Victims in the Criminal Justice System
Week of 9-19-11
20 September
- CCR: Coordinated Community Response (a unit in MKE to talk about
domestic violence: MPS, hospitals, cops, judges, underserved
populations, etc.).
- Audrey Skwierawski: Violence against Women Resource Prosecutor
- Domestic violence is defined as acoercive controlling behavior
backed up with physical, psychological, financial, and sexual
power tactics.
- Family members, domestic partners, and roommates are covered.
- "Power and control wheel:" a graphic that has been around about
20 years. There are power and control wheels for all sorts
of different things, but DV was the first.
- Before effective prosecution can take place, the potential jury
pool has to accept it as a crime.
- Domestic violence behaviors are learned, and they're deeply
enough embedded that it's not easy to change. This is on
both sides, by the way. It's maybe about the way people
learn to resolve issues: growing up in a house with violence
shows you that means of resolving issues.
- The effects of DV go way beyond injury: children removed (for
failure to protect), loss of employment, poverty/homelessness,
humiliation, frustration of family members and friends.
- "He's not bad all the time." Abusers are people who have learned
tactics for getting what they want. This isn't an anger
management issue (that would be bar fights, etc.), because
abusers can control themselves, e.g., at their jobs.
- Treatment for batterers is not very modern; it's like something
from the past.
- City of Torrington: one of the main cases that motivated
mandatory arrest policies.
- 50% of cases are dismissed in court because the victim doesn't
show up.
- Civil arrests/tickets for domestic violence abusers: justified
on the basis of not having prosecutorial resources, but it's
also a money-maker for the city. Madison is doing this now.
- In WI prosecutors can't decline a case because of no injuries
or victim doesn't want to prosecute.
- Hanrahan started the first DV unit in the DA's office in MKE.
- Community prosecution: involving other resources