Grumpy Old Men

Los Angeles Time, Monday, March 20, 2006 Front section

Justices May Further Restrict Domestic Violence Testimony

Long and short of the article, (click here to read the article, hopefully I can get this coding right) Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believes that having a police officer testify on behalf of domestic violence victims or using a recorded 911 call in court violates the rights of the individual to face their accuser in court. This rule would not only apply to adult victims of domestic abuse but also to children of sexual or domestic abuse. It has only been within the last 20 years that prosecutors have been using the testimony of police officers and that child victims of sexual abuse or domestic violence have been allowed to testify behind curtains or on closed circuit television. Justice Scalia does not feel that there should be exceptions of the right of the accused to face their accusers even in cases of domestic abuse or child abuse.

What Justice Scalia fails to take into account is that domestic abuse and sexual abuse is about power and control. Just reporting the crime, let alone surviving the court process often re-victimized the victims. The most common victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are the members of our society who are already struggling to have a voice, women and children. Yes, for all talk of gender equality, women are still objectified and victimized in our society. I don’t personally feel like a second class citizen but I know that in many ways, earning power being just one of them, I am seen as a second class citizen by my society.

March is National Women’s History month. How many of you knew that? I actually didn’t realize it until I attended a conference on Friday, not realizing that it was organized to coincide with Women’s History Month until I looked at the front of the conference schedule. Yet here we have a front-page story with a Supreme Court justice striking down the progress the judicial system has made to protect the innocent in court. Closed circuit testimony and testimony by police offers of what the victims of these crimes told them, using 911 recording or even recordings of interviews that are conducted in police stations, all of these elements were a huge step forward in protecting the helpless in these case and limiting the amount of intimidation these victims might face in court.

I don’t know if I am repeating myself. This article saddens me, makes my heart hurt. We are supposed to be an advanced society. Yet domestic violence and sexual assault on adults and children alike still plague our society. How advanced is that? When does this end, how do we stop these crimes? When were these criminals broken to the point that they can inflict suck harm and pain on those they are suppose to protect and nurture?