The Conspiracy Of Silence Summary

The short film, The Conspiracy of Silence, focused on all aspects of domestic violence including stories from victims, batterer intervention programs, interviews with judges and statistics of domestic violence in the United States. Opening up with brief statements of what their abuse was like, victims explain how anyone can be a victim and the main reason behind domestic violence occuring is power or control. Based off slideshow number 3, Theories of Domestic Violence, there are other theories as to why domestic violence occurs including biological, psychological, substance use, social control theory and the learning theory along with many others (Wallace, K. 2018). The victims stories included acts of being held to the ground, broken hands,

wearing turtlenecks to conceal bruises, worrying about the children and never going out with friends, all of which are common warning signs. One of the statements that stood out to me the most was the doctor failing to ask about the marks and bruises covering her body and had the doctor asked, she said the doctor would be the only person she would tell. This underreporting of crime is commonly referred to as the dark figure (Wallace, K. 2018)
Children are a huge component in domestic violence situations with 3.3 million to 10 million US children being impacted annually (Wallace, K. 2018). Judy Heneveld is a child social worker from the film who discussed the common stigma that domestic violence is a family matter which leads to adults often telling children not to discuss what’s going on in the house with anyone. Frank Waters from the New York Center for Recovery addressed how children who grow up in households where domestic violence is presence often spend the majority of their adult life searching for love since there was none in their household. Other common effects that abuse have on children that were mentioned in the film and in class are behavioral, emotional, cognitive, attitudinal, neurological and psychological issues (Wallace, K. 2018). Child social worker Jody Heneveld mentioned how it was usually stigmatized that girls would exhibit internal changes such as anxiety and depression whereas boys would act out externally by hitting and punching. However, over the years they have found that both internal and external changes occur to both genders and they are not necessarily gender specific. When children are present the fear of mothers is often heightened, but the action of calling the police is little due to the fear they will lose custody of their children (Marshad, N., & Olson, D 1995).
Shifting focus to how police, judges and hospital address and handle domestic violence situations were the interviews with Judge Deborah Kooperstein, hospital doctor John Ferry and police chief George Ferrer.

Judge Deborah Kooperstein told the story of an abused woman who came into the court crying hysterically begging for an order of protection to be ordered. The court granted her the order but two days later she came back with her husband demanding the charges and order be dropped (Marshad, N., & Olson, D 1995). This is a common situation seen where offenders will threaten their victim to drop chargers or court orders. Orders of protection can be very useful and work well in protecting a victim, but in order to be effective they need to be enforced. Many offenders know they are nothing but a piece of paper and more likely than not will not be enforced providing them with the change to reoffend. Of all the women in an emergency room, 35% of them are due to domestic violence. Hospital nurse John Ferry noted that many women will come in with injuries such as a black eye but will not disclose the rest of the information such as them being pushed down a flight of stairs which could also cause broken ribs. One woman reported that she had spent more days in hiding and in the hospital than her batterer did in jail. Police are often put into tricky situations because when calls come in for domestic violence calls they will go to detain the offender but the female will turn on them

and in turn become combative since they don’t view the police as helping (Marshad, N., & Olson, D 1995).
The final take away from the movie was services offered to the victim.

A key point that stood out to me was the fact that women are the victims yet they are the ones who more often than not the ones leaving their house. The Retreat is a shelter that was started in 1986 and offers many services to women and their children who have escaped from domestic violence households. Leaving is often the most risky stage of a domestic violence relationship because the threat of intimate partner homicide, when abusive men tend to kill partners when the fear that the partner will leave them or when they partner actually does so, (Buzawa, E. S., Buzawa, C. G., & Stark, E. 2017 p.6) becomes present. Once women make it to the hidden address that The Retreat is located at, they can receive counseling, help working with courts and officers, videos of women who have been here before telling their story and therapy. There are a total of 18 beds available for a ninety day period with the option of a forty-five day extension. For women who have not made it to the shelter yet, there is also a twenty-four hour hotline available. Women gaining back their sense of power, identity and control is a long period that requires the woman to acknowledge and hold the man accountable even though society tends to blame the victim for not leaving. In order to help victims and try and lower if not stop domestic violence situations, we must empower women and let them know they are not alone and it’s not their

fault along with making sure we hold the abuser accountable for their actions showing they are in the wrong and what they are doing or have done is not okay (Marshad, N., & Olson, D 1995).