Over the weekend we learned that a pregnant Grand Junction woman was murdered, allegedly by her boyfriend. As shocking as this story seems, it is all too common.

Battering is recognized as the single most common cause of injury to women in the United States. Every year, six million women are victims of abuse by someone they know and 20 percent to 50 percent of all females presenting to hospital emergency rooms are battered women.

Three out of every four female homicide victims are killed by their husbands or lovers. About 25,000 individuals die annually as a result of intentional homicide.

We also learned that a Delta High School student was abused by both his teacher and his classmates. As I realize we are approaching the end of the school year, I wonder how many other students were affected by this teacher’s mode of discipline. Not only was the punishment inappropriate, but the teacher was modeling a practice of violence as justice.

No form of violence should be acceptable in our society. When you tolerate even the most subtle forms, you give the go-ahead to those who will take advantage of that same ambivalence.

LINDA HANSEN
Forensic Nurse Examiner
Paonia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.