Domestic violence series

Our newspaper has printed a three-part series on Domestic Violence.

Part I was about how things have changed Connecticut, and in Litchfield County, regarding domestic violence since the Tracey Thurman case 25 years ago.

Part II was about the support services around our community, and how they are giving power back to the victims.

Part III was called "A batterer's confession," which is an interview with a man serving prison time for abuse. Our reporter, Tracy, did a great job on these and you should check them out if you get a chance.

But the most interesting part is to read the comments under each article. Everyone has something to say about domestic violence, but not everyone knows enough about it to speak. It seems we are still living in the past when people say things like "so what, the police were called there multiple times and each time she dropped the charges. Why does she have to cry wolf?"

This is exactly WHY people need to learn more about domestic violence. Another interesting thing is how abuse is handled in different countries. We didn't touch on that in any of these articles, but I know for a fact that Sweden is much more lenient on abusers than, say, the United States. One more reason to stay in this country...