The recent incident involving a former Baltimore Ravens football player striking his wife has sent shockwaves through our country and brought issues of domestic violence to the forefront of our cultural conscious. While it is good to continue the discussion of the severity of domestic violence, it is a shame that it takes such a serious case to raise public awareness of it.
Not only did a poor woman have to suffer abuse publicly, but with this incident grabbing people’s attention, we run the risk of having a very simple, straightforward view of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is not simply a case of catching abusers in the act, and it is certainly not a small issue. In fact, just over 15,000 Floridians experienced some form of domestic abuse in 2013. Even though Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement has reported within Hillsborough County there has been declining domestic abuse numbers in the last decade, many claim that this is largely because these incidents are not always reported.
In 2013 alone, more than 15,000 people made use of Florida’s emergency shelters to escape from domestic violence. With 42 state-certified shelters, you’d think that more Floridians would take advantage of them to escape their abuse, but what many people don’t realize is that it is not always that simple. Each case is different, and there are any number of reasons someone might suffer through abuse: perhaps they are scared that even if they leave, their abuser will follow them, or perhaps the abuser has threatened their children.
It seems like such a simple concept, and yet so many people don’t seem to understand it. There is no easy answer for domestic violence or domestic abuse; each case is different. But there are options, and there are legal ways to escape from your nightmare. If you suffer from domestic violence of any kind, consider meeting with an attorney who can discuss the intricacies of your case and help you arrive at a solution that is particular to your problem.