State fails to prevent and investigate intimate partner violence
28th October 2019 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Amnesty International USA released a report last Thursday (October 24) concluding that both Louisiana and U.S. authorities have failed to prevent and investigate incidences of intimate partner violence.
Due to a lack of comprehensive data from the government on the subject, Amnesty International USA focused on intimate partner killings reported by the media. Between 2013 and 2018, the media reported on 236 people killed by a current or former intimate partner in Louisiana. Of that number, 191 of them (81%) were women and 45 (19%) were men. Guns were used in 144 (61%) of the deaths. Of the gun deaths, 121 (85%) were women. No official data exists on how many domestic abusers possess a firearm.
The report features Amnesty International interviews with approximately 100 people, including 13 individuals directly affected by intimate partner violence and over 30 government officials.
“This isn’t an issue that affects one race, one gender, or one sexual orientation,” said Jasmeet Sidhu, senior researcher for Amnesty International USA.
The survivor stories included in the report are harrowing. A woman named Angela described being shot six times and permanently paralyzed by her then partner and father of her two children.
“I look up and I’m watching him shoot me. I didn’t know how many times I’d been shot. After he shoots me, the gun is empty now. I said, ‘You shot me.’ And he says, ‘Look what you made me do. You made me shoot you,’” Angela said.
Domestic violence survivors can request a protective order from civil courts, which usually requires the defendant to stay a set distance from the petitioner. Individuals named as a defendant on a protective order are prohibited from possessing guns. However, this does not apply to temporary restraining orders (TROs). A TRO is a court order that covers the period between the application for a protective order and the full court hearing to decide on a long-term protective order.
All involved parties for protective orders must appear in court on a scheduled date. They must arrive in the morning and wait until their case is called. Survivors discussed the difficulties of this process in the report.
“We’re at court and we are sitting next to each other,” said a woman named Emily, whose abusive ex-husband attempted to intimidate her through court proceedings. “There’s no protection, there’s no separation, there’s no nothing. And he’s just been giving me the look the whole time – like, ‘you’re going to pay for this.’”
Another obstacle for the abused is that there is no right to legal assistance in civil court matters. Many survivors cannot afford attorneys and navigate the complex legal process on their own. In some cases, the defendant will have an attorney but the petitioner will not. The report strongly recommended that all people, regardless of wealth, have access to free, low-cost legal aid.
“The gender and racial disparities relating to poverty rates in Louisiana means that women are more likely to be unable to afford legal representation than men, and the women least likely to be able to afford to pay a lawyer belong to minority groups,” the report stated.
One problem the report highlighted was the lack of consistent procedures/policies in intimate partner crime. A victim in one parish might be treated entirely differently in another parish. Sidhu said there needs to be common training for cops, judges, and district attorneys.
“Developing uniform training and best practices would be a great step to ensure survivors across the state have the same access to protection and care,” Sidhu said.
In some cases, a victim of long-term abuse will fight back against their abuser out of self-defense. But when police arrive on the scene, they will sometimes make dual arrests. The report recommended law enforcement organizations collaborate with domestic violence groups to create standards and training for officers so they can better determine who the dominant aggressor is on a call where both parties have struck the other.
The report featured several other recommendations. They included the following:
• Sheriff’s departments must ensure TROs and protective orders are served immediately
• Require training for judges, district attorneys, hearing officers, court officials, and police officers
• Routinely request “Gwen’s law” hearings so a thorough risk assessment may be done on the accused abuser before bail is set
• End the use of material witness warrants to preemptively detain victims of intimate partner violence to force them to testify and stop punishing victims who do not cooperate with prosecutors.
• The Louisiana legislature should allocate adequate funds to create and improve services for survivors of intimate partner violence, including emergency shelter, legal support, and counseling.
Requests for comment from the New Orleans Police Department, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office, and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ office were not returned as of press time.
This article originally published in the October 28, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
