Domestic Violence

This is a personal hot button for me. My mother was a victim. I was a victim of child abuse.

Almost daily we get calls from women, and occasionally men (more and more) about valid complaints of domestic violence, ranging from pushing to assault with a weapon.

Very recently took a call from a grown son calling for Mom. Mom couldn't call us because Dad ripped the phone out of the wall, making it impossible for Mom to call for help. Mom uses a walker to get around due to physical damage done to her body from multiple beatings and abuse over the years by Dad.

I'm not going to go over the whole psychological issue of why women stay in such an abusive relationship. My mother did. This Mom continues to.

But what angers me is the lack of prosecution done to this "man" (and I hate to use this word for such an adlebrained/dimwitted member of the homosapian animal race) by our County District Attorney. And not just one DA either. According to premise history, this man has been arrested numerous times for domestic violence. Through at least three different DA terms.

In our state a victim (not all DV vics are women) does not have to "file a complaint" like they did during my mother's era. If an Officer sees physical evidence of assault, the suspect is arrested. The suspect can be prosecuted without the victim ever having to testify. When this law was created a lot of law enforcement and victim advocates danced happily in the streets.

But for some reason our County DA has a problem following through on prosecuting domestic violence suspects. A quick online search of the County Criminal Courts shows a very high percentage seem to be pled down. This "man" that created this angry blog entry has been arrested numerous times but seems to spend a little county jail time and goes home to repeat the cycle.

I wonder how many domestic violence convicted persons are actually in our prison system. Because this "man" should be one of those enjoying the rent free/first run movie viewing/better medical and dental coverage than I got/free gym equipment access residence provided by our state and my tax dollars. But for some reason our County DA's just let him go home again and again with a slap on his hand.