Today in the Hartford Courant, Helen Ubinas wrote an excellent piece about a woman brutallly beaten by her husband as she tried to escape. Her "mistake"? Calling the police. She was trying to save her life as this was not the first beating she'd suffered at his hands and she was terrified it might be the last.
Police arrived. Her shoulder and knee were injured and she was badly bruised. Her husband didn't have any signs of injury. BUT he told police she was trying to keep him from leaving.
The police arrested BOTH of them.
In general, CT Domestic Violence law has greatly improved since 30+ years ago when police watched a man break his wife's neck and cut her with a knife before they intervened. Yet CT now has the highest dual arrest rate, per 2007 U.S. Dept. of Justice data, in America. That is, the highest rate at which police arrest both batterer and victim.
Lawmakers did not intend for this to happen, I'm sure of that. So where are we falling down?
*On training police about the complicated issues in domestic violence?
*Loopholes in DV law or police procedures?
*Common sense?
Probably all three.
I don't think anyone should arrest a woman with serious injuries and multiple bruises for self-defense that left no marks on her "victim."
What was that office thinking? Was he thinking?
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