What we can learn from them---A symposium On Legal progress in U.S.

On April 12, 10:00, a two hour session was held in the conference room of The Maple Women’s Psychological Center. Assistant professor of law at the University of North Dakota, Robin R. Runge gave a talk to twenty attendees on the state of domestic violence in the United States. 

Professor Robin has engaged in legal research, especially in the areas of ​​anti-domestic violence advocacy and effective policy implementation for more than 20 years. Maple held the talk because it has found that to better help victims of domestic violence it must approach the issue holistically, including legal help.

Friends of Maple came early, waiting to hear the opinions of the experts. Professor Runge started by stating that from the 1970s to the 2000s, the United States has greatly shifted its approach on domestic violence. Initially, police were reluctant to get involved in domestic violence, claiming that is was simply “a household affair”. It was later on, with increasing demand that domestic violence was stated to be a crime. However the level of police involvement was not specified. 

To combat domestic violence, the United States government enacted a law in the 90s called the Violence against Women Act which established a “Protection Order”. The pilot stage of this law is now in China in some cities. In the 90s America also created some more in depth initiatives to help victims of domestic abuse, like increased employment opportunities and expansion of social services. The United States is a nation that attempts to protect all groups, and it can be said that until 1994, it was not doing so. In 2000 there was a revision to the law to include disabled victims under its protection.