"A Family Secret: The Death of Lisa Steinberg"

Paper Summary:

On November 2, responding to a phone call that a child had stopped breathing, the police found a dying little girl, a boy tied to a playpen with a length of rope, and a severely battered mother. The little girl, Lisa Steinberg, was later pronounced brain dead and the world began to understand what went on behind the doors of the Steinberg/Nussbaum home. One of questions that the video, "A Family Secret: The Death of Lisa Steinberg" attempts to answer is what is the cause of domestic violence? The paper shows that in order to do this, the video gives the audience a lot of information about Joel Steinberg, and focuses on the extensive use of drugs by both adults in the Steinberg/Nussbaum home. However, the use of drugs does little to explain either why Joel Steinberg abused his children or why Hedda Nussbaum permitted the abuse. The paper shows that the answer to those questions is more complex than mere drug use.

From the Paper:

"Watching the story of Hedda and Joel, it seems more like Hedda was over-optimistic; she was hoping to finally do the one thing that would end the abuse and create the happy family she desired. With Hedda, as with many abused woman, worse than the threat of another beating, or even her own death, was the idea that she might lose Joel. However abused Hedda may have been, and the abuse was admittedly extremely severe, Hedda's position was simply untenable in light of the fact that the children were also being abused."

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