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In this Domestic Violence Awareness Month of October, victims of the offense are being left out in the cold in Topeka, Kan.. This is because the city has discovered that it no longer has the budget in place to prosecute misdemeanor household abuse situations, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Topeka's county base of Shawnee doesn't have the money to take up the slack, meaning abusers might soon be free.
They don’t need help
The Topeka, Kan., city officials have decided they will trust abusers to fix themselves. Officials in the city and county are not interested in much else. They haven’t done other things, it seems. From the Capital-Journal:
“In August, the Shawnee County Commission cut [Shawnee County District Attor-ney Chad] Taylor's 2012 budget by 10 percent, or $347,765, from its 2011 budget of $3,477,651. In the meantime, police spokeswoman Kristen Veverka confirmed that 16 people have been ar-rested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery since Sept. 8 but were released from the Shawnee County Jail after charges weren't filed.”
An alarm was issued by Joyce Martin, who's CEO of the Topeka YWCA.
“The ongoing concern regarding the Shawnee County district attorney’s office prosecution of misdemeanor cases, particularly domestic battery, must be resolved in the inter-ests of victim safety,” she wrote in a public statement. “The organization believes that some of the most vulnerable members of our community have been placed in danger.”
Protocols to meet
In 2009, the YWCA worked with the Topeka district attorney's department, law enforcement department, Shawnee County sheriff and the 3rd District Court Services to install “community protocols” for responding to and prosecuting household abuse cases. Martin said that Topeka District Attorney Chad Taylor supports these protocols promising to “aggres-sively prosecute domestic violence,” “review household abuse cases as first priority” and “charge the cases that meet suf-ficient evidence to prosecute the suit.”
As budgets are dropping, officials are worried about losing these protocols.
“When an abusive partner is arrested, the victim’s danger level increases,” said Becky Dickinson, interim director of the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment. “The abuser will often become more violent in an attempt to regain control. Letting abusive partners out of jail with no consequences puts victims in incredibly dangerous positions.”
Getting things prosecuted
Jeff Wagaman is the Kansas lawyer general spokesman. He said that all misdemeanor domestic mistreatment cases must be prosecuted by local authorities as a law in Kanas requires. Soon, the spending budget is expected to drop quite a bit. That means that domes-tic abuse could go untouched soon.
“We hope this dispute is quickly resolved in the best interest of public safety,” said Wagaman.
Seeing a legal battle occurring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWYlgYCnzhE
Citations
Domestic Violence Awareness Month: http://www.ncadv.org/takeaction/DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth.php
Gawker: http://gawker.com/5847619/enjoy-hitting-your-spouse-move-to-topeka
Think Progress: http://bit.ly/oJAg2M
Topeka Capital-Journal: http://bit.ly/nyGXmK
In this Domestic Violence Awareness Month of October, victims of the offense are being left out in the cold in Topeka, Kan.. This is because the city has discovered that it no longer has the budget in place to prosecute misdemeanor household abuse situations, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Topeka's county base of Shawnee doesn't have the money to take up the slack, meaning abusers might soon be free.
They don’t need help
The Topeka, Kan., city officials have decided they will trust abusers to fix themselves. Officials in the city and county are not interested in much else. They haven’t done other things, it seems. From the Capital-Journal:
“In August, the Shawnee County Commission cut [Shawnee County District Attor-ney Chad] Taylor's 2012 budget by 10 percent, or $347,765, from its 2011 budget of $3,477,651. In the meantime, police spokeswoman Kristen Veverka confirmed that 16 people have been ar-rested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery since Sept. 8 but were released from the Shawnee County Jail after charges weren't filed.”
An alarm was issued by Joyce Martin, who's CEO of the Topeka YWCA.
“The ongoing concern regarding the Shawnee County district attorney’s office prosecution of misdemeanor cases, particularly domestic battery, must be resolved in the inter-ests of victim safety,” she wrote in a public statement. “The organization believes that some of the most vulnerable members of our community have been placed in danger.”
Protocols to meet
In 2009, the YWCA worked with the Topeka district attorney's department, law enforcement department, Shawnee County sheriff and the 3rd District Court Services to install “community protocols” for responding to and prosecuting household abuse cases. Martin said that Topeka District Attorney Chad Taylor supports these protocols promising to “aggres-sively prosecute domestic violence,” “review household abuse cases as first priority” and “charge the cases that meet suf-ficient evidence to prosecute the suit.”
As budgets are dropping, officials are worried about losing these protocols.
“When an abusive partner is arrested, the victim’s danger level increases,” said Becky Dickinson, interim director of the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment. “The abuser will often become more violent in an attempt to regain control. Letting abusive partners out of jail with no consequences puts victims in incredibly dangerous positions.”
Getting things prosecuted
Jeff Wagaman is the Kansas lawyer general spokesman. He said that all misdemeanor domestic mistreatment cases must be prosecuted by local authorities as a law in Kanas requires. Soon, the spending budget is expected to drop quite a bit. That means that domes-tic abuse could go untouched soon.
“We hope this dispute is quickly resolved in the best interest of public safety,” said Wagaman.
Seeing a legal battle occurring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWYlgYCnzhE
Citations
Domestic Violence Awareness Month: http://www.ncadv.org/takeaction/DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth.php
Gawker: http://gawker.com/5847619/enjoy-hitting-your-spouse-move-to-topeka
Think Progress: http://bit.ly/oJAg2M
Topeka Capital-Journal: http://bit.ly/nyGXmK