Are ACEs in your Courtroom?

Adults have one thing in common: we were once children. The quality of one’s childhood may have been tumultuous, nurturing, or a little of both. Certain events from childhood can stay with a person, sometimes long into adulthood.  There is a scientifically documented relationship between events occurring in one’s childhood and an adult’s health and [...]

Trauma and the Courts – Being an Informed Court

The Issue
Unless they are there for a wedding or an adoption, people rarely come to court for a happy, positive reason. Judges who handle criminal cases involving allegations of spousal or child abuse, sexual assault, or other violent crimes can count on seeing people who have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetimes.
But [...]

National Domestic Violence Hotline

What is 20 years old, confidential, never stops working, and saves countless lives? The National Domestic Violence Hotline
Established as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-322), the Hotline originated from the Violence Against Women Act, which authorized the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award a [...]

NICS: National Instant Background Check System

The Power of the Pen: What happens behind the scenes
Judges wield tremendous power, often literally with a stroke of their pens as they sign their names on orders and findings. When the cases involve family violence, routine decisions—whether to check the “Brady box” on a protection order, or whether to make the domestic violence determination [...]

The Dropout Problem: Part 2

What is behind it and what judges can do about it
In Part 1 of this article in the September/October issue of Court Times, we considered research on the high victim attrition rate in criminal domestic violence cases, as well as some laws that judges can use to help ensure the integrity of the proceedings. In [...]

The Dropout Problem: Part 1

What is behind it & what judges can do about it
A judge presiding over a criminal docket will quickly conclude that family violence cases are different.
In an auto theft case, for example, the victim is usually cooperative: she wants to help the police and prosecutor bring the perpetrator to justice for his crime. But in [...]

Firearms & Protection Orders: Considering Surrender

Ordering respondents to surrender firearms is not always easy for courts—it can mean more work for staff, extra hearings to ensure compliance, and negotiations with local law enforcement about storing the weapons and ammunition. But the power to order surrender of firearms as part of issuing a protection order is a vital means of reducing [...]

Teen dating abuse: What you need to know

The words “teen dating” usually bring to mind awkward silences, shy smiles, and high school proms. But for some adolescents and teens, dating also involves behaviors that the court system would recognize as stalking, battering, or worse.

Research into teen dating violence is ongoing—the National Institute of Justice is currently sponsoring a very large study in [...]

Technology & Intimate Partner Violence

While technology is not inherently violent, people who engage in intimate partner violence often employ technology as a means of obtaining and maintaining coercive control. Various technologies equip offenders with very efficient means to commit the crimes of stalking, intimidation, and harassment, while also enabling them to pinpoint their victims’ physical locations. Although it is [...]

Judicial Oversight in Domestic Violence Cases

If you are a judicial officer reading this, chances are you’ve issued an order or two in your career. You did so with the belief that the parties involved would obey those court orders, right? One way to find out if someone is complying with an order is to wait for the filing of notices [...]

Next Page »