The latest school massacres

[DanaC]

The intimidation issue is a bastard. The authorities are damned if they do and damned if they don't on that one. In the US and in the UK there has been, historically and unfortunately continuing into the present in many areas, a tendency not to act until serious or fatal violence erupts and there's a victim to carry out. Case after case of victims, mainly but not exclusively female, reporting intimidation and threat by partners or ex-partners, with sharp escalation and multiple attempts to seek help and police have done nothing. Then the victim, or victims are gone and there is an enquiry to see what more could have been done. Every time those enquiries start up it seems they find the same thing: warning sign after warning sign, reports of mild violence or serious threat dismissed or simply not acted upon, victims intimidated into silence and support authorities simply dropping away and not pursuing the case, victims and concerned third parties filing reports that were ignored, little to no attempt to seriously enforce stay away orders where they've had them.

On the other hand, an absolute assumption that the woman is right and the man is a threat puts an awful lot of power into the hands of the vindictive in an argument.