Organizational Affiliation: Domestic Violence Training and Monitoring Unit, Rhode Island Judiciary
Author: N/A
Contact Info: Janice Dubois phone#: (401) 729-4484
Date: April 16 2003
Pages: 1
Content Summary
This report is a compilation of data collected by the RI Supreme Court Domestic Violence Training and Monitoring Unit between Jan 01, 2001 and December 31, 2002.
The report is in the form of a chart, and displays data from all of the Police Departments in Rhode Island. For each Department, the total number of Domestic Violence Forms recorded is listed; also listed are the number of Forms recorded for each of the following ethnic groups: White, African American, Asian, Native American, White Hispanic, Black Hispanic, Other.
Major Findings
The total number of Domestic Violence Forms filed in the state during this two year period was 17182. Whites represented the highest number of suspects in every town with the exception of Central Falls, where the most suspects were White Hispanic.
The information in this report is most interesting when compared to the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Report on Suspect Ethnicity and Arrest. For instance, the number of white victims in each town is consistently less than the number of white suspects; thus it can be concluded that white suspects are committing violence against non-white victims. This is not surprising given that Rhode Island’s population is overwhelmingly white, though it is contrary to popular notions of inter-racial violence.
Unaddressed Issues and/or concerns
The findings of this report overall seem to be consistent, and do not illuminate very much; the domestic violence cases for each ethnic group are highest in the largest cities, Providence and Pawtucket, which makes sense given that these cities are by far the most diverse municipalities in the state. This information and the way that it is represented provide an interesting look into the ethnic make-up of each community – one could conclude that the absence of victims belonging to a certain ethnic group indicates the lack of presence of that ethnic group in the given municipality. However, this information is difficult to properly analyze and use, because no information is provided indicating population breakdown with regards to race/ethnicity. Thus analyzing possible disparities in data collection, or drawing any kinds of conclusions about each ethnicity’s involvement with Domestic Violence in general or in any given municipality is difficult. It is also important to consider how often times minority communities do not tell law enforcement officials about their experiences with domestic violence for several reasons such as cultural beliefs and fear of social stigmatization. As Ulman et al. reveal through a study that they did on posttraumatic stress disorder on sexual assault victims, race does influence the type of social reactions victims receive (369). Keeping this fact in mind, it is easy to see how many of cases of domestic violence for these communities do not get recorded at all.
Reference List
Ulman, Sarah E, and Henrietta H. Filipas. “Predictors of PTSD Symptom Severity and Social Reactions in Sexual Assault Victims.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 14.2 (2001):
469-389
How to Access Report
http://www.courts.state.ri.us/domesticnew/
dvsa/reports/dv20.pdf