Thanks to Cory Harden for sharing this information:
From Mental Health America of Hawaii —
On June 28, 2010, MHA-Hawai`i presented a Brown Bag Mental Health Seminar called “Understanding the Effects of War.”
Judge Michael Broderick, Lead Judge of the Special Division of the Family Court, which includes domestic abuse cases, explained that the most common theme among military families experiencing domestic violence is, “Where has he gone?” They are wondering why the soldier they love has come back, seemingly a different person.
“I do not hear this about any other category of person in my court.” He quoted:
* “He was one type of man before he was deployed, and he is another type of man after he has returned.”
* “I don’t recognize my husband.”
* “He never acted that way before he went to war.”
* “Ever since he came back from Iraq, he has not been himself.”
* “I want my husband back.”
* “He is an angry, depressed, suicidal person; he was never any of those things before he went to war.”
It is the Judge’s observation that war has significantly damaged the vast majority of men who appear on his domestic abuse calendar.
He explained that 5% -10% of the domestic abuse cases in his court involve soldiers; that equals to 15 a week, or about 720 a year on Oahu alone.
His is a civil, not a criminal calendar, which means the cases involve physical abuse, malicious property damage or extreme psychological abuse. These range from relatively mild (“shoved me in the shoulder”) to very severe (“threw me down the stairs, kicked me in the ribs, put a knife to my throat, and said, ‘If you ever leave me I will kill you.’”)
“Unfortunately,” said Judge Broderick, “most of the allegations involving soldiers are on the severe end of the spectrum.”
These severe cases involve choking, punching, threatening to kill the spouse/girlfriend, breaking down a locked bedroom door, calling 50 times a day, and sending 100 text messages over 48 hours. Many involve romantic jealousy – the accurate, or inaccurate, belief by the man that his wife/girlfriend is involved with someone else – and this often involves the period while the soldier was at war.
Children are often part of the restraining orders Judge Broderick issues, because, he said, “It has become crystal clear that children who are exposed to domestic violence, who hear it or see it, are damaged.”
Timing of when the military domestic violence cases come to his court is important. “These cases,” continued Judge Broderick, “come to court almost always within days or weeks of the soldier returning from the war.”
“And the more deployments, the more severe the abuse,” he reported.
One piece of good news: the Judiciary has recently convened a committee to look into the development of a Veterans Court, which would divert soldiers who are accused of certain crimes into treatment rather than sending them to jail.
Leave a Reply