that this is not so, this fact is internalized. Religious victims of domestic violence tend to feel that the domestic abuse that they are experiencing is a result of some shortcoming on their part. When they seek for help from authorities in various religions, instead of the clerics empathizing with them, it is likely that they will first be shown their errors. The pastors or rabbis might inquire how long the victim prayed about the potential marriage before having the wedding- thus quietly implying that the victim is somehow to blame for not having prayed long enough prior to her marriage or ‘perceived’ that God had not ‘agreed’ to their choice of marriage partner. This habit of subconsciously blaming the victim cause the domestic violence sufferer to experience shame and guilt, and engage in self-blame which just results in further suffering (Stretch 134). In truth, religious authorities ought to encourage victims of violence to go to the authorities and prosecute their tormentors. Domestic abuse is not something that any person deserves, and it is not the penalty for overlooking any prayer specifications or past sins. Even though religious teachings such as parables can give helpful wisdom, they can also be used by biased religious leaders to belittle very complex issues like domestic violence by advocating for, or looking for a simple solution when one does not exist. Ill-informed religious advocates or leaders can actually present major obstructions to domestic violence victims finding true peace in their lives.  In the American Indian, Hispanic, and Mormon Caucasian populations of San Juan, there is a history of mistrust where the few facilities for domestic violence victims are concerned (Caponera 13). The religious leaders in all these communities have always held erroneous beliefs or simplistic assumptions about the true function of women’s shelters or the federal courts when tending to the issue of domestic violence. A religious leader in the mainly Catholic Hispanic population in San Juan, for instance, may hold the view that ‘secular’ Women’s shelters merely break up good catholic families while also undermining the victim’s faith. American Indian Tribal jurisdictions will insist that they are in charge of all issues within their reservation, and thus view any contributions from the federal system as ‘interference’. The Mormon faith stipulates that the husband is the head of the wife, and has the right to ‘discipline’ her if he senses that her soul is in danger of eternal damnation, so that she does not experience hell at the end of her life. Any interference from the federal authorities in family matters is unlikely to be encouraged by Mormon priests, as these authorities will just endanger the soul of the victim further. Domestic Violence and Poverty. Any efforts of domestic violence victims to escape violence can have demoralizing financial impacts (Gracia, Garcia and Lila 190-192). When an unemployed or partially educated victim of domestic violence leaves a violent relationship in which her spouse or boyfriend provided for all her needs, she will no longer have any support system. In addition, the present legislation surrounding the issue of domestic violence is merely focused on separating the battered victim, together with her children, from the violent partner. Moreover, they do not seek to provide other amenities such as the provision of a home, or job in another part of the nation in order to ensure the security of the victim. Poverty ensures that domestic violence victims are unable to leave their abusive spouses. This is because any changes that will remove the victim and her children, if she has any, will require the victim to move to a different area geographically, or launch divorce proceedings, (Gillian and Lowe 74). These processes all require the assistance of the civil legal system to acquire court orders for custody, personal protection, and child support. All this will require a considerable amount of money. There are few women who will leave violent spouses who provide for them and their children. In many states in America, there are programs that offer housing and provisional cash assistance, as well as free legal and child care representation. Still, most of these programs offer inadequate funds, and the domestic violence victim has to supplement the funds in the long run. As a result many low-income domestic violence victims simply choose to remain with the violent spouse or boyfriend and alter their personalities to suit the abuser. Women from low-income brackets who are exposed to domestic violence also have to contend with multiple levels of discrimination and bias that reduce financial security or safety options. For instance, there are landlords who do not rent houses to people whose rental fees are government subsidized or to single mothers (Caponera 61). In general, jobless or low earning women who are also victims of domestic violence have fewer economic or employment opportunities, and so are viewed as liabilities by landlords in areas that might afford them security. Challenges Faced by Domestic Violence Victims of San Juan. Ill-health is another factor that plagues domestic violence victims. This may be the result of the violence or just be an unfortunate occurrence. The common mistreatment they experience, along with the lack of resources and shifting economic opportunities also makes women in the low income bracket be less likely to seek for treatment when they experience odd physical sysmptoms. The HIV-AIDS disease is also more prevalent among domestic abuse victims because they have no control over their own sexuality. Even if they have good jobs, the fact that they have no control over their fertility soon renders them poor. Abusers often decide the number of children that will be born to their unions and thus can ensure that their long suffering spouses are constantly pregnant as a way of controlling them. If more children are born than can be supported, the victim is likely to be left responsible for the entire family while the abuser begins to use his income for his own purposes. CONCLUSION San Juan, in the recent past, has benefitted from the continued exposure after it was revealed that there is a problem of domestic violence. Many organizations that seek to correct such problems have studied the cultures in the San Juan area and have come up with different suggestions to curb this trend. Moreover, even though such awareness has resulted in legislation to curb violence within the family, although it can be stated that piece meal legislation will not go far in combating this practice which is deeply entrenched in the cultures of in San Juan. The only true change will come when the cultures are studied deeply to determine the factors that encourage violence. Works Cited Caponera, Betty. “Incidence and Nature of Domestic Violence in New Mexico V: An Analysis of New Mexico Data from the New Mexico Interpersonal Violence Data Central Repository.” New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, (2004). 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