Following a domestic violence incident, it is vital for the victim to get appropriate help and support. It is also very important to avoid creating a situation in which the victim could be put in even greater danger from their abuser. When it comes developing good solutions and options for domestic abuse victims, it is important to make sure that attempts to further one of these two very important things don’t accidentally significantly compromise the other. This can sometimes prove challenging. This can be seen in what happened with a recent domestic violence social media campaign.
The campaign in question was the black dot campaign. The idea of the campaign was to have domestic violence victims put a black dot on their palm, so members of the public would be aware of their situation and that this awareness would perhaps help spur conversations that could help domestic violence victims get the support they need.
However, the campaign ran into a problem: it became too well known. It went viral in September of last year. This sudden explosion of public knowledge of the campaign raised concerns that the campaign could create a risk of alerting abusers, thus perhaps endangering victims. In light of these concerns, the campaign’s Facebook presence ended up being shut down.
This illustrates the challenges that can come up in relation to balancing the various important goals regarding victim support and victim protection.
While it is important to be mindful of these challenges, it is also important for individuals and organizations to not let the presence of these challenges keep them from continuing to try to find new and better ways to help family abuse victims. It is also vital to make sure domestic violence victims do not feel like they cannot reach out for help.
Experienced domestic abuse lawyers understand the tough situation domestic violence sufferers are in and the challenges that can come from addressing domestic violence matters. Such attorneys can help domestic violence victims with coming up with a strategy for responding to the abuse which is aimed at properly balancing the various important post-abuse-incident goals, including preventing further abuse and getting needed help and support.
Source: KTBC, “Did ‘black dot’ campaign help domestic violence survivors?,” Ashley Paredez, Jan. 5, 2016