ARTICLE
MARITAL "SPAT" WITH A WEAPON?
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by Marna Anderson
A recent national headline, "Sheen accused of using weapon in spat with wife," reveals a common
problem with media reports of domestic violence: the media frequently report
domestic assaults as arguments, spats, or disputes. This particular headline about
actor Charlie Sheen is even more disingenuous since it reports that a weapon may
have been used, yet still refers to the incident as a "spat." The dictionary
defines spat as a "petty quarrel"-not in any way comparable to an assault with
a weapon.
Most often, one encounters the media referring to a domestic
assault as a "domestic dispute," which is like calling a robbery a "commercial
dispute." The latter sounds absurd, and so should the former. As a society, we
acknowledge that in a robbery, the person being robbed was at a disadvantage
and had something taken against his or her will. The media does not frame the
crime of robbery in any other way. Continue reading "Marital 'Spat' with a Weapon"...
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RESOURCE
MATERIALS TO SUPPORT YOUR WORK
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| Court WATCH Connection
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RESOURCE
GUIDE TO GAINING ACCESS TO
YOUR COURTS AND COURT RECORDS
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WATCH'S latest guidebook, Gaining Access to Your Courts and Court Records, is now available free at the WATCH website. The guidebook provides an overview of the legal basis for open courts as well as ideas and strategies for gaining access to public
court documents and calendars.
Why a guide to gaining access? An open and transparent
court system is one of the hallmarks of the American legal system. There are
many places across the country, however, where the public is denied access to
the courts. This happens when judges refuse to allow observers into
proceedings, through the denial of requests for public records and calendars,
or when courts charge exorbitant copying and "handling" fees to obtain records.
The following illustrate these challenges:
They say that the courts must be kept closed so
children will not be harmed. Children are not in the courtroom, nor are they
put on the stand in most divorce, child support, or child custody cases. So to
say the reason the court must be closed to protect children is hogwash.
We are
charged for the actual copies and for the clerk's time, which is essentially
her hourly salary. There is no way our small non-profit can afford that. These
are public records.
For a couple of years, we were not having a problem
with access to hearings. They have changed the procedures though and we
now have to file a 'motion to intervene.' Every motion we have filed has
been denied. We are often asked to
attend proceedings by advocates and victims.
The only option we have is for volunteers to go to the courthouse, sign
in, and sit outside the courtroom while the hearing is in progress.
Most
court monitoring programs, including WATCH, are met with initial resistance
from the courts. Programs have also found their access to information restricted in different
ways after exposing a flaw in the system or criticizing the court. We
have also heard reports that, with budgets shrinking, courts are looking for
ways to increase revenues in any way possible and charging for court records is on the rise.
If you're a court monitoring
organization (or hope to be) you will likely have to address one or more of these
scenarios. We hope this guidebook will help you to do so. Read Gaining Access to Your Courts and Court Records...
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WEBINAR
CREATING DEFENDANT CHRONOLOGIES
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Chronologies are written histories of an
offender's life of crime that WATCH publishes in its newsletter. Chronologies document escalating levels of
violence, the number of victims over the years, the number of chances the defendant has been given, and gaps in the system that can jeopardize victim safety.
Topics for this one-hour webinar include: How to choose defendants to profile What data to include and how to collect it Identifying themes and offering recommendations to improve the court system
"Our monitor went into arraignment court and
the
judge was reading the chronology from the
newsletter to get information on the
defendant." -former WATCH staff member
Date & Time: Tuesday, March 30th, 11:30am-12:30pm (CST)*
Cost: $50 NACMP member rate: $35
Contact: Anna Light or (612) 341-2747 x7.
*9:30 am Pacific, 10:30 am Mountain, 12:30 pm Eastern
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NEWS & NOTES
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Congratulations to the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) in Renton, WA for receiving a grant from the Satterberg Foundation towards the creation of a court monitoring program. KCSARC will examine, among other things, the effectiveness of their sexual assault protection order process. Best of luck, KCSARC! Best of luck as well to the folks from Tulane Law School; Lake County, IL; University of Central Florida; and Lafayette, LA who called recently for advice on starting their own court monitoring programs. Considering monitoring your family or domestic violence court? You'll find a wealth of information in the Women's Law Project's Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court: A Report to the Community. Published in 2003, the report includes information on the functioning and effectiveness of their family court, gathered through court monitoring, as well as recommendations for change. WATCH heads to Albuquerque, NM April 7-9th to present our workshop System Accountability through Court Monitoring at the 15th Annual Advocacy in Action conference sponsored by the New Mexico Crime Victims Reparation Commission. We hope to see some of our New Mexico programs at the event. | |
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COURT MONITORING PROGRAMS
The National Association of Court Monitoring Programs works to support the creation and expansion of court monitoring programs across the U.S. We provide
training, technical assistance, networking opportunities and national
organizing to organizations and individuals engaged in court monitoring
activities and projects.
Join Today |
Member rates start as low as $75 for
organizations and $25 for individuals.
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WATCH
bringing a public eye to justice
608 2nd Ave S. #465
Mpls, MN 55402
(612) 341-2747
watch@watchmn.org
www.watchmn.org
ABOUT WATCHView a short video about WATCH's history and mission. Hear what staff, volunteers and court personnel say about our work. |
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