8 years ago
9
Why Do Accused Batterers Get a Free Attorney, but Domestic Violence Victims Don’t?
When domestic violence cases make their way through the legal system, accused batterers have the right to a free, court-appointed attorney in criminal cases. But a domestic violence survivor isn’t assured access to reduced-cost legal services. It’s a problematic imbalance, and correcting it could likely reduce the rate of domestic violence.
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Because criminals are prosecuted by the district attorney, not by the victim.
However, victims need to beg the courts for protection until prosecution is complete. As the article outlines, most low-income families can't afford an attorney to assist them in obtaining that legal protection.
I think this sheds light on an important problem, but I don't think the comparison is fair. Improving the support for domestic violence victims is important but this comparison is not fair either. We have tons of people who are under served that could be in a better place if they had a lawyer. We should talk about other way to fix the court systems to protect the victim better. In the end I think that this would raise more problems than provide solutions.
So what is your recommendation for protecting victims of domestic violence while they wait for the courts to decide their case?
That's a very fair and very tough question. I do not have any experience in this so I can't speak with any authority but here are some opening statements and that will hopefully lead to a good discussion with better thought out points and solutions.
1. Access to temporary shelters. For short term protection there should be shelters that are easy to reach at any time for all domestic violence victims (women, children, and men). This is only a short term solution, a few days to get out of the danger.
2. Longer term shelters should also be available. This would be for victims that do not have the financial support to find a safe place on their own.
3. Advocates/Case workers. Advocates and case workers could help them navigate the courts.
4. Protective custody. Could we develop a form of protective custody that isn't over the top but for more dangerous abusers it could be provided.
I was more bothered by that false comparison that was provided in the article. We could also talk about how most public defenders are over worked and do a poor job of defending the poor. Adding more work to them will result in a worse job for everyone. There are a lot of areas in our criminal system that we need to work on. This does open a point of discussion though. About how it can fail victims.
Because the accused, if criminally charged, are facing possible jail time, which is a loss of their liberty. The system gives them an attorney based on this possible loss of fundamental freedoms. The victims are not facing this. Why would you post this? It's ridiculous and it's apples to oranges.
Victims of domestic violence are not like victims of other crimes. Most other crimes aren't habitually inflicted on the victims (save for the self-inflicted ones like drug abuse, which is a separate topic altogether). Many of the deaths attributed to domestic violence happened while the victim was waiting for the courts. What's being argued is that domestic violence victims need better protection against repeat offenses.
Police are under no obligation to protect anyone unless they are under police custody (Warren vs. District of Columbia).
I have a problem with that.