Domestic violence on the rise in Shawnee County; is it because abusers know they will get away with it? (Topeka, Kansas)

We've reported on protective mom Claudine Dombrowski before.

This article does a piss poor job of explaining Claudine's dilemma. District Attorney Chad Taylor insinuates that she "went back" to her abuser due to some mysterious psychological attraction or personal flaw. And knowing this case as well as I do, that isn't the case at all. In fact, she was FORCED to interact with her abuser because he was essentially holding her daughter hostage--with the full encouragement and legal blessing of the Shawnee County court system. But I suppose that the DA doesn't really want to go into all that now; that would be--unseemly--you know.

So we're seeing an 80% increase in the county's domestic violence incidents, are we? Suddenly there is an 80% increase in the number of women with psychological problems who get themselves trapped in a "cycle of abuse" and so forth? Nonsense. If you're seeing big increases like that, it's time to look beyond individual victim blaming and look at the structural and institutional factors. Isn't it also possible that abusers have been tacitly encouraged by the legal system's tolerance of abusive behavior? They batter because they know there will no real consequences? And that if you're like dad HAL RICHARDSON, you'll even be rewarded with child custody?

http://www.ktka.com/news/2009/oct/20/domestic_violence_rise_shawnee_county/

Originally published October 20, 2009 at 02:59p.m., updated October 20, 2009 at 05:48p.m.

Domestic violence is on the rise in Shawnee County
By Jessica Drew

"I remember curling up in a ball to protect her from the kicks," domestic violence survivor, Claudine Dombrowski, described.

Claudine Dombrowski is a survivor to domestic violence, a cycle she went back to many times. "I had a choice I could see my daughter or I could never see her again. The abuser had complete control, so I got my daughter back and went back to him."

Going back to an abusive relationship is a problem District Attorney Chad Taylor said his office sees quite often. "We see it everyday, and it's just a matter of the psychology of the cycle of abuse," Taylor said.

The number of cases coming across Taylor's desk is growing. "Our year to date projections for 2009 total is going to be an increase of about 80 percent for the domestic battery cases that we filed," Taylor said.

Claudine fights to help women like herself who have fallen in the hands of abuse. "This was the crow bar, and then I was beaten and raped," Dombrowski said.

She said she never reported her beatings until after her daughter was born.

Taylor said it happens often, "It goes from bruises to hospitalization, to like we said this is all about homicide prevention."

Claudine said even if you haven't been a victim, you probably know someone who has and you can help them. "Don't think it's you...get rid of the scarlet letter of shame, it's the most important thing."

Taylor wants to show there's help out there for victims. "Making this a priority and letting people know that this will not be tolerated in our community," Taylor said.

Taylor's office gave us statisitics on Domestic Violence in 2008 the DA's office received 1267 cases, out of those 508 were filed. Starting from January 1st until October 16, 2009 there have been 1347 cases received, and out of those 849 cases have been filed.

One Domestic Battery charges, in 2008 there were 723 received and 246 filed for court. The projections for this year are 784 received and 443 filed, meaning an eighty percent increase on Domestic Battery.