In observance of Domestic Vi o lence Awareness month, a series of articles will run through the month of October.

This article explores the cause of domestic violence and when it b e gins, how the message that dome s tic violence will not be tolerated is being expressed legally -

loca l ly and statewide, recently passed le g islation and some community me m bers view on the contributing fa c tors of domestic violence.

Women and children who live with domestic violence need our help. Home, for them, is not "where the heart is," it is where the fear is. Where the pain is. A place from which there seems no escape.

How many times have you been somewhere and overheard a conversation about an incident involving violence in a home on the news that was followed by, but thank god that doesn't happen here!

Increasingly communities are realizing that it, in fact, does happen "here" - it happens in every town, in every city the world over.

The Maine Coalition Against Domestic Violence (MCADV) defines it as a pattern of coercive behavior in which one person attempts to control another through threats or actual use of tactics, which may include any or all of the following: physical, sexual, verbal and psychological abuse.

Attorney General Steven Rowe believes it is important to clarify cause from excuses.

"Alcohol and drugs, problems on the job, financial issues; these are excuses for domestic violence, they are not the cause," said Attorney General Steven Rowe. "Domestic abuse is about the need, the desire, to exercise power and control over another human being. You may find alcohol, financial problems and other issues in domestic violence cases, but they are not the cause.

"There are plenty of people who drink, have problems with finances, are low or high income, or are mentally ill that do not choose to be violent."

Dorothy Law Nolte's book, "Children Learn What They Live," illustrated that the character and values of children are learned by example.

Children growing up in violent households, who witness their mother being abused, learn to abuse. The roots of domestic violence are shaped by learned behavior.

"Little boys growing up in violent homes are learning from this adult relationship that is sometimes the only one they know," said Rowe. "Often, they do not see their first male teacher until middle school. And so, in most cases they do not have a positive male role model in their lives."

The boy begins school and finds that his father's example works, i.e., if another child in his class has something he wants, he might say that if they do not give the object to him he will beat them up.

Or, if a child does something he does not like, he will threaten them, warning you better not do that again or else.

Jessica Mauer, Assistant to the Attorney General said this classroom behavior also generates attention, albeit negative, something the child may not be receiving much of at home.

Although neither Rowe nor Mauer were aware of studies that explored the correlation between children in violent households and bullying, Mauer said there have been studies on the brain of a child that is constantly exposed to the fear response.

"These studies have shown that the children are much more agitated," said Mauer. "When you add in attention deficit disorder and other chronic problems, you have situations resulting in negative attention or bullying behavior."

"When you are in high stress situations such as a violent household, it affects the neuro-chemical makeup of the brain and has a negative impact on the structure of the brain and reactions to stimuli," said Rowe.

As these boys emerge from puberty to the teen years, controlling a girlfriend, but disguising it as love and isolating her from friends seems a natural progression in their relationship.

Rowe said that the dating violence being reported should be seen as a red flag for abuse. Abusers seek to have power over their female partners, whether are it is the teenage boy monitoring his girlfriend's activities or the adult male who continues and escalates the behavior that sometimes comes to a fatal conclusion.

The following bills demonstrate the state's response to further protecting victims of domestic violence.

LD 1627 Enhance Public Safety by Making Domestic Violence a Crime makes Class D crimes of domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening, and domestic violence terrorizing, domestic violence stalking and domestic violence reckless conduct punishable by up to a year in prison.

Now, under this law, these crimes can become Class C crimes, felonies, if the offenses are committed a second time (rather than a third time) by the same person, or by someone who was been served with a protection order in the past three years. The criminal provision of the law goes into effect on February 1, 2008.

LD 1039 An Act to Enhance Law Enforcement's Ability to Determine Predominant Aggressor in Dome s tic Violence Situations was passed as a resolution.

The Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence collaborated on this bill with the Department of Public Safety and the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

An agreement was made between the three entities to incorporate this bill into the training received at the academy. The focus: learning to discern the power differential between abusers and victims.

In some cases, police officers responding to calls are presented with a situation where the victim (after an extended period of abuse), has finally retaliated against her abuser, who has called the police to press charges against her. Training will assist them in ascertaining who is the real predominant aggressor.

The Resolution, Chapter 98, directs the Maine Criminal Justice Academy Board of Trustees to develop and implement this law enforcement training no later than June 30, 2008.

A report, on their progress in the implementation of the resolution must be presented to no later than April 1, 2008.

An Act to Protect Victims of D o mestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking, went into effect in September.

This law created the Address Confidentiality Program for victims who have relocated or who are attempting to escape their abuser.

The program provides a special designated mailing address to use when victims are receiving services from municipal and state agencies.

The Office of the Secretary of State administers the program that requires an application that is reviewed to determine whether the program is appropriate for each situation.

An Act to Amend the Laws Go v erning Stalking was unanimously approved in committee and will be revisited at the start of the 2008 session.

New technologies have had an impact on the creation of this advanced stalking bill. Stalkers are utilizing Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) to monitor actions, disposable cell phones for untraceable calls and keyloggers to obtain information from computers.

But laws are not enough. Said Rowe, "It is important to look at laws, but we are misguided to think that strengthening our laws is enough.

"Maine needs to work on prevention and early intervention. We need increase educational outreach and awareness of the support in place."

Funding for domestic violence agencies has declined since 2002 said Gretchen Ziemer, legislative coordinator for the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence (MCEDV).

"We, and other agencies like us, are contracted by the Department of Human Health Services and provide direct and preventative/educational services," said Ziemer.

LD 1224 was a bill backed by the MCEDV to restore much needed funding for their services, a significant factor in raising domestic violence awareness.

The funding granted, $1.9 million dollars, is split between MCEDV - receiving 56 percent - and the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault - receiving 44 percent.

Members of the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse established the Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel is comprised of those who that have experience in providing services to victims of domestic abuse. Attorney General Steven Rowe, his assistant Jessica Mauer and are also members of this committee.

The panel recommends to state and local agencies methods of improving the system for protecting persons from domestic abuse, including modifications of laws, rules, policies, and procedures following settlement.

"Many other instances contribute to domestic violence and are encountered by our police officers…mental illness or other behavior," said Boothbay Harbor Police Chief Bob Hasch. "We are often the first responders dealing with someone in tragic circumstances. We receive psychological training to deal with situations we may encounter. We need to help calm them, keep things in perspective, where they are going to go, or stay, if necessary,"

While attending the police academy, officers receive training and following graduation, officers receive training that impact on domestic violence on an annual basis.

"The academy has really stepped up their training of cadets and we have sent some of our officers to specialized schools," Hasch said. "Some attend "train the trainer" courses in other states.

"This training is very important because many times we are not just looking at the event, we are looking at the causes, who is the aggressors, and what is happening at each call."

Hasch, Sergeant Patrick Higgins and other police officers have attended community forums to increase awareness of domestic violence.

"The incidence of domestic violence has always been here, but the difference today is that there is more communication," said Hasch.

Hasch said that the officers' presence at informational events has increased the perception of the police department as an information source. And the number of calls received bears that out.

"We receive, on average, between 300 to 400 calls a day from people in a variety of situations," Hasch said. "The increase in calls from women is monumental. We even receive calls from other towns seeking help with information.

"Some are directly involved and just need someone to talk to, some have questions about protection orders, some are not involved but are concerned about someone they know, others call to find out who they can call for one type of assistance or another."

When it comes to numbers of actual domestic violence calls, Hasch estimated that the department receives 30 to 40 "domestic calls" per year. As of this month, there have been seven arrests for domestic violence.

"We are not here just to arrest people, we are here to help. Good people make mistakes. We are a resource for victims and abusers - I have spoken with people who know they have a problem and ask where they can get help," said Hasch.

"But make no mistake, if criminal activity has taken place, we will make an arrest."

According to the statistics available at the Lincoln County Sheriff's office, that answers calls to Boothbay, to date in 2007 there have been 27 domestic calls that have led to nine arrests.

Statewide the attorney general's office reports 161,000, this figure also includes sexual assault, over the course of a year for populations of 1.2 or 1.3 million people.

According to the 2006 Maine Crime Victimization Survey, domestic violence is more prevalent than any other violent crimes.

Three percent of respondents reported being victims of domestic violence, a figure that sounds low, but actually translates into 30,000 individual over 18.

Mauer feels this number is low.

"This survey was taken over the telephone, at night, a time when all family members are at home, said Mauer. "A woman will not report being abused if her abuser is nearby."

Yes, there are statistics that show men are victims of domestic violence, but the statistics remain far higher for women.

Communities, just like ours, are listening, calling the police when they know someone is in danger, lending an ear and a supportive shoulder to friends, neighbors or family members; we are no longer pretending that our community is immune.

As a community we are beginning to acknowledge that for many, home is not a safe haven, but it should be.

Said Mauer, "If you know someone in a domestic violence situation, you can call the authorities to report and you can call agencies providing help, information and assistance and pass that on to them."

I don't know too many people in that situation, but I know domestic violence exists here. There are a lot of drinkers in Boothbay and when there is drinking, there is abuse.

I think that men should be accountable for everything they do. I think the police should be required to take awareness and anger management courses.

Men should go to counseling; rather than being violent and confrontational in a physical way. One can agree to disagree, but they need to talk.

Sometimes men say, `well she egged me on and I finally had to just stop her,' but they can ask her to stop. Men could also just remove themselves from the situation by taking a walk.

Drinking is one of the major problems leading to violence and anger; often drinking can make a fairly nice man not so nice.

Also, it's habitual, a repeated behavior they may have grown up with and they think it is normal.

I see evidence of domestic abuse in the papers, including the Boothbay Register, but personally, I am not aware of people in this kind of situation.

Drugs and alcohol are contributing factors; possibly job situations are part of it, they can't find a job, they have lost a job, or maybe the wife earns more than the husband.

How do you solve those problems? I don't know. Counseling and support groups for women and men with these problems might help.

It's not just the husband and wife, it's the system; both have to work. It's not like years ago when the husband was the breadwinner and the wife took care of the home and the children.

Financial pressures probably contribute to domestic violence and the stress builds up.

One thing I have seen and read about the people of Maine over the 15 years I have lived here half the year is that people here take care of their own when there is trouble or someone needs help.

I don't think domestic violence is too bad here, but I guess it depends on the situation. Alcohol, drug use and your upbringing have a lot to do with domestic violence. If a perpetrator had been brought up in a violent household, they could be violent themselves.

Increased community awareness and group meetings would help. I think it is important for people who are in this situation to know that if they try to get out, they will get help.

I think abusers should take responsibility for their actions. There should be support groups for them and maybe a community-based confidential hotline they could call.

Domestic violence is a problem in every community, even in the Boothbay region.

Alcohol is an obvious contributing factor and fear, I think. Economics is not a contributing factor; it cuts across every economic and social class.

Victims of abuse should be put in contact with New Hope for Women and we, as a community, should be supportive. I know that sometimes someone will say that they have been abused and it comes out that they weren't. But, much more often than not, they were and they have been abused.

Abusers, if known, should be made aware that the community knows that they are and not to pretend that they aren't in a quiet subtle way. The more a situation stays hidden, the more it is likely to persist. Domestic violence can be deadly - for men and for women.

Irritability and annoyance, that is unattended to, can end in violence. I conduct a workshop where I have asked what the contributing factors are and the responses have been drugs, alcohol, poverty, hunger, sarcasm; all the kinds of behavior that are non-calming can lead to violence. All of these things escalate

The community can only learn not to be afraid of the subject; they have to be open to discussion.

Abuse, whether it is sexual abuse or child abuse, is hushed up; and then several years later the victim becomes the perpetrator.

As long as people remain ignorant of this, if there is no discussion, then there is no treatment available. Without a discussion phase, there can be no solution phase.

The whole world, as a community, is lost; we are so violent with each other.

There is definitely domestic abuse here and in the whole state of Maine - just look at the news; it is rampant. I appreciate the women now, finally coming forth, but I still think it is such a hidden disease. Women are afraid to escape from it. I was in a marriage for 20 years and it took me a long time to get away from it.

I understand the perils of it. It is awful. Drugs now are a big part of it - and alcohol. In my case, alcohol was a big factor. Mental illness is another factor.

It would be good for the people in towns to be more supportive. And, if they see something to report it because sometimes that woman is too afraid to do it. Children are a part of this. Women in that situation believe that they are not worthy to do anything but what you are doing and they stay.

People in communities need to get together and say that if they see something they will call someone and report it. They need to let the woman know that if she is not strong enough to do it that you will.

Domestic violence is an issue here without question. Established patterns of behavior that are cultural and familial, learned patterns of behavior; frustration and poverty - but it is not a condition of poverty, domestic violence goes across all socio-economic levels.

Alcohol and drug use and a general lack of respect for women - which is a cultural thing, also contribute to domestic violence.

Listen to people, believe them when they say there is an issue and have places where women feel safe to disclose the fact that they are in a violent situation whether it is emotional, physical or sexual in their home.

And for healthcare providers, use screening tools. Ask about it, that is the biggest thing, you need to ask. A lot of the time women are not ready to leave a violent relationship and then need to feel supported while they try and find their way out of it. Women need help in understanding why they stay in violent relationships.

Another big piece relating to community support is not to be judgmental.

Domestic violence can also occur in couples that have had a healthy relationship for decades. When there is a change in one of the partner's health, in their economic status or in the family dynamics, like retirement. Suddenly they are together a lot more than they ever were before and petty irritations escalate to the point of violence.