Recession-led increase in domestic violence continues

OAKWOOD - Gainesville State College students learned poverty and unemployment are factors in domestic violence during an on campus seminar Tuesday morning to observe October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

That poverty brought on by unemployment during the current recession is increasing the level of domestic violence according to Dr. Robin Underwood, a therapist for the Gateway House emergency shelter for women in Gainesville.

“We’re seeing more women coming in because the men lose jobs more often or they’re going longer without getting another job,” Dr. Underwood said. “Sometimes if a man does not have a job and he’s not happy, then nobody else is going to be happy.”
“If his self esteem is involved in that job he’s going to externalize it.”

Gateway House Director Jessica Butler said that abused women are staying longer at her shelter because of current economic conditions.

“People are taking longer to find a job and to find affordable housing,” Butler said. “What we’ve seen is an increase in the demand and the need of those victims.”

Butler said the average stay has increased from thirty to 45 days.
Panelists listed the current Recession's economic impact as a leading cause of the stress that leads to domestic violence and abuse.

Hall County Solicitor Stephanie Woodard and Sgt. Bob Watterson with the Hall County Sheriff’s Domestic Violence Unit also spoke at the seminar, hosted by the GSC Center or Research and Public Service, the Gateway Center and United Way of Hall County.
Watterson said domestic violence incidents are the most potentially dangerous calls law officers respond to, saying the incident location can be full of weapons.
He added that domestic violence crosses economic and social boundaries and can occur in homes at every income level.
Woodard said criminal and civil law remedies are available to victims who are mostly women; it just requires the resolve to pick up the telephone and dial 911.
The Solicitor added that violence and abuse can also take a verbal as well as physical form that is against the law; an example would be threats and harassing telephone calls.