Because of the tragic and senseless death of a young teenager in Maine, the issue of domestic violence is prominent in the news these days. In the past twenty years, domestic violence has been a factor in approximately half of all homicides committed in Maine.

Domestic violence occurs daily in our Maine communities, but for the most part it is hidden from view. Most victims bear the burden of physical and emotional abuse in silence. Domestic violence does not affect a select few, it affects all of us, in our families, our communities, our schools and our businesses.

According to current statistics, nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. In our own state of Maine, the crime of domestic assault, as reported to police, occurs every 97 minutes. This does not, of course, take into account those that are not reported.

While we certainly do not dismiss the severity of assaults committed by women against men, the U.S. Department of Justice reports that males perpetrate 95 percent of all serious domestic violence. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services domestic abuse protocol defined domestic abuse as “the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through the use of or the threat of violence and other forms of abuse. The offender may use physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, economic oppression, isolation, threats, intimidation and maltreatment of the children to control the other person.

“Relationships involving domestic abuse-violence may differ in terms of the severity of abuse, but control is the primary goal of all offenders.”

In the first regular session of the 122nd Maine Legislature in 2005, Rep. Carol Grose sponsored L.D. 182: An Act To Provide Funding For Domestic Violence Shelters. This bill was designed to require that $1 be added to the fee for each marriage license in Maine (currently $30). This money would be deposited into a domestic violence fund, distributed to the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence and its nine member projects for the operation of domestic violence shelters. For example, in 2005, almost 11,000 marriage licenses were filed in Maine. This would have meant almost $11,000 for domestic violence shelters. LD 182 was referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services, where it was decided on May 3, 2005, that it ought not to pass and became a dead bill.

It is obvious that domestic violence is a serious problem in our state, and it is equally obvious that domestic violence programs need more support in providing help for victims in the form of shelters, transitional housing, support groups, court advocacy, hot lines, and community outreach and education. We would therefore like to resurrect this bill, with some important changes.

In our discussions with staff members of domestic violence agencies, we discovered that the way the bill was worded limited the agencies to spend this money only on shelter operation, not on their other equally important programs which support victims of abuse. We also discovered that the small amount of $1 would raise little money when spread out among the nine member projects. Therefore we propose that $2 be added to the fee for marriage licenses in Maine, to be deposited into the domestic violence fund, for the operation of the nine domestic violence programs in Maine, under the umbrella of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence.

Rep. Grose, in her sponsorship of this bill, was speaking from knowledge and experience, from her job as a domestic violence victim advocate to her roles as a state representative and as a member of both the Health and Human Services Committee and the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. In her domestic violence awareness column written in February 2005, she stated, “No family is perfect, and some need more resources than others to combat the cycle of violence that has been learned over generations … People most often believe that domestic violence or rape happens because of alcoholism or drug use. But the truth is, violence against women or children is a learned behavior. Substance abuse can certainly heighten a problem, but battery and assault are completely exclusive from being under the influence.”

Current funding for domestic violence programs is insufficient and inconsistent. We hope that this important legislation be resubmitted with the changes we have recommended. It would require very little from the people of Maine – the price of a large cup of coffee. But it would provide life-saving support to women and children in our communities. We like to think of it as families helping families.

Molly Cooper, Tammy Dignan and Kathryn Eckert are social workers and MSW students of advanced policy at the University of Maine in Orono.