Between 2020 and 2024, there was an increase of violent crimes within domestic relationships. According to the FBI, law enforcement had reported more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims and an additional 1.1 million victims of domestic violence, with almost 75% of the victims being female. In Massachusetts, 60.9% of women experienced intimate partner violence, nearly double the rate of men.
Domestic violence is an umbrella term for intimate partner violence (IPV) and family violence. IPV occurs between romantic partners and can begin at any stage of the relationship. Maria Puppolo, a UMass lecturer and former prosecutor, says that this abuse “centers around power and control,” and can include physical violence, mental and verbal abuse, manipulation, financial abuse and victim blaming.
After Jeffrey C. MacDonald, a 36 year old UMass Dining employee, was charged with killing his wife, Emma MacDonald (nee Pasteryck), the Eastern Hampshire District Court determined that the crimes committed were abuse “between family or household members,” as defined by the state of Massachusetts.
Marianne Winters, director of Safe Passage for 15 years, a Northampton organization providing support to families and victims of domestic violence, spoke to the immediate impact of the loss of a community member to aggravated domestic violence.
“I worked a long time at the university as an advisor and as a faculty member, and I know that a lot more students than anybody imagines have experienced personal experience with domestic violence, either in their families of origin or in their relationships on campus, or with their roommates or so on. It’s huge, and very little talked about. And so … there’s a lot of people walking around right now, whether they’re showing it or not, who are feeling traumatized by this incident and completely freaked out by it,” Winters said.
Domestic Violence and Underreporting
Domestic violence is often underreported, with the Council on Criminal Justice estimating that “aggravated domestic violence incidents in cities are estimated to be 29% to 53% higher than those reflected in law enforcement data.” The CJC defines domestic violence as taking place between current or former romantic partners.
“The people who have less power in society generally are parts of those groups or have reason to fear law enforcement or other kinds of social services involvement in their lives are far less likely to report domestic violence,” Diane Curtis, a senior lecturer in legal studies at UMass and former attorney specializing in family law on behalf of domestic violence victims at Community Legal Aid, said.
Curtis added that fears of police among BIPOC individuals can lead to hesitancy in reporting incidents of domestic violence.
“If you’re African American, or if you’re really in the larger way of any black and brown communities, and the men in your community in particular have been targeted by law enforcement in very terrifying ways, that’s not a group that you want to go to,” Curtis said.
Janet Griffin, a sergeant with the Amherst Police Department, works a dual role in community outreach and as a patrol supervisor. She is also an instructor for the Western Massachusetts Police Academy to teach new and veteran police officers about responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and trauma-informed approaches to policing.
According to Griffin, recruits undergo a two-day training including a day and a half for sexual assault and half day in human trafficking. Following classroom instruction is an additional day of skills-based training running “scenarios that’ll give the recruits an opportunity to respond to a scenario that has a domestic undertone and see how they respond.”
The curriculum focuses on the definition of abuse, who is considered a family member, the laws preferred in terms of making an arrest, trauma-informed approaches and characteristics or behaviors that may be found in individuals in these situations, according to Griffin.
Showing extreme jealousy, preventing or discouraging you from spending time with others, verbal degradation, sexual pressures, removal of financial and physical agency, weaponized intimidation and destruction of property are all potential indicators of IPV.
While there’s specialized training that officers get, domestic violence law enforcement guidelines are not specific to just law enforcement. Griffin says that every officer is trained in responding to domestic violence, but Puppolo says more resources are needed to educate officers on the signs of domestic violence.
Winters said that shortly after Donald Trump’s second inauguration, grant funding was restricted to align with the administration’s goals of removing diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) from federally funded programs, meaning the organization could not acknowledge transgender individuals or non-heteronormative relationships. She added that they also could only acknowledge domestic violence as a “criminal justice issue” rather than a “social justice issue.”
“It’s affected what we’re able to do. And we do our best with what … resources we have and appreciate that. But, you know, we would like to be able to actually partner with the government in ways that can really have an impact,” Winters said.
Abuse Prevention Orders (Restraining Orders)
Filing for an abuse prevention order, commonly known as a restraining order, is one of the only immediate legal tools victims have to create distance between themselves and their abuser. Restraining orders legally restrict abusers from contacting or being within a certain distance of a victim.
Issues regarding children and custody are more commonly handled in probate court requiring more extensive litigation.
After filing for the order, a victim will appear before a judge who will decide whether or not conditions are met for the order to be issued. In Massachusetts, an order can be issued against a person who inflicted, attempted to inflict or threatened physical harm, forced sexual contact or engaged in “coercive control,” which covers mental and verbal abuse including surveillance, isolation, “taking away your access to basic needs,” physical threats to family or pets as well as property damage.
If a restraining order is granted, the abuser is contacted and a ten-day hearing is scheduled where the judge will hear from both parties and decide if an extended order is needed.
Although restraining orders can be productive for some, steps taken by victims to leave relationships have the potential to escalate violent behavior from abusers that can further endanger the lives of victims. According to Puppolo, this happens when the abuser senses “they’re losing a sense of that power and control.”
“The perpetrator realizes that maybe they’re no longer going to control this victim because they’re having a say,” Puppolo said. “They’re going to court. They’re trying to get out of the relationship. And that’s the most critical time. And there’s a very high percentage of women or victims, I’d say, women, most of them are women, victims who actually died.”
There are also limitations to the power of a restraining order as it requires the abuser to be willing to abide by it.
“It’s a piece of paper,” Curtis said. “So even if the order issues, the people against whom those orders are the most effective are the people who are likely to obey court orders. And the people who are not likely to obey those court orders are going to do whatever they were going to do in the first place. And now they may be that much more triggered to act in a violent way because you’ve now tried to leave them.”
Victims can request their home and work address, phone number and sensitive information like financial documents and medical records be “impounded” when filing for an abuse prevention order or even divorce, according to MassLegalHelp.
“The court can keep all this information from the public. It can also protect this information from court staff who do not need it to do their jobs. But the court can only keep some information from the other person in your case [who] … has the right to see all the other documents you give to the court.” This includes “addresses where the other person might find you or your children, your phone number and email addresses.”
“The legal toolbox, there’s not much to expand on it because the law is relatively constrained in what it can do,” Curtis said. “I think there’s a lot to say about the criminal system and what it could do to hold abusive people accountable in a better way. But that’s also complicated in any number of ways as well.”
Approaching Domestic Violence Victims:
The Center for Women and Community (CWC), located in the New Africa House, offers several resources for students to learn and connect with others when finding services that most comfortably support them. One of these programs include Innermission, which “offers a quiet space with self-guided activities to provide a mood (re)set and help you feel relaxed.”
Noga Flory, CWC director of Sexual Assault Support and Advocacy Services, emphasized that these services are not just for those directly impacted by domestic or sexual violence. Any student and person, regardless of their affiliation to the university, are welcome.
Safe Passage offers specialized resources for marginalized communities including LGBTQ+ and immigrant survivors seeking visa support.
“The reason we have specialized counselors is that they have particular skills or experiences in helping people manage this joint impact of domestic violence and marginalization,” Winters said.
After working with sexual assault and domestic violence programs for about 40 years, and being the former director of the CWC, Winters found that “very often abusers might, if someone is experiencing marginalization and separation, they can use that fact as an additional tactic of abuse. So threatening to out someone, threatening to call ICE and report an immigrant survivor … we understand kind of that double challenge.”
Puppolo added that domestic violence often happens in silence with friends and family members of the victim having no awareness of their experience.
“Victims of domestic violence, they’re being victimized in private … or people don’t know … co-workers don’t know, classmates don’t know, [friends and] family don’t know,” Puppolo said. “Time and time again, I can tell you personal stories of co-workers or friends [who] looked normal. They seemed happy. So they hide their abuse, not intentionally, but they’re living in fear, constant fear.”
Bystander intervention, or the act of taking safe, conscious action to interrupt harmful situations, such as harassment, bullying, or discrimination, means “really listening to people when you have conversations with them,” Griffin said.
“I think sometimes we listen to respond versus listening to hear,” Griffin said. “There’s a lot of dynamics involved with people who are victims or survivors of domestics and they’re not always willing to share those dynamics with people, but I think in paying attention, you might see or hear things.”
Griffin, having a degree in mental health counseling, is a therapist for first responders. Some officers may have experienced their own forms of domestic violence. Griffin makes sure that with her training, she not only regulates her own emotions and struggles but also helps others regulate themselves.
“They need connection, they need support. And I also think it becomes a reckoning for some institutions,” Winters said. “It becomes a chance for an administration to really kind of build resources that might reduce risk.”
“But if you actively reduce the risk through a strategy of prevention, it would take funding, it would take effort, it would take an independent voice who really cannot work within the confines of the university,” Winters said. “I feel like the university ought to think seriously about their responsibility in really supporting community-wide prevention.”
Bella Astrofsky can be reached at [email protected]. Kalina Kornacki can be reached at [email protected].
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic partner violence, resources can be found below:
The Center for Women and Community (CWC) at UMass Amherst: umass.edu/student-life/women-center, 413-545-0800
Safe Passage (Northampton, MA): safepass.org, 413-586-5066
Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233
