Proposed legislation to protect against domestic violence discussed

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SUFFERN – State Senator David Carlucci (D, New City) was looking for guidance while drafting new legislation to protect victims of domestic violence. That’s why the lawmaker organized a roundtable discussion where domestic violence survivors, victim assistance agencies, family law attorneys and judges gathered to offer insight into how best to proceed; the panel, which took place at Rockland Community College on Friday had many useful suggestions.

“The current system is so broken,” said Elizabeth Santiago, a representative from Rockland County’s Center for Safety & Change. Santiago and many of her colleagues explained that the institutions in place to help the victims of domestic abuse are often inaccessible. For example, those who call the police to report instances of abuse are, by state law, deferred to family courts in order to request an order of protection. Those courts have limited hours and victims might go days without seeing a judge depending on when they report an incident.

People have been “fooled” in Carlucci’s words, into believing that help can come rapidly while the reality is quite the opposite.

Victims of abuse can also suffer from “loopholes” built into a system that only provides help once a person becomes destitute.

Many on the panel argued that finically stable victims of abuse often don’t come forward for fear of being placed into a shelter even when they are capable of paying for housing.

Others noted that the current system is not well equipped for separating children from parents who abuse their partner. Nancy Tunis of the Westchester Court Office for Women observed that the courts “still view children as property of their parents” and that under the law “family courts must ensure accesses to a child in the least restrictive way possible.” That can often hamstring judges in their efforts to emancipate children by a system that prioritizes parental rights, she said.

The panel suggested many potential remedies to these issues. It was universally agreed that there needs to be standardized training for judges dealing with domestic abuse cases, the senator promising to push for “problem solving courts” better equipped to help victims of abuse. Carlucci was also strongly urged to advocate for more collaboration between family courts, police departments, and advocacy groups to avoid the confused “who’s on first” method currently in place.

Inaccurate or incomplete police reports were sighted as a major reason abusers are able to continue their behavior and a streamlined method of identifying abusers could change that. As a result, the senator has proposed an “11 simple question” approach for officers responding to domestic disturbance calls, which could protect the lives of both officers and abuse victims by facilitating a rapid response to a situation.

Carlucci’s promised that a “robust package” of new bills aimed at reforming the system and protecting the victims of domestic abuse would be on the governor’s desk by January 2020.




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