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Youngstown workshop focuses on judgment of domestic violence victims
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Too often, victims of domestic violence face demeaning comments and treatment at the hands of people who are supposed to help.
That’s the view expressed by Delphine Baldwin-Casey, a retired detective sergeant with the Youngstown Police Department and Mahoning County reserve deputy, who started the Crisis Intervention Unit in 1996, which is now the Family Services Investigative Unit.
“I’ve seen women abused, not only by their spouses and others, but by the police, prosecutors, courts,” she said.
Baldwin-Casey presented a free workshop, “Helping Victims of Domestic Violence Cope with Judgments Made by Others,” on Friday at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave., to some 40 participants, mostly from social-service fields. Other presenters were Malinda Gavin, program director at Sojourner House, a program of Compass Family and Community Services, and a member of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network; Darlene Hills-Clinkscale, a faith-based task-force member of Pastors Against Domestic Violence and Ohio Domestic Violence Network; and Frederick Taylor, author of “Domestic Silence.”
October is domestic-violence awareness month. Mahoning County ranks fifth in the state in domestic-violence cases.
Baldwin-Casey said she started at YPD in 1978 and saw situations of domestic violence firsthand when responding to calls. “I realized a wanted to make a difference. Domestic violence at that time wasn’t a priority,” she said. “Violence against women wasn’t taken seriously.”
She noted that information as far back as 53 B.C. relates how it is OK to “discipline” a wife in a physical way. “Wife-beating was accepted,” she said. In the 1970s, she said, the situation began to change as domestic-violence laws were enacted.
Baldwin-Casey said she always noticed that judgment on the part of many put the victim on the spot. Often it came in the form of the question, “Why don’t you leave?”
Baldwin-Casey said she learned that the answer to that is complex and multi-faceted. “Love, children, finances, self-esteem, no place to go, no family or other support and fear” are all factors, she said. “Women have to be empowered without judgment.”
She said judgment results in being “another stressor” for the victim, who is victimized again. The victim, Baldwin-Casey said, may fear retaliation by the abuser, or family and friends say forgive and forget, or they experience cultural pressure. Victims might be told to drop the charges, or there is a plea bargain, she said. “There is no real consequence for the abuser,” she said.
Gavin said she has worked in this field for some 20 years. “There have been changes for the good but nowhere near where it needs to be,” she said.
She pointed out that when she started, she discovered there were more animal shelters than safe havens for domestic-violence victims. “This is not only a women’s issue,” she emphasized.
“Domestic violence involves emotional, physical, sexual and economic issues,” Gavin said.
She said her role as an advocate “is to be a champion and supporter of victims.” Gavin said she helps with practical and emotional matters, including getting a restraining order and providing information so the victim can make informed decisions. In court, Gavin said, as an advocate, she listens for the victim who may be too upset to understand what is being said and done. “The victim already has been beaten down. We don’t want that to continue,” she said.
Gavin continued that “it’s a myth” that domestic-violence victims come from certain economic backgrounds. She said she looks at the ZIP codes and sees victims from the city and suburbs. “Some are educated people; some are not,” she said. “Some victims have other resources to rely on; the shelters see people with no resources,” she said.
Gavin said Sojourner House assisted 100 women and children in 2014; in August of this year, as an example, she said 34 women were helped. She said her oldest client is in her 80s; the abuse began on the honeymoon when the husband got lost and took it out on her. The abuse continued for 50 years. “But it had to be her decision to leave,” Gavin said.