Updated May 12, 2020: The New York Public Library announced today that Rachel Louise Snyder is the winner of the 2020 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism for her evocative work No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us published by Bloomsbury Publishing. You can find the official announcement on our Press Page. Please join us for a virtual event with Rachel Louise Snyder on Monday, June 8 at 8 PM. Register here for this free event.

Congratulations to Rachel Louise Snyder!

Each year, The New York Public Library gives the Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism to a journalist whose work brings clarity and public attention to important issues, events, or policies. As a member of the Library Review Committee, I have the privilege of helping select five finalists whose works will enlighten, educate, and impact positive social change. It is an honor to discuss Rachel Louise Snyder's compelling in-depth investigation of domestic violence in No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us.

Written as a call to action for domestic homicide prevention, Rachel Louise Snyder uses case studies of domestic homicides to dispel assumptions and articulate the unique commonalities and psychological complexities of intimate partner abuse. The victim/abuser profiles are remarkably similar—as are the red flags that indicate an abuse victim's level of danger. No Visible Bruises stresses the importance of danger assessment, intervention, and communication between law enforcement agencies, healthcare professionals, and other agencies that work with victims of domestic abuse. The level of danger escalates during a specific timeline, which typically begins when the victim considers leaving the relationship and seeks help. Intervention is crucial during this time because, statistically, it is when the danger escalates from abuse to homicide.

Sometimes abuse is visible, sometimes it isn’t. Snyder reports that the abuse that results in fatalities is often internal. Behaviors like harassment and stalking, for example, are tools of control used to leave lingering mental wounds and make victims feel powerless—especially if the abuser appears unafraid of law enforcement. Strangulation, which is one of the main predictors for domestic homicide, can cause traumatic brain injury but isn't documented unless the victim reports the incident or has visible bruises.

Fatality risks are predictable and preventable. No Visible Bruises highlights the programs developed by high-profile domestic violence prevention advocates Suzanne Dubus, Casey Gwinn, and Dave Sargent. Teams that assess and review high fatality risks, family justice centers, youth programs, batterer intervention court initiatives, and sensitive police protocols have successfully lowered homicide rates by reforming how domestic violence is recognized, prosecuted, and treated. 

There is still work to do. The two most urgent measures the United States must take to prevent domestic homicides are better gun control and federal funding. Guns are the weapon of choice in domestic homicides and correlate with mass shootings. In 2018, Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted. Domestic violence is a national epidemic that isn't taken seriously enough, causing poverty, addiction, insufficient education and healthcare, mass shootings, homelessness, and unemployment. The effects of domestic violence cross-pollinate and cause societal challenges that affect us all.

More information about Rachel Louise Snyder can be found on her website including information about No Visible Bruises and domestic violence resources.

For more outstanding investigative journalism, learn about the other Bernstein Award finalists for 2020.

More about the Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism

The Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism was established in 1987 through a gift from Joseph Frank Bernstein in honor of journalist Helen Bernstein Fealy. Each year, finalists are selected by a nine-member Library Review Committee, and winners are then chosen by the Bernstein Selection Committee. Authors must be working as journalists, or have worked in journalism for a significant portion of their careers, whether as reporters or commentators in newspapers, magazines, or broadcasting. A book's subject matter must be journalistic in nature, with potential for influencing public opinion or policy and drawing public attention to important current issues or events of global/national significance.