After suffering through years of abuse, Mexican native Nadia Saaverda finally forced her husband, Alejandro Uribe, to leave their home in the Bronx. Uribe returned less than two months later on March 7th. When Saaverda opened the door to take their 11-year-old daughter Naiyela to school, Uribe forced himself inside. He pushed Saaverda into her bedroom, first stabbing her to death and then himself. Both the young daughter Naiyela and 13 year-old son Uri were in the house at the time of the horrific murder.
This past weekend, the NY Times published an article concerning Saaverda's murder. It notes that although murders have been decreasing in the Bronx, domestic murders are not decreasing nearly as quickly. In fact, they have only fallen from 73 in 2002 to 63 in 2014, while the murder numbers have declined by more than double in the same time period. This slow decline in domestic murders in the Bronx highlights the faults in the current system society uses to address domestic violence. The NY Times article states that even if victims are hesitant to step forward, police officers have begun to check in at homes that have had domestic abuse problems in the past. But, as the numbers show, this type of diligence does not ultimately help protect the victims.
In my book, Ending Domestic Captivity: A Guide to Economic Freedom, I introduce and describe an employment strategy that helps victims of domestic abuse permanently leave their abusers. My non-profit organization Second Chance, works with each individual victim to provide him or her with both remedial recovery services and employment services. In our process, we use a variety of different tools, from styling, resume building, interview training, etc., to secure the recovering victim a job that aligns with their unique strengths. Domestic murders like that of Saaverda occur primarily in poor neighborhoods where they do not have easy access to employment services or other types of professional help. My employment agency, Second Chance, aids victims like these in gaining complete freedom from their abusers.
Saaverda confided in friends at a local Bronx non-profit that she suffered from abuse from Uribe often. But, without knowledge of organizations like Second Chance to help victims, no action was taken. Moreover, Saaverda only reported the abuse after one instance towards the end of January. She was then granted a temporary order of protection from the Bronx Family Court, but due to legal complications the order was never served. To make sure that horrible murders like that of Saaverda do not happen again and to protect all the families that suffer from abuse, the Bronx government needs to work on providing better, more efficient legal aid to victims and access to organizations that offer services like Second Chance.
Sources
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/nyregion/murder-40-bronx-new-york.html?_r=0