Domestic violence was one of the most complicated crimes—part assault, part coercive control, part brainwashing, part false imprisonment. Whether the victim was living in a mansion or a tract home, there were all different kinds of reasons for staying. Isolation, shame, embarrassment, denial, fear of losing their children, of becoming homeless, and the very real fear of violence because the most dangerous time for a victim was when they tried to leave their abuser. Telling somebody to walk out the door was easy when you’d never had a door slammed into your head so many times that you’d ended
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