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Page 4
June 6, 2012
Taking Aim at Abuse
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fr o n t
reasons why he has rem ained w o rk
ing in the profession over the past
12-years.
“Every case that I w ork on has a
victim attached to it, and a lot o f how
well they are going to do in the
future depends on how diligently
we w ork on our cases,” he said.
A ccording to W alker, there is not
a m om ent o f his day w hen he isn ’t
on call to help police officers and
clients m ake the tough decisions.
“ Y ou have to have good ju d g
m ent, a good m em ory, and com m on
sense d o e sn ’t hurt,” he said. “ W e
w ork under a system w here w e try to
identify w here pow er and control
are as the basis o f abuse. T he g en
eral strategy includes long term
e d u c a tio n .”
He said, how ever, w hile behavior
can be changed, success d o e sn ’t
com e ov er night.
W alker said there are tw o p o p u
lations he w orks w ith, including
those w hom are convicted o f a crim e
and placed on probation instead o f
going to a correctional institution,
and those w hom have been released
from prison, and require supervi
sion w ithin the com m unity.
O ur jo b is really two different func
tions at the sam e time, he said. “One,
we hold them accountable for the
conditions o f supervision that court
or the parole board set. O ur second
jo b is to prom ote behavior change.”
It is cross-cultural, said W alker. “It
doesn’t fall into a single socio eco
nom ic strata. D om estic violence is a
fairly pervasive problem , not ju st in
Portland, but really around the world.”
photo by M indy
C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
Stuart Walker works the domestic violence unit at the Multnomah County Department o f Community
Justice. Named Oregon's parole and probation officer o f the year, he said violence against a spouse
or domestic partner is a fairly pervasive problem, not ju s t in Portland, but around the world.
W alker grew up in A rlington, a
small tow n in eastern O regon, w here
he graduated from high school. A fter
taking som e college classes, W alker
said he still had yet to find a career
that truly spoke to his passions, so he
jo in ed the Army.
“In the service I w asn’t sure what
I w anted to do, so w herever I landed
I would take som e classes,” he said.
O ne o f his professors was a parole
officer, w ho helped W alker realize
that this was a career he w anted to
pursue.
“W hen I w as finishing up my
degree I interned at a pro b atio n o f
fice in C orvallis, and everything
m atched up w ith w hat I w anted to
d o ,” he said. “I felt it w as really
im portant w ork.”
W alk er said the jo b has changed
the w ay he perceives the w orld.
“ Y ou look at society a little bit differ
en tly ,” he said. “ I have w orked on
dom estic violence cases alm ost m y
en tire career, and you begin to d e
velop a sense o f w hen your relatio n
ship m ight have som e abuse. So
you see it even w hen it is not people
you are w orking w ith.”
W alk er d escrib ed these situ a
tions as m om ents w hen individuals
use p o w er and control o v er so m e
one else by force. “ It gets h ard er not
to n o tice,” he said.
A ccording to W alker, there are
125 parole officers in M ultnom ah
C ounty, and nearly 500 officers fo r
the entire state o f O regon.
A lthough cyclical, W alker said
the m etro area is currently going
through a spike in dom estic v io
lence h o m ic id e in cid en ts, w hich
have taken place over the last couple
o f years.
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“Lethality in dom estic violence is
really difficult to predict,” he said.
“ But I ’d say over the last tw o years,
there has been an above average
am ount o f m urder suicides, w here the
batter is m urdering the victim and
quite a few have involved children.”
W alk er said, how ever, w hen a
hom icide occurs, m ost individuals
will go to prison for a long tim e, if not
life.
M ore co m m o n cases include in
cid en ts o f stran g u latio n , h a ra ss
m ent, assault and restraining order
violations. A t any given time, W alker
has betw een 25 and 30 cases.
In an effo rt to reduce the n u m
bers, W alk er said risk assessm ent is
a m ain priority.
“W e are looking for behavioral
predictors that w ould suggest a r
eas w e need to focus o n,” he said.
“W e call them crim inogenic needs
because the biggest d riv er o f c rim i
nal b eh av io r is crim inal thinking,
anti-social peers, anti social b eh av
ior, and a crim inal h istory.”
H e uses tactics o f intervention to
“p u sh ” som eone from anti-social to
pro-social behavior.
“ A ny im provem ent is a w in, but
som etim es it is difficult b ecause we
are m easuring it o v er a long period
o f tim e,” he said. “T h ere is no quick
fix fo r som eone that has spent a
life tim e d e v e lo p in g b e lie fs th a t
cause th em to get stuck in the c rim i
nal ju stic e sy stem .”
A ccording to W alker, research
ers all o v er the planet are w orking on
how to reduce crim inality, an d how
to reduce acts o f dom estic violence.
“ E v e ry y e a r s o m e th in g n ew
com es out, and w e get clo ser,” he
said. “ B ut the real key, one o f the
things w e are doing right now , is
p rogram m ing focusing on co g n i
tive b eh av io r interventions. T his is
ju s t a fancy w ay o f saying that
thoughts drive beh av ior.”
If you are going to m ake a change
w ith any population, it is going to be
by addressing thinking and doing it
in a very system atic w ay, he said.
A lthough there are som e cases
w here w om en are the perpetrators
o f dom estic abuse, W alker said the
m ain clients he w orks w ith are m en
from all different backgrounds.
H e also said anyone in need o f
resources o r inform ation on how to
receive help, to call the P ortland
W om en ’ s Crisis line at 503-235-5333
or toll free at 888-235-5333. If you are
in im m ediate danger, call 9-1 -1.
“T h at is the starting p oint for
anyone in Portland looking for help,”
he said. “T h ey are a great resource."
O th er resources fo r those e x p eri
e n c in g
a b u s e , in c lu d e
th e
M ultnom ah C ounty M ental H ealth
C risis L ine at 5 0 3 -988-4888 and the
N ational D om estic V iolence H otline
at 1 -800-799-S AFE( 1-800-799-7233).