Domestic Violence Exists Where Power And Control Over Others Exists

By Holliday Moore
Published: Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - 12:29pm

In Arizona each year about 100 people are attacked by someone they know. For women, one in four will have experienced domestic violence within their lifetime.

New Life Center in Goodyear is one of fourteen women's shelters in Maricopa County. Karen Arms stayed there when she and her two sons fled an abusive household back in 1999.

"All of us, my sons and I, walked on egg shells every day," she said about her ex-husband. "We didn't know what kind of mood he was going to be in."

Although she said he never physically abused her sons, County Attorney Bill Montgomery explained children are emotionally abused when they witness a parent attack another.

"Children are normalized to violence between people who are supposed to love them and care for them and provide a home for them," Montgomery said.

His office partnered for Domestic Violence Awareness Month with New Life Center to remind Arizonans that the violence is not always physical. It exists anytime an abuser tries to maintain power and control over another person.