Crimes against women must stop
By Jeff Jobe
jobe@jobeinc.com
Last week I read a research article that proclaimed women ages 15 to 43 are more likely to be killed or maimed because of male violence than cancer, war, malaria and traffic accidents all combined. Why would a society allow this to continue?
The article was an old one sitting on a shelf in my study. I had read it long ago before I had two strong intelligent beautiful daughters but it still resonated with me because I witnessed domestic abuse in my family as a child.
The violence in my family didn’t go on for long because my mother left my father and my grandfather stepped in to make it known it wouldn’t continue. He said then and I believe today, “a real man wouldn’t hit a woman and no good man would sit and watch it happen.”
My grandfather was a soft spoken man, small in size with a calm demeanor. He walked with a cane because of a bullet he carried in his hip from fighting in the Argonne Forrest during World War I but when he spoke people listened.
The article suggested reasons for male violence against women to be possibly biological and perhaps some slight brain damage or some type of severe childhood trauma.
From where I sit today as a rural journalist who has witnessed these crimes against women, one who grew up seeing it as a child and now with two daughter growing into young women; I don’t care what the reason or excuse is, it must be stopped.
I am absolutely convinced that male violence against women is one of the invisible and under-recognized pandemics of our time.
On page one of last week’s Barren County Progress we had a story of a woman who had shot and killed her son-in-law. These details had been reported on a dozen radio, television and newspaper articles in just a few days. But it was Jobe Publishing, Inc that took the time to look into why a mother-in-law might kill her son-in-law.
Our research showed that this man had been in and out of court for domestic violence causing injuries, and violations of Domestic Violence Orders for almost a decade.
The charges had been coming more frequent and at the time of his death he had several new charges making their way to a grand jury.
On the surface one might attempt to put blame on the court for this man continuing to be free but we must understand that the court is buried at times by these accusations. Many are bogus EPO/DVO accusations coming from divorce attorneys who seem to use the same play book when it comes to building cases.
Bogus claims should have a penalty when levied for malicious motives and the court should look at the attorneys who consume their time for nothing more than posturing; crowded court dockets put domestic violence victims in danger. Time is of the essence and any hint of repeat patterns should have swift strong penalties.
Unless there is something I am not aware of (and I have reached out) involving last weeks front page shooting; all of us, family, friends, neighbors, the court and this community publisher should own responsibility for this mother-in-law having to take a serious matter in her own hands and stop this man from the years of terror she knows her family has endured.
We can only hope that this situation will allow us all to focus and do our part to stop these crimes against our mothers, sisters and daughters.
Jeff Jobe is founder and CEO of Jobe Publishing, Inc. His commentary reflects his personal views and does not reflect the views of personal or professional associations and affiliations. Reach him at jobe@jobeinc.com. Read his previously published commentary at www.jobeforkentucky.com.
