For this blog we had to find an article about intimate partner violence in our state and I picked Pennsylvania, where I grew up. I was able to find a murder case that happened in my hometown of Stroudsburg, that happened back in 2008 but he was just convicted of murder a few days ago. Arthur Schirmer was a pastor at one of the local churches called Reeders United Methodist Church. He hit his wife, Betty over the head with a crowbar in their garage but then put her body in their car and staged a car accident. The one witness that testified against him was the first person to come upon the scene and he described Mr. Schimer as unusually calm especially since he wife was unconscious and he also testified that something didn't seem right since there was a lot of blood on Mrs. Schirmer. It also came out during his trial that his first wife, Jewel died in a unusual circumstance back in 1999. He is being charged separately for her murder at a later date. He will be sentenced for the murder of his second wife Betty in March 2013.
The Pennsylvania Domestic Violence laws states that these acts can take place between family or household members, sexual partners or those who share biological parenthood in order to qualify as domestic abuse. If someone calls the police to report that a violent domestic act has happened to them the police will come and they are required to make an arrest and then it is up to the prosecutor to file charges or dismiss them. The victim does not have the option to drop the charges. The punishment for domestic violence varies from taking anger management courses all the way up to felony charges with incarceration. The sentence is heavily based on the severity of the abuse as well as if the person is a repeat offender.
Pennsylvania does offer a website called Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. It's a statewide network of programs offering 24 hour emergency hotline services, shelters, counseling, legal services, health care, childrens programs, temporary housing and many more services that are both free and confidential. It also has links to help if someone is needing to change their identity or keep their address confidential for their own protection. As well as information on stalking, which is a crime in Pennsylvania. It also had information on if their computer was being monitored and tips on what to do if they thought that, and it actually made me feel really scared for these women (or men) that actually have to live like this. http://www.pcadv.org/
Media aspect - The movie "Enough" that came out in 2002 starring Jennifer Lopez is about a woman suffering domestic abuse. She meets this handsome and wealthy man and they fall in love, get married and have a baby and then one day he turns. He abuses her so badly that she goes behind his back and takes self defense classes. She ends up leaving him but he never gives up trying to find her and when he eventually does they have a battle in which she ends up murdering him out of self defense.
Sleeping with the Enemy which came out in 1991 was also a popular domestic violence movie. Julia Roberts character is married to man that is abusive, controlling and possessive. She tells him that she cannot swim but has secretly taking swimming lessons and stages her own death when they are out on their boat at night. She moves back to her hometown and starts her life over but her husband ends up finding her and breaking into her home in which a struggle ensues and she ends up murdering him with a gun in self defense.
http://www.ncdsv.org/images/fictional%20movies%20with%20domestic%20violence%20themes%20-%20revised1.pdf
