The always-excellent David Bernstein has a hard-hitting post at Adam’s Phoenix blog. After going through a litany of recent murders of women, all domestic:
Hey, Im just getting warmed up — I know of 31 women murdered in Massachusetts this year. By July, Jane Doe Inc. had already counted as many domestic-violence homicides as it did all last year.
Heres another interesting item from a murder late Tuesday night in Lowell. The victim, a 21-year-old man, was out on probation after serving two years for raping a 13-year-old girl.
If under the Romney/Healey administration convicted child rapists are out drinking at Halloween parties two years later, just how much worse could Free-em-all Deval make things than Kerry the Kriminologist has?
And that’s another tragic thing about Healey’s garage ad: How it trivializes the violence that actually happens to women all the time. Would that she showed an ounce of conscience, reflection and seriousness, and made addressing this issue a genuine centerpiece of her campaign. She could have shown independence from Romney and an affirmative vision. We could have all gained from that.
Is it any wonder why people seem to be having a hard time imagining her as Governor?
Blame those on Menino. Blame the remainder on Healey.
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What did you want her to do exactly (besides simply locking people up which Deval doesn’t want to do)?
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This is guaranteed by the Constitution, or would you prefer to live in a dictatorship where people are presumed guilty?
Thank you for posting this. I went to the blog and it was painful to read.
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For people like pers, who don’t understand, the point is that Healey is focusing on the less likely scenario of women being attacked by a stranger in a parking garage.
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The number of murders of women by people they know, often husbands, is horrifying. Yet people still don’t take domestic violence as seriously as they should, although I do think things have gradually gotten better over the years (in terms of awareness and understanding, not in terms of less domestic violence).
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People still wonder why a woman who is being beaten by her husband doesn’t leave. If it were you, would you be afraid of leaving? I know I would.
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More importantly, those who leave increase their risk of being murdered by their spouse significantly. Victims of DV are advised to have a safety plan in place before they leave. It isn’t easy. It’s pretty scary, in fact.
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This isn’t the only situation in which Healey chose a superficial response to a real problem, choosing ads and positions that got attention through sensationalism rather than substance. But it may be the most frightening situation in which she has taken the low road.
See this excellent Eileen McNamara column from Wednesday.
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Maybe someone should tell that skinny bleached blonde to shut up!
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Reading Bernstein’s blog makes me wonder why these horrific crimes don’t make it to the evening news. Are the only crimes of importance teens shooting each other in Dorchester?