Domestic violence is defined as abuse committed against members of the same family, a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, a person with whom the offender has had a child, or is having or has had a dating or engagement relationship regardless of sexual orientation or between children and elderly parents.
Domestic violence may begin with angry words, a shove, or a slap, and may escalate into a pattern of assaultive controlling behaviors including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks against the victim, children, property, and/or pets.
Criminal domestic violence behaviors include hitting, choking, kicking, assault with a weapon, shoving, scratching, biting, rape, unwanted sexual touching, forcing sex with a third party, or violation of a valid Restraining Order. Degrading comments, interrogating family members, suicide threats/attempts, controlling victim’s time and activities, although not criminal, are also considered domestic violence behaviors.
Domestic violence is not an isolated, individual event. One battering episode builds ..pisodes and sets the stage for future episodes. All incidents of the pattern interact with each other and have a profound effect on the victim. There is a wide range of consequences, some physically injurious and some not, but all are psychologically damaging.
Some acts of domestic violence even include sexual assault. A sexual assault may be by a stranger or a person known to the victim, including a husband, boyfriend, ex-husband, or ex-boyfriend. Sexual assault is a crime. Victims should notify the police immediately. A police officer will respond to conduct an investigation and collect evidence. Victims should keep all clothing worn during the assault and other evidence such as bed sheets. Officers will transport victims to the hospital for a free medical exam. Victims should not shower or douche before the exam.
Research has shown that this pattern of control and abuse increases in frequency and severity over time. It is estimated that one-fourth of all homicides in this country occurs within the family and one-half of these are husband-wife killings. Studies have shown that arrest, jail, probation, and Restraining Orders deter many abusers from physically abusing their partners.
If you become a victim of annoying phone calls, you should report them to the Los Angeles Police Department. Your phone company may be able to assist in tracking the origin of the calls if they have a police report number. If you become a victim of threatening phone calls, report them to your local police department immediately. The Los Angeles Police Department takes threatening calls serious, and so should you, especially if you are in a battering relationship or have been a victim of domestic violence.
You are not alone and many different kinds of help are available to you in your community. The Los Angeles Police Department is concerned about your safety!
Did you know…….
* A woman is beaten every 15 seconds.
* Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between ages 15 and 44 in the United States.
* Battered women are more likely to suffer miscarriages and to give birth to babies with low birth weights.
* Sixty-three percent of the young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide have killed their mother’s abuser.
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SAFETY ALERT! Computer use can be monitored and is impossible to completely clear. If you are in danger, please use a safer computer, call your local hotline or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline (800) 799-SAFE.
Victim Resources
Please remember, if you are being assaulted and need immediate assistance, dial 911. Law enforcement is trained not only to arrest your abuser, but also to help you access resources in your area.
Domestic violence programs are full-service agencies offering a range of services in emergency shelters or transitional living programs, as well as in the community. You may access their services without residing in the shelter. Typical services offered, in addition to shelter, include:
individual and group counseling for adult victims and also their children
legal services and legal advocacy
assistance to access permanent housing
assistance to develop financial resources
referrals for medical assistance
You may click on the links below for access to resources and referrals for services in your area.
You Can Help Heal the Effects of Domestic Violence with a Financial Contribution to Give Back A Smile!
The Give Back A Smile™ program is dedicated to providing cosmetic dental care at no cost to all survivors of domestic violence. The Give Back A Smile™ (GBAS) program was established by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry® (AACD) out of a desire to give something back to the community, specifically, to help victims of unfortunate circumstances. This community service project was proposed by an AACD Past President, Dr. Wynn Okuda. He believed this program could allow all AACD members to share their talents to help survivors of domestic violence who have suffered damage to, or lost, their smiles in an abusive attack.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline links individuals to help in their area using a nationwide database that includes detailed information on domestic violence shelters, other emergency shelters, legal advocacy and assistance programs, and social service programs. The Hotline may be reached toll-free by phone from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Domestic Violence: The 12 Things You Aren't Supposed to Know by Thomas B. James, Violent Betrayal: Partner Abuse in Lesbian Relationships by Claire Renzetti, Violence in Gay and Lesbian Domestic Partnerships, by Claire Renzetti, Waking to Tears: Losing a Loved One to Violence by Traci Bieber Nelson, Insult to Injury: Rethinking Our Responses to Intimate Abuse, by Linda Mills, Ph.D., Battered Women – Living with the Enemy by Ana Kosof, The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond by
Patricia Evans, Violent Voices: Twelve Steps to Freedom from Emotional Abuse by Kay Porterfield
Comedy Assault on Battery Comedy Assault on Battery Comedy Assault on Battery Helping To Change the Lives of Domestic Violence Victims Posted at 10:32 PM May 31 view more
The Comedy Assault on Battery Show was born from an idea of Norma Jean, Orange County-Based Comedienne. Credit for the actual show name goes to her dear and close friend, Count Smokula.
She is a survivor of Domestic Violence and supporter of organizations that aid women victims and their children in having a better life, self-preservation and the courage to know peace and love without violence and abuse in their lives.
The Comedy Assault on Battery Show is currently being produced for a nationwide audience. Proceeds will go to Domestic Violence Organizations across the country.
These show proceeds will go to enable purchases of such needs as diapers, career clothes, educational assistance, child care, etc.
We do hope you will join us for this worthwile event!
Upcoming Headliners to include: Dane Cook? (hoping!) ...and that's just the beginning.
Please support Comedy Radio:
Who I'd like to meet: Bookers, Comedians, Club Owners, Directors, Managers, Producers, Sponsors
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie
I am Grateful for You my Friend! Love Always SaturnsLdy
When we see a soul whose acts are all regal, graceful, and pleasant as roses, we must thank God that such things can be and are. From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all. Ralph Waldo Emerson Thank You for Being a Light in my Life
Make it a point to do something today for someone special, someone whom you often take for granted, someone who deserves your full and complete support -- yourself!
Being good to yourself is not being selfish. It doesn't mean you must ignore others. Rather, it makes you able to offer more value to the other people in your world when you take good care of yourself. Putting yourself down is of no benefit to anyone. Helping yourself to grow and build will provide you with more to give.
Be positive with yourself. Be kind and generous with yourself. When was the last time you did something nice for yourself? You deserve some special attention. Be good to yourself and that goodness will overflow into the world and the people around you. -- Ralph Marston
All My Love to YOU my Special Friend ! Always~ SaturnsLdy
Angels come to help and guide us in as many guises as there are people who need their assistance. Sometimes we see their ethereal, heavenly shadow, bright with light and radiance. Sometimes we only feel their nearness or hear their whisper. And sometimes they look no different from ourselves. ~ Eileen Elias Freeman~
Sending Blessings and Wishes For The Most Wonderful Year Ahead For You ! My Lova To You Now and Always! Cindy
“We not only live among men, but there are airy hosts, blessed spectators, sympathetic lookers-on, that see and know and appreciate our thoughts and feelings and acts." ~ Henry Ward Beecher~
Your Presence Here On MY MySpace Friend List Has Blessed My Life In More Ways Than You ALL Could Ever Imagine! I Do Love You All ! Thank You For This ! Cindy
Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people's souls. ~Melody Beattie~ Please add my healing page..Thank You Universal Love Healing ~Eternal Love For You~ SaturnsLdy
There is nothing we like to see so much as the gleam of pleasure i n a person's eye when he feels that we have sympathized with him, understood him. At these moments something fine and spiritual passes between two friends. These are the moments worth living. ~Love you~ ~always~
Each moment is an opportunity to reveal a miracle. Grace is a wonderful quality of the Spirit. When it is manifested in our lives, it brings the energy that uplifts our vibrations and clears the inner barriers. To be in a state of gratefulness is to put into practice the certainty that if we knock the door will be opened, and if we ask it will be given unto us. - Sonia Cafe
I have been away for a while and I have missed you ALL ! It is Great to be back ! All my Love to YOU ! SaturnsLdy
The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form.
~ Eckhart Tolle~
Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? ~Richard Bach~
~You are already here in my heart~ ~Love Always~SaturnsLdy
Happy feelings will attract more happy circumstances You can begin feeling whatever you want (even if it's not there).. the universe will correspond to the nature of your song
You can change your emotion immediately .. by thinking of something joyful, or singing a song, or remembering a happy experience
An affirmative thought is 100 times more powerful than a negative one
If you turn it over to the universe, you will be surprised and dazzled by what is delivered .. this is where magic and miracles happen
Quotes from The Secret
I Want to Thank You for Being My Friend! I Truely Love Each and Every One of YOU....ALWAYS....SaturnsLdy
Thanks so much for the friend add. A real pleasure to meet you. Hope you have a great weekend in all that you do.
Please stop by and check out my music. Would love to know what you think. My new CD "Trials & Tribulations will be in Best Buy stores in September and my debut single "out of the dark" will be on the radio as well.
Seek joy, first and foremost. Seek reasons to laugh. Seek reasons to offer words of praise to self and others. Seek beauty in nature, beasts and other humans. Seek reasons to love. In every segment of every day — look for something that brings forth within you a feeling of love. Seek that which uplifts you. Seek opportunities to offer that which uplifts another. Seek a feeling of Well-being. Know that your value can only be measured in terms of Joy. Acknowledge your absolute freedom to do any of these things or to not do any of these things — for it is, without exception, your choice in every moment of every day.
~Abraham-Hicks~
May Your Days be Full of JOY and LOVE! ~My Love To YOU~ ~ Always~