“Children who witness violence between adults in their homes . . . have been called the ‘silent,’ ‘forgotten,’ and ‘unintended’ victims of adult-to-adult domestic violence.”

—Jeffrey L. Edleson, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, August 1999

One of Indiana congressman Dan Burton’s earliest memories is hearing his mother being beaten by his father. He was five or six years old, he writes, when he was awakened during the middle of the night by loud noises:

I heard the sound of furniture being shoved across the room and a lamp crashing to the floor. Then I heard my mother’s bloodcurdling scream. Every nerve in my body stood on end. Terrified, I lay there thinking, “My God, it’s happening again.” For almost a decade, my father beat my mother nearly every week. Anything seemed to set him off: jealousy...