(The Center Square) – In a report issued by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, disparities in domestic violence reporting between rural and urban communities reveal stark differences in the experiences of survivors.
The study, conducted by Dr. Emily Strohacker at Penn State Harrisburg, surveyed and interviewed survivors across the commonwealth, primarily identified through victim service organizations.
“Victims of domestic violence in rural areas face barriers to getting help that are unique,” said Susan Higginbotham, CEO of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “Feelings of fear, embarrassment, and shame are common, and many rural cases are not reported because victims worry that other people in their small communities will learn about their abuse.”
The group is one of the organizations backing the study. It serves the state through 59 domestic violence programs, 41 of which are in rural communities.
One of the primary barriers for many rural residents reporting instances of domestic violence is law enforcement itself. The study noted that while police see this as an area of major importance, mistrust limits reporting.
The study indicates a trend among those who have previously reported their abuse to the police and who would not do so again following negative experiences.
“The situation did not improve with police involvement at all … Actually, turned out to be a massive waste of money and resources and in the long run really, really for nothing, quite honestly,” said one survivor in the report.
Concerns about law enforcement included fear of being blamed for the abuse, that crimes would not be taken seriously, that the nature of their abuse would be spread publicly, and that police posed a physical threat to their partners.
These issues are especially pronounced in rural communities with small populations and tightly knit social networks. Abusers live and work within the community and often have connections to law enforcement and others within the survivor’s social safety net.
Isolation can lead to severe repercussions, including housing and employment. More rural than urban reporters experienced going without essential needs and services, like health care and transportation, as types of violence experienced during their abuse.
One survivor pointed to the financial abuse suffered, particularly during times of illness. “Because we had a joint bank account, he started messing with funds, randomly shut off my access to my debit card, so that I couldn’t even get medicine,” the survivor said. “It was to the point where I think he was really trying to cause some type of medical emergency to the point where I could have died, probably.”
Other specificities to domestic violence in rural communities reflect views around gender norms, religion and racism. These factors exacerbate fears in LGBQT and minority communities, where mistrust of law enforcement is often already strong.
Rural victim-survivors also showed high rates of stalking and tech-based monitoring and harassment. Those who engaged with victim service organizations were more likely to seek out housing services than those in urban communities.
“Rural areas often lack readily accessible resources like health care, public transportation, cell phone coverage, and affordable safe housing, increasing isolation and making it more difficult for victims to flee,” Higginbotham said. “Domestic violence direct service programs in rural areas are often under-resourced and understaffed, further impacting the availability of services.”
Policy initiatives suggested in the report include strengthening law enforcement’s relationship with victim service organizations, as well as training officers in trauma-informed and victim-centered responses. It also recommends increasing public education both about the availability of these services and the signs of abuse, as survivors were more likely to informally report crimes to friends and family.
The report calls for domestic violence to be reclassified as a separate crime from harassment or assault that occurs outside intimate partnerships. The report encourages the state to adopt a lethality assessment program so that police evaluate the threat to victim-survivors in every abuse report, putting consenting survivors in direct contact with victim service organizations when the threat is high.
Nationally, there has been a 10% decline in reporting since 2010, with only 52% of victims formally reporting instances of domestic violence. In Pennsylvania, 37% of women and 30% of men say they’ve experienced physical violence, sexual violence or stalking by a partner at some point in their lifetimes.