-1Service Learning Project

My research paper focuses on domestic violence. More specifically, how

big of a part drug abuse plays in domestic violence. I chose this topic because this

is one of the reasons I chose to become a police officer in the first place.

According to the Department of Justice, 1.5 million women and 834,732 men are

raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United

States. About 85% of those victimizations by intimate partners were against

women. With statistics such as these, you wonder if there is a single common

denominator. This is what I attempted to find out. My hypothesis was that drug

abuse is a major contributing factor in the cycle of domestic violence.

I set out to test my hypothesis and find out whether or not there actually is

a correlation between the two at SafeHome Inc. SafeHome began in 1979 as the

Johnson County Association for Battered Persons. Their founder, Martha Hunt,

still actively participates in SafeHome events. Initially the Association established

a network of safe homes; then in 1984 opened a 15-bed shelter that was full the

first night. In 1987, the name changed to SafeHome and the shelter expanded to

accommodate 29 residents. Presently, SafeHomes services include much more

than the shelter where women and children can stay for a maximum of 10 weeks.

Services now consist of a specialized children’s program, comprehensive shelter

counseling and advocacy, court advocacy, outreach counseling, transitional living,

SRS advocacy, support groups, emergency protection from abuse orders, and
community education.

One of the things that make this particular organization stand out from the

rest is that the location of the shelter is confidential. You first have to speak with

the volunteer coordinator. When you inform her that you would like to volunteer,

she sets up an appointment for you to come to the office. When you arrive, she

explains the confidentiality policy and that you must have a preliminary

background check to volunteer. You then agree not to disclose the location or any

confidential information in regards to the shelter or the organization by signing a

legally binding form. Because of the confidentiality of this particular

organization, I did not have the chance to interact with the women and children

currently being sheltered. Instead, I came to a compromise with the volunteer

coordinator. I would do the yard work that the two shelter houses required, and

she would put me in contact with three former abuse victims that had been

through SafeHome’s programs.

When I found out that I would not be able to interact with the victims

currently being sheltered I had to alter my original plans of administering a

survey. Instead, I interviewed three women that were former victims of domestic

violence. The volunteer coordinator put me in contact with them. I used some of

the same questions that I already had prepared for my survey when I interviewed

each woman. Although I would have been more comfortable administering

survey’s to a group and interpreting the results, I proceeded with the interviews
trying not to pry too much into their personal lives.

As I interviewed the first woman I quickly found out that she seemed to be

very assertive and independent. She was very quick to correct me when I was

wrong about something. Almost attacking me it seemed. When I asked her a

question and assumed too soon what the answer might be, she corrected me

harshly. Naturally I started to think more about what I said before I actually said

it. I asked her some questions such as, “Were drugs a contributing factor in the

abuse that you experienced?” “Do you think that the drugs were the root of the

problem?” “Did the type of abuse change when he was under the influence of

drugs?” “Was there still abuse when he was sober?”. These are some of the

questions that I posed to all three of the women. It seemed to me that as we talked

more and more, and she realized that this was just a research paper, and that I was

not trying to blame her or attack her in any way, she started to loosen up. By the

time the interview concluded, she was speaking in a very nice tone and thanking

me for calling and showing some interest in this particular subject. She was glad

that she could help me better understand the dynamics of domestic violence.

The second woman was much nicer than the first. She seemed to

understand more why I was asking these questions. Even though I explained my

intentions before each interview, each woman had a different level of acceptance

of how far I could go. As I started the interview, she stopped me and said, “Let me

explain to you exactly what happened to me”. So of course, I let her. After she
had finished her story, I was pretty much sitting there with my jaw on the ground.

She asked me not to go into detail about what she had told me, so I won’t. But let

me tell you, it’s amazing to me that his woman is still alive after all of the

hardship she has gone through. After she was done telling her story, I started

asking the same questions that I had asked the first woman. Although she had

clarified a lot of points straight off with her story, she still did not answer some of

my questions. As I proceeded with the interview I noticed that instead of

elaborating on one single point like she had done previously, she started to give

short and to the point answers to my questions. So in light of this observation, I

didn’t waist any time finishing the interview so not to make her any more

uncomfortable than she already was, having to relive that horrible experience.

Over all though, I would say that she gave me the most in depth perspective of all

three of the women.

She helped me to understand what it feels like to have this happen to you.

The example she gave me was excellent, so I would like to share it. This was her

example, “You walk with a jigsaw puzzle all put together and someone sticks out

their foot and trips you. The pieces of the puzzle scatter everywhere. At first you

feel shock. The carefully placed pieces are no longer put together. Then comes the

realization that putting them back together is going to take much longer than it did

to scatter them. You may even have to cope with the understanding that some of

the pieces may be lost forever. Then you have to deal with the person that the foot
belongs to! Then you may turn the anger on yourself believing that it was your

own fault for dropping the puzzle, for not looking where you were going…”.

The third woman seemed to be preoccupied and too busy to go into any

detail with me. I asked her if I could call back at another time when it was more

convenient for her. She said that she simply wanted to get this over with. Even

though her attitude left a lot to be desired I was still able to answer most of my

questions. She explained to me that her experience was not very serious. It

consisted of her boyfriend slapping her. Her hitting him over the head with a

baseball bat and going to the shelter to get away from him. She was smart and got

away the first time violence like that occurred. This is usually not the case

however. Research shows that battered women usually go back to their abusers

four to seven times on average before they successfully leave.

The conclusions that I have come up with completely contradict what I

believed when I started this project. My hypothesis was that drug abuse is a major

contributing factor in domestic violence. This is not the case, but drug abuse is

often associated with domestic violence. In two of the women that I interviewed,

alcohol was one of the catalysts of abuse. This does not mean that he was only

abusive when he was drinking, but only that it escalated the severity and

occurrence of the abuse. In those two cases, they were still abused regardless of

whether or not he was drinking. In some cases, drugs are not even present in the

household. Yet the abuse continues anyway. In actuality, the victims are more
likely to turn to drugs as an escape mechanism. They sometimes use drugs to

eliminate the pain and suffering.

Drug abuse may not be one of the major contributing factors concerning

domestic violence but it obviously doesn’t help. What I did find out was a major

contributing factor was whether or not the abuser was abused themselves as

children. For example, 50% of boys that grew up in abusive homes became

abusers themselves.

This experience has really changed the way that think about the causes

leading up to domestic violence and how drug abuse may or may not play a role

in why people become violent. I think that education on domestic violence can

solve future occurrences in the way people interact in society and hopefully give

an understanding on the severity of the problem.