How we continue to mislabel domestic violence

KERRY HEALEY and Jarrett Barrios pose an excellent question when they ask "why the justice system cannot restrain [a] batterer from reassaulting" ("Technology against violence," Op-ed, Jan. 11). Too often the victim is expected to leave the situation, so victims of domestic violence are essentially blamed for staying. We should never be asking why victims stay. The real question is why, as a society, do we continue to portray intimate victim violence as anything other than it is: a crime. If the parties to an assault were not in a relationship, no one would ever suggest that the victim was to blame for permitting the assault to occur.

My experience working with victims of domestic abuse has shown me that society treats these crimes differently. Why else would the media persistently refer to an assault on one's partner as a "domestic dispute"? It's a crime, and it needs to be treated as such. To do less is to perpetuate prejudice against victims, permit perpetrators to continue to deny responsibility, and allow the judiciary to impose sentences that send a message to perpetrators that it is not really a crime to beat up your spouse.

PATRICIA A. LEVESH
Boston

The writer is managing attorney in the family law unit of Greater Boston Legal Services.