Domestic Violence: Most Underreported Crime In America

Found at the scene of the crime two dead bodies stabbed brutally, and left to die at their house. This was the story that shocked the country in 1991. This was the start of the O.J. Simpson domestic abuse case. Unfortunately events like this happen many times over everyday in many setting all over the United states; however the victims of the other cases don't get nearly as much publicity.

Some facts about domestic abuse:

An average of nine out of 10 women have to be turned away from shelters

on.

The reason so few cases get assigned initially is the police usually

don't have enough officers to meet the demand

At the Portland Women's Crisis Line, where calls have doubled since the

killings of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, they welcome the increased

attention.

From July 19,through March 31, 1993 a total of 3,665 domestic violence

cases were reviewed in Portland Oregon. Of those, only 281 cases resulted in

some action taken against the accused abuser. Some of this is because there is

not enough police, but it is mostly because the abused person is scared.

For the last six months of 1993 and the first three months of 1994

Portland averaged about 1,000 calls each month or 12,000 calls a year.

In January 1992, 30 criminal domestic violence complaints were issued.

For January 1994, the number was more than 100.

Nationally, estimates range from 2 to 4 million women assaults each year.

Some studies show that 20 to 30 percent of all women who seek help at

hospital emergency rooms are there because of domestic violence.

Kyra Woods never made it to the emergency room. Whoever killed her saw to

that. She suffered 13 stab wounds to the back five of them so violent the knife

came out the other side of her body.

Wood's mother, Mable, and two aunts wept quietly in a back row of the

courtroom as the prosecution argued against bail for Woods' former boyfriend

Jackson. Rod Underhill, the prosecutor, painted a picture of domestic violence.

He told of a dramatic moment after the killing, when Woods' 4-year-old son,

holding a teddy bear, re- enacted the attack. "He put his hands around the neck

of the bear and shook it," Underhill said. "He began to pound it with a closed

fist and slug it."

Mable Woods said that her daughter never told her much about any abuse.

Neighbors, however, told police of hearing the couple fight violently. According

to police reports, one neighbor said, "They fought so hard the pictures on the

wall shook back and forth.