In The News

Advocates: Domestic abuse cut$ dead wrong
By Mike Underwood | Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Domestic violence advocates warn the Bay State will “see more dead bodies” of murdered women if lawmakers slash $1 million in vital services for the abused.

The proposed cuts, detailed in the House budget proposal, come as domestic violence murders hit unprecedented levels in Massachusetts last year with 55 homicides.

“We will see more dead bodies and children with no futures to look forward to. That is no exaggeration,” said Mary Lauby, executive director of nonprofit Jane Doe Inc., which advocates for domestic violence victims.
Lauby said the proposed cuts would close several services including rape crisis centers, visitation centers and batterer intervention programs. That, she said, would lead to an increase in homicides.

“Victims are terrified. As homicides go on and on, when it is possible to stop them, our concern is that victims are going to give up and stop asking for help. They feel the perpetrators will become more brutal,” she added.
There have been 13 domestic murders this year, only one less than at the same time last year.

State Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian (D-Waltham) said he hopes the House will reconsider the cuts before sending its budget proposal to the state Senate.

“People have to understand that this isn’t just one terrible incident of abuse, this is about people living in hell,” he added. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like for these people,” said Koutoujian, who is on the board of directors at Refuge Education Advocacy Change in Waltham, a domestic violence service agency.

State Sen. James Timilty (D-Walpole), chairman of the committee on public safety and homeland security, said he would be “disappointed” if domestic violence services were cut. “We have to be certain that they are one of our priorities going forward,” he said.

Several disturbing domestic murder cases have made headlines this year.

Most recently, Carlos Cruz, 36, was charged in connection with staging a bogus robbery to shoot to death Southbridge mom Chelsea Frazier, 18, in front of their 14-month-old son, Alijah, while on an April 13 shopping trip in the Bronx, N.Y.

Last month, Noreen Domurat, 47, and her beloved dog were shot dead by her husband Joseph, 61, in a grisly murder-suicide in a quiet Lawrence neighborhood.