Another Tragedy Strikes our Community

I was horrified when I opened this morning’s newspaper to find another victim of domestic violence murdered.  In this case, Bulos “Paul” Zumot was arrested for the murder of Jennifer Schipsi in Palo Alto.  When I learned the deceased secured services from our agency, it became even more personal.  We at Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence are grieving her loss. From what I can piece together by reading news articles, a few thoughts come to mind.

To refer to the killing as an “act of passion” defies logic.  Passion is defined as “warm and excited feeling likely to be fitful or short-lived (the ardor of their honeymoon soon faded)”.  Most people would not apply this term to a calculated, pre-meditated act of murder.  This was not Romeo and Juliet or a tragic opera.  This is a perpetrator who stalked, abused and battered his partner.  Decades past, killing your wife “in the heat of passion” could give you a finding of innocent by a jury precisely because we associated the murder with passion.   We left that era, thank God.  We now know that domestic violence is coercive control exercised by one member to gain power over an intimate partner.  It is calculated, well-thought out and purposeful.  In my 24 years in this work I have never heard a victim refer to her abuse as filled with passion.

Secondly, I think we must be careful in how we portray the deceased.   We don’t know why a reconciliation occurred.  However, she is not at fault for trusting a person who professed love.  If anything, it is a reminder of the complexity of domestic violence.  Our focus must be on the perpetrator. Instead of  asking “Why did she go back?” we must ask “Why would someone so severely hurt the person who loves him?”

Please call or blog the Palo Alto Police Department and express your dismay about using the term “passion” when describing domestic violence. The Palo Alto Police Department number is (650) 329-2413.  And if you have enough energy, please add a comment about not blaming the victim to the article published in the San Jose Mercury News under the title “Boyfriend arrested in connection with woman’s death in Palo Alto fire,” posted October 20, 2009.

(Image from Austin for Iran via Google Images).