Thankfully, attitudes toward domestic violence are changing. Not
long ago, most people preferred to pretend it didn't even exist. To
many, it was a matter between a couple that was no business of the
rest of society.
Those attitudes are probably, at least in part, responsible for
South Carolina consistently being one of the most dangerous states
for women, with one of the highest rates for women dying at the hand
of their boyfriends or husbands.
It's encouraging that several actions taken recently could help
reduce the numbers of these horrible crimes.
Horry County plans to hire a police investigator specifically to
deal with violence against women.
S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster is calling for expansion of
a domestic-violence program now in existence in five S.C. counties.
The program provides training and supervision for volunteer lawyers
to prosecute criminal-domestic-violence cases.
Having more prosecution statewide could be helpful, but it won't
affect Horry and Georgetown counties. Here, county councils wisely
allocate money to pay for prosecutors for criminal-domestic-violence
cases.
There also is the possibility that Horry County will start a
separate court to handle the high number of
criminal-domestic-violence cases.
Another welcome development is a new S.C. law that will increase
fines for first, second and third offenses; require judges to
undergo training on domestic-violence issues; and force a wait of up
to five years before a conviction can be expunged.
The bill was signed into law by Gov. Mark Sanford in June and
will take effect Jan. 1. And on the federal level, House and Senate
committees are working on a bill to strengthen the Violence Against
Women Act.
Tougher prosecution and specialized training for police and
judges can help, but they won't ensure that these crimes will
stop.
Battered spouses often can't see a way out. They don't know where
to go, or they're afraid of even worse brutality if they try to
leave.
What really needs to change is the abhorrent attitude that
beating a spouse is acceptable. But at least we're no longer
pretending we don't have a problem, and at least authorities are
getting more powerful tools to combat the problem.
