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Forensic expert lectures Taiwan on home violence

Famous forensic scientist Henry Lee (李昌鈺) talked about domestic violence at a conference held by the Ministry of the Interior yesterday, sharing his experience in dealing with such cases and making suggestions on how to alleviate this social scourge.

According to Lee, approximately 2.3 million incidents of domestic violence are reported each year in the US (2.1 million by women) and 80 percent of women murdered were found dead in their homes. These cases, he said, know no economic bounds and can even happen among wealthy members of society.

While presenting a slideshow of the different kinds of wounds and injuries associated with domestic violence, Lee talked about the ways of distinguishing between wounds that are accidental or self-inflicted, and those resulting from abuse.

"Doctors and nurses must be trained to recognize signs of domestic violence, such as bruises to the posterior, that are normally unlikely to appear in accidents," Lee said. "However, 47 percent of medical schools in the US do not offer training in recognition of domestic violence injuries."

Lee also said that domestic violence is a complicated social problem and that it is often hard to identify the reasons behind such a phenomenon, adding that it may be caused by an individual's genes, the social environment or drugs and alcohol.

Such a problem, he said, is hard to resolve and investigations into such cases are often confronted with difficulties.

Individual difficulties include women who believe that being abused is acceptable. This is especially true of Asian women, who are traditionally taught to be tolerant, Lee said.

Victims unwillingness to talk about their own problems, are also obstacles to investigating such cases, he added.

Lee said that desensitization is often a problem, because when the media "over-reports" these incidents it causes the public to become immune to the problem.

Lee also added that doctors often lack adequate training in identifying signs of domestic violence, but even when they know that their patients may be victims, many do not report the incidents.

"Many doctors hate having to testify in court, since it causes complications and takes a lot of time," Lee said. "In addition, they tend to believe that it goes against patient confidentiality to speak out in such cases."

Inadequate or unclear policies and a total lack of institutional resources are also obstacles to the reporting of domestic violence.

"We must have enough police power to investigate these cases and protect the victims. We must also have law enforcement and social intervention to alleviate the problem of domestic violence," Lee said.

Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), who was also at the conference, said that Taiwan became the first Asian country to pass a Domestic Violence Law in 1998, and that domestic violence prevention service centers have been set up nationwide to aid victims.

Su said that reported domestic violence cases had increased 20 percent since last year, but that it may just be an indication that victims are finally willing to step out and report the incidents.
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