Prosecution of Wife Beaters - Institutional Obstacles and Innovations (From Violence in the Home - Interdisciplinary Perspectives, P 250-295, 1986, Mary Lystad, ed. - See NCJ-100818)

• NCJ Number: 100829
• Author(s): L G Lerman
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 46 pages
• Sale Source: Brunner/Mazel, Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Revision of Prosecution of Spouse Abuse Innovations in Criminal Justice Response, 1980, Washington, DC, Center for Women Policy Studies.

Annotation

Many prosecutors' offices have successfully introduced innovations to improve the handling of spouse abuse cases so that law enforcement is more effective in stopping family violence.

Abstract

Study data came from 13 site visits to successful programs, 20 meetings, hundreds of informal conversations, and a literature review during 1979 and 1980. Eleven of the sites were demonstration projects funded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in 1978. The experience of these prosecutors shows that these cases can be prosecuted. To reduce case attrition, prosecutors should deny requests for dismissals once charges have been filed. They should treat battering as a crime against the State. To make this policy effective, the prosecutor's office must have victim advocates to help victims and provide information to them. The sufficiency of the available evidence should be the criterion for filing charges. Prosecutors should sign the complaints and should subpoena victims to relieve the complaints and should subpoena victims to relieve battered women of responsibility for filing charges. They should also require non-contact orders for batterers released before trial, recommend incarceration for serious and chronic batterers, and use diversion for abusers without prior criminal records. Additional recommended measures and 52 references.