Opinion ID: 1986353
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Domestic Violence and Confidentiality

Text: Domestic violence is one of the most serious threats to the safety and welfare of women, children, and families. Although the adult victims of domestic violence represent all demographics, the overwhelming majority is women. Thurman v. City of Torrington, 595 F.Supp. 1521, 1528 n. 1 (noting that twenty-nine of thirty domestic violence victims are women); Katernine M. Culliton, Finding a Mechanism to Enforce Women's Right To State Protection from Domestic Violence In the Americas, 34 HARV. INT.'L L.J. 507, 558 (1993). The United States Department of Justice has estimated that at least two million women are severely assaulted by their partners every year. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (1995). Nearly thirty-five percent of women visiting hospital emergency rooms do so because of injuries stemming from domestic violence. H.R.Rep. No. 395, 103rd Cong., 1st Sess. at 86 (1993). The American Medical Association reported that domestic violence accounts for at least 21,000 hospitalizations, 99,800 days in the hospital, and 39,000 visits to personal physicians annually in the United States. Machaela M. Hoctor, Domestic Violence as a Crime Against the State: The Need for Mandatory Arrest in California, 85 CAL. L.REV. 643, 645 (1997). Violence is the number one cause of injuries to women ages 14-41. Id. Domestic violence victims frequently find themselves thrust into a nearly impossible dilemma. If they stay with the abuser, the abuse will likely continue. If they choose to leave, the risk of escalated violence may actually increase. Joan Zorza, Recognizing and Protecting the Confidentiality Needs of Battered Women, 29 FAM. L.Q. 273, 274 (1995). Further complicating matters, women in abusive relationships are often financially dependent upon their abusers to meet the basic needs of themselves and their children, creating a powerful incentive to stay despite the violence. Martha F. Davis & Susan J. Kraham, Protecting Women's Welfare in the Face of Violence, 22 FORDHAM URB. L.J. 1141, 1150 (1995); see also, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 891-892, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992) (recognizing that abusers often isolate victims from financial resources required for leaving the relationship). Some women decide that staying in the abusive relationship is the best option among a set of bad alternatives for themselves and their children. For those women that are able to leave, their safety and that of their children often depend upon maintaining the secrecy of their whereabouts. In this context, strict confidentiality is an essential component for protecting women and children seeking refuge from their abusers. Zorza, supra, 29 FAM. L.Q. at 295.