Apr 11, 2016 3 min read

When it comes to domestic violence, the landscape is both horrific and heartening.

First, domestic violence is a scourge that we seem unable to fully vanquish. One in four American women will be a victim of domestic violence at some point in their lives. To bring it closer to home, almost 2,500 women in Pennsylvania sought help from domestic violence programs in just one day in 2014, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In the course of that same day, close to 250 requests for aid went unfulfilled. There’s every likelihood that, while you are reading this sentence, someone in the commonwealth is calling a domestic-violence hotline seeking assistance in dealing with a partner who is abusive and controlling. The callers fear for their lives, and the lives of their children.

However, the news is not all bleak. Not by any means.

Since 1994 – the same year that O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, though he was found not guilty the following year – domestic violence has decreased markedly in this country. That year, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, which has led to billions of dollars being spent over the last generation to hire and train police officers, educate prosecutors and judges and give a boost to community groups that are fighting domestic violence. The result? Reported incidents of domestic violence plummeted by 63 percent between 1994 and 2012, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Granted, an aging population and greater financial autonomy for women have undoubtedly helped, but a concerted effort in prosecuting offenders and raising awareness over the last two decades has surely been critical.

In Monday’s edition of the Observer-Reporter, we reported on the 40th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an alliance of 60 organizations represented locally by Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The group provides legal support, counseling and shelter. The range of services demonstrates the extent to which domestic violence is now taken seriously – we’re no longer in an era when domestic violence is shrugged off, considered a man’s prerogative, or the burden is shifted to a woman who, it was once argued, might have been “asking for it.”

If you live in Washington County, it’s easier than it was 30 or 40 years ago to get help. Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania is an outgrowth of Washington Women’s Shelter Inc., which opened in 1986 with just one staffer. Now, Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania has 36 staff members in three counties, with a satellite office in Waynesburg.

How to continue the progress that has been made? Programs like Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania must continue to receive support from lawmakers. Our culture must continue to send a reinforcing message that domestic violence is harmful and unlawful, and penalties must be consistent.

Bringing domestic violence out of the shadows is another way to combat it. According to Michelle Robinson-Ritter, the executive director of Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania, “There’s no way we’ll ever end domestic violence if we don’t engage men and boys in talking about it.”