Date: 2011-10-25
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Let me thank Congressman AL GREEN and Congressman POE for convening us today on such a very important topic that includes the issue of domestic violence in this Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. its been my privilege. sadly. however. to have worked on the Violence Against Women Act for a very long time and be an original cosponsor and author of the reauthorization of that bill some years ago. My initial premise on this day that we express our concern is that the laws need to be stronger. I simply want to acknowledge. as we have worked on these issues. that domestic violence has not decreased in spite of the hardworking advocacy groups and places of refuge for the women in our community. I want to acknowledge the Houston Area Womens Center. of which I served as a member of the board for a number of years. and the great work that they do. along with many other organizations in the Houston area that are refuges for women. But let me cite these numbers to you: The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. 85 percent of all domestic violence victims are women. I do want to acknowledge that men suffer domestic violence as well. We are sympathetic and want to include them in fighting against this dastardly deed. It is disturbing that every 9 seconds a woman in the United States is assaulted or beaten. More often than not. she knows her abuser. The numbers are alarming. Between 2000 and 2005. about 63 percent of nonfatal intimate partner victimization against women occurred at home. 9.4 percent of these attacks were near home. and 11.1 percent of the abuse occurred at a friends or neighbors home. The aggressors were often intimate partners. relatives. friends. acquaintances. and even strangers. Every year. nearly 5.3 million women over the age of 18 will be victims of domestic violence. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. this violence will result in nearly 2 million injuries and 1.300 deaths. In the State of Texas. for example. at least 74 percent of Texans know someone who has experienced some form of physical. sexual. or verbal abuse. yet these incidents remain underreported because there is great fear. According to the Houston Area Womens Center. which. as I indicated. I served as a member of the board. 142 women were murdered in Texas by an abusive partner. The youngest of these victims were only 17 years old and the oldest was 78. In 2007. the center served over 2.800 survivors of domestic violence and took almost 39.000 calls. As I conclude. I want to just give this brief story of a recent 17hour attack that occurred in Houston. which was noted as one of the worst local domestic abuse cases ever. A mans tortured wife follows years of abuse. and this lady never reported it because of a fear of the impact or the abuse or the violence against her four children. While this horrific act was taking place. it was occurring while her 1yearold daughter was in another room. This 33yearold woman was violated by this vicious man with a long record of absolute insanity and violence using a hairspray can and a lighter match and taking a match with that hairspray to her breasts and her genitals. Right now I stand on this floor in absolute outrage. Sheriff Adrian Garcia likened the suspect to an animal and that he israbid dog. The terrible part of this is that he is charged with assault to a relative. I. frankly. want him to be charged with a much more heinous act becausein many instances when you are charged with this particular action. which the legislature probably thought that these were relatives against relatives. but this was a heinous actthis gentleman should never see the light of day. And there are actors like this around the Nationand around the world. by the way. because there is that kind of violence around the worldthat should never see the light of day. As we continue to work on this. I will continue to advocate funding. as I provided funding for our local agencies in Houston. I will continue to champion stronger laws to prevent. if I can. in terms of the stronger laws and intervention. so that women can have the strength to go to places like the Houston Area Womens Center and to save them from this heinous and dastardly act. This woman will be mutilated for life and will have to have reconstructive surgeryagain. a can of hairspray and a lighter match for 17 hours while her 1yearold child remained in the room. Let me thank. again. our colleagues for allowing us to come to the floor and. again. let me make a commitment to all of the women out there and those in Houston and Texas that I will never step away from fighting for you not to suffer this indignity. Please. leave the home and go to a refuge like the Houston Area Womens Center and other places to save your life.