Domestic violence

Post Reply New Topic

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/0 ... ?mobile=nc

New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bills That Prevent Police From Protecting Domestic Abuse Victims
By Marie Diamond on Jan 26, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Since the 1970s, New Hampshire police have operated under a progressive policy for handling domestic violence cases that has saved countless lives. Under current law the presumption is that an arrest will be made when police observe evidence of abuse. They have a large degree of discretion and don’t need to witness the assault firsthand or obtain a legal warrant before they can separate the alleged attacker from his victim.
All that will change if Republicans get their way. The state’s GOP legislators are pushing two bills that will reverse a half century of progress, the Concord Monitor reports:
Domestic violence is no longer taken lightly legally or by society. That’s the way it should be, but two bills under consideration by this most unusual of legislatures, would undo that progress and put lives in danger. Both deserve a speedy defeat.
House Bill 1581 would turn the clock back 40 years to an age when a police officer could not make an arrest in a domestic violence case without first getting a warrant unless he or she actually witnessed the crime. That’s an exceedingly dangerous change. Consider the following scenario, one outlined for lawmakers by retired Henniker police chief Tim Russell:
An officer is called to a home where she sees clear evidence that an assault has occurred. The furniture is overturned, the children are sobbing, and the face of the woman of the house is bruised and bleeding. It’s obvious who the assailant was, but the officer arrived after the assault occurred. It’s a small department, and no one else on the force is available to keep the peace until the officer finds a judge or justice of the peace to issue a warrant. The officer leaves, and the abuser renews his attack with even more ferocity, punishing his victim for having called for help. [...]
It’s impossible to say how many lives the policy, in place since the 1970s, has saved or how many injuries it’s prevented. If they adopt House Bill 1581, lawmakers might find out, but the price paid could be extraordinarily high.
The other bill Republicans have proposed, HB 1608, limits judges’ ability to order the arrest of someone who has violated a domestic violence restraining order by contacting or abusing the person named in the order. It would also prevent judges from ordering defendants to surrender their weapons or block them from buying guns.
Police say the bill stops them from intervening to protect victims. For instance, they would be stripped of their power to arrest someone who is threatening to use violence against a victim or child. It’s unclear why New Hampshire Republicans have set their sights on repealing protections for abuse victims when promised to focus on economic priorities.

I am a Conservative. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a common sense and safety vs stupid and endangering issue. Whoever is pushing these bills is stupid, and also may have domestic violence issues of their own--and not as the victim. You people in NH get on the phones, faxes, and email the stupid jerks pushing these bills.

The current legal system in NH, and in many other states as well, is fine. When there are obvious signs of violence, arrest the suspect. It is best to err on the side of protecting the probable victims. The suspect will get his or her day in court, and can clear things up, if they are innocent, or there were extenuating circumstances--like both parties were throwing punches, or punch bowls. If you don't arrest the suspect, the victim could end up in the hospital, or DEAD!

People under a restraining order are supposed to not contact the victim. Domestic abusers are also not supposed to have an easy time getting weapons with which to do even more harm to the victim, the victims family and friends, and the police. DUH!! !

We had a case here in my area of NY about a year or so ago. A girl left her abusive boy friend. I'm not sure, but I think she may have had a restraining order against him, at least for a while. Against the advice of family and friends, she let her boy friend come for a visit to see his three month old baby boy. That monster stabbed her and the baby to DEATH! Thanks to the liberals who run NYS and made our state laws spineless, he didn't get the death penalty he should have gotten, but at least he recently got life without parole--so far. He is appealing. I don't remember his first name, but I believe his last name is Ashline. You should be able to find out more details online if you are interested.

I don't care what party the law makers are--stop coddling the criminals at the expense of their victims, and of society as a whole!

Attention politicians: One of your jobs is to pass laws that protect us, and another one of your jobs is to stop new laws that would harm us. DO YOUR JOBS!! ! OR WE WILL THROW YOU OUT OF OFFICE!! !

I'm a Conservative too. I just couldn't find a less biased article.

That's just.... stupid. Straight up "I have a hole in my brain" level STUPID.

I would need to know more about the bill and why it is being proposed before I form an opinion since that article doesn't provide much detail. For all I know, they could merely be trying to make domestic violence policy more gender-neutral.

The domestic violence laws are screwed up everywhere. They don't protect women from harm, they don't protect men from false arrests or wrongful convictions, and they actually prevent men from getting help with violent wives. The worst abuse of the system against a man I heard personally is that his now ex-wife called the cops and lied about being hit. Despite no marks or other evidence they arrested him without questioning him. Charges were later dropped. Then another time this same giy suffered injuries from his ex attacking him, and the cops came but did nothing about her. For women, the worst abuse of the system I've hears is where "she's crazy and did it to herself" was used successfully since she had a prior psychiatric history. The restraining order system is even worse. Personally I think that rolling back laws for the purpose of changing them would be the most thorough way to change them.

In some places, the person with the most bruises or injuries is seen as the victim, even if they are not. For a time there, like close to a year, my husband now, tried hitting me. Choking me (he did it wrong). Etc. I'd of course fight back and call the cops. I do not mark up easy. He does though. So they saw him as the victim, when my marks wouldn't shot until the next day, if that. I'm 5-10 about 120 and he's 6-2 about 210.

Yeah, I jumped him. Thats why I called you isn't it? Just so I could go to jail. They looked but no marks. They refused to take me to the hospital cause I seemed fine. I was mad, I seem fine with adrenaline going. I WAS mad!

So I get charged and he doesn't.

Turns out though, the DA in this one case was married to a girl I was majorettes with in high school. We got to talking and I told him what happened and the bruises were starting to show on my neck, and so he got the judge to drop it.

Funny thing was when he mentioned her name, I almost said "Oh I hated her!" because I did. But I didn't say it, and lucked out from not saying it.

_________________
I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

Anybody know what the bill actually says?

The one change outlined in the article does seem pretty stupid on the face of it, but I can't help but wonder if it's part of a larger change intended to prevent actions being taken based on false allegations. I'm NOT saying this change is good. It's not. It's stupid, but sometimes stupid changes like this are details in a larger change with good intent.

Right now, in New Hampshire, it is far too easy to level false allegations with NO evidence or corroborating testimony from anyone. All it takes is one individual to make claims of abuse and a restraining order is issued, based on nothing but the word of a single person. That's not right either.

I'm not taking sides here at all. This change is stupid. I'm just wondering if this is just another dismal attempt to correct something that really is wrong.

I suppose someone will have to look up the proposed bill itself.

Okay, all I have to say now is "what the...?"

The bill the article cites is House Bill 1581.

It does not seem to have anything to do with preventing actions based on false allegations. As such, this is really, REALLY stupid, and should not be passed IMHO.



Click here for the bill text.