BY JORDAN SMITH

Enhanced communication among agencies has helped make the county’s special family violence court a success, says Mack Martinez, the assistant county attorney in charge of the office’s family violence division. The family violence court was created on the heels of the murder of Sylvia Hernandez, who had been assaulted previously by her estranged boyfriend, Leonard Saldaña. In the spring of 1998, on the day he stabbed Hernandez to death, Saldaña was the subject of an arrest warrant that had not yet been served. It was a classic case of one arm of the criminal justice system not knowing what another was doing, Martinez says, and it resulted in a woman’s death.

County Judge Mike Denton’s court is now the central hub for all misdemeanor and felony family violence cases. The court hears all protective orders and deals with violators. Integral to its effectiveness, say Denton and Martinez, is the close working relationship between the county and victim shelter SafePlace, which has an employee who offices with the county attorney staff. (The Travis County Attorney’s Office, notes Martinez, was one of the first elected-prosecutor offices in the country to give office space to a victims’ rights group.)

 Austinchronicle.com

Posted by Lynn Rosenthal on March 23, 2010 at 05:50 PM EDT

Sunday night’s historic vote on health care reform helps women across the board.

A greater percentage of women are more likely than men to be uninsured or underinsured and to struggle to make ends meet. In addition, those women who manage to get coverage are more likely to pay higher premiums than men. Women who suffer from preexisting conditions are often denied coverage altogether.

For all women, the advent of health care reform is a victory. For domestic violence victims, it is a lifeline.

Domestic violence causes 2 million injuries and more than 1,200 deaths every year . These women are not strangers – they are our daughters, our mothers, our sisters, our co-workers, and our neighbors. For victims of domestic violence, access to health care is critical. They need treatment for immediate injuries and ongoing care for related health problems. They need to be able to talk to their health care provider about the cause of their injuries without fear of losing their health insurance. Most importantly, they need our compassion and support.

Whitehouse.gov

By Nicole Landry / Staff Writer –

Domestic violence, a crime that has a varied and vast history, is on the rise in Dallas.

On March 9, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert spoke at a conference that dealt with this issue and reported a 5-percent increase in a time when overall crime has been on the decline.

The consensus of the conference was that the economy has had an effect not only on individuals staying in abusive relationships but also on the amount of available resources for victims of domestic abuse.

Veda MacGregor, founder and CEO of Sircle of Safety at Zac’s Ridge — a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people who have been affected by violence — agrees that the economy could be the reason people choose to remain in abusive situations.

“It’s been going on throughout history that crime goes up when the economy takes a dive,” she said. “But domestic violence stems from things deeper than the environment.”

 Ntdaily.com

Ora Lorraine Tigner couldn’t figure out any scenario that would end with her still being alive.

Two weeks ago – from 3 p.m. March 2 to 6:40 a.m. March 3 – the 48-year-old south-side Des Moines woman was held captive in her home by ex-boyfriend, Richard Yazell, 50. She said he repeatedly beat her on the head and arms with a baseball bat, fracturing them, and then tried to tie them in electrical cord. She broke the glass out of a window to escape, but he caught up with her and beat her more.

Tigner spoke last week from her room at Broadlawns Medical Center where a hospital spokeswoman said she was being treated for “pain control related to multiple fractures.” She sat in a wheelchair, both arms and hands in splints, bandaged. An IV line was set up on one arm for morphine.

For several hours after the attack, Tigner said, she lay on the floor, blood oozing from her head, finally talking Yazell into “letting me die on my bed.”

Delawareonline.com

By Nicole Fuller | nicole.fuller@baltsun.com

Baltimore County judge was reassigned Wednesday after he officiated a marriage between a man being prosecuted for domestic violence and the alleged victim — an action that led to the man’s acquittal.

Baltimore County District Judge G. Darrell Russell Jr. took the unusual step last week of allowing the defendant to leave court to obtain a marriage license and married the couple later in his chambers. About 20 minutes later, his new wife invoked marital privilege, so she would not be required to testify against her husband.

The case came to an end with the judge finding the defendant not guilty and saying, “I found you not guilty, so I can’t sentence you as a defendant in any crimes, but earlier today, I sentenced you to life married to her.”

Baltimoresun.com

By Genevieve Reilly, Staff Writer

FAIRFIELD — A woman calls the police. Her husband, she says, is beating her. The cops arrive on the scene to find the victim sporting bruises on her arms.

State law requires the husband be arrested, but the wife turns into a reluctant witness. A written report may describe the bruising, but bruises fade as cases make their way through the court system.

“Minimization is one of the biggest things that is used by the defense,” said Ken Edwards, an investigator with the state’s attorney’s office. “They’ll say, `oh, it wasn’t that bad,’ and the prosecutor doesn’t have an idea of how bad it was.”

Ctpost.com

The Family Place in Dallas is seeking a Program Director for Emergency Shelter Services.
Monitor, evaluate and provide supervision for all counseling and case management services provided to clients who enter the emergency shelter services program.  Supervise support groups, case management and assessments of hotline calls.  Review case files for service delivery and appropriate documentation.

Requirements:

• Master’s Degree in Social Work, Psychology or Counseling with a current LMSW or LPC.
• 3+ Years clinical experience, preferably working with victims of domestic violence.
• 2+ Years experience in program management supervision.
• Counseling and group experience essential.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills.

Submit resume and cover letter, including salary requirements, to human-resources@familyplace.org or fax to 214.599.0277.

March 5, 2010  Yuma, AZ — A few yes or no questions can help save the life of a domestic violence victim.  The questionnaires are called lethality assessments, and researchers at Johns Hopkins University have just approved new version to help first responders identify the level of risk for every domestic violence victim.

Amberly’s Place Executive Director Diane Umphress says her agency has been using a similar form for years.  She says marking a simple check-box can change the way a victim views her situation.

“So by looking at how many boxes are checked hopefully that’s a tool for them to see wait a minute things have really got a lot further out of hand,” says Umphress.

Kswt.com