In reviewing the case of Lisa Steinberg/Hedda Nussbaum, it is quite evident that there are certain factors that affect the help-seeking behavior of Nussbaum. While most people would wonder why Hedda did not report the abuses or leave the abusive relationship with Steinberg, it is obvious that there are other factors that contributed to her ineptitude to seek for help.
First were the predisposing factors such as her attitudes and beliefs that hindered her personal motivation to act against the abuses that were subjected to their adopted daughter (National Center for Victims of Crime, 2012). First in 1987 when Hedda called the police to report the choking of her daughter, and explain the multiple bruises on her body, she lied by claiming that she had fallen. In addition, the fact that their son was also chained and lying on the feces in the same house that she occupied with Steinberg showed that she knew that they were abuses and feared reporting due to her belief of protecting her husband from apprehension by law enforcement agencies (Russo, 1997).
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In addition, there were reinforcing factors that underscore the characteristics that Hedda lacked that prevented her from making the decision to report and act against the abuses that were meted against Lisa (Russo, 1997). For instance, she was adjudged to have suffered similar abuses by the husband and suffered broken ribs as well as broken jaws and nose. In addition, the continuous abuse by the Steinberg had affected her mental capacity to make decisions that address the abuse against Lisa by the spouse. In conclusion, it can be stated that Hedda lacked the capacity to stop the abuses at first because she tolerated them in the hope of protecting her husband, but subsequent abuses and mental incapacitation affected her judgment to seek for help against the abusive spouse.
References
National Center for Victims of Crime. (2012). ‘Help for Crime Victims’. (Online). Retrieved at
http://www.victimsofcrime.org/ on March 23, 2016.
Russo, F. (30 March 1997). ‘The Faces of Hedda Nussbaum”. The New York Times. (Online).
Retrieved at http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/30/magazine/the-faces-of-hedda-nussbaum.html?pagewanted=all on March 23, 2016.
