Courts in Chicago Struggle to Protect Domestic Violence Victims
Victims of domestic violence in Chicago have a special court at which they can seek help. But, suffering from staff shortages and a deluge of cases, it doesn’t work as well as those who created it nearly 25 years ago hoped it would.
Fewer than 1 in 5 of the defendants against whom cases are brought are convicted, and, according to an analysis by the newspaper, almost 14 percent of the defendants from throughout Cook County faced multiple domestic violence charges within about three years, reports the Chicago Tribune in a lengthy article.
Part of the problem is that frustrated victims often give up, feeling they are wasting their time in a system which doesn’t protect them. However, those who have gone to private agencies for help in negotiating through the complexities of their court cases seem to do better, according to the newspaper.
But even when defendants are convicted, that may not provide much of a deterrent to additional bad behavior. “As it is, unless they are among a few hundred charged with felonies each year, most of the accused escape court with no jail time, no fines, not even alcohol or drug treatment,” the Tribune writes.
A special unit of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office that focused on domestic violence won accolades—and a conviction rate, on its cases, that at one point nearly hit 80 percent, the Tribune notes in another article. However, it has lost funding and is now struggling to be as effective with an increased caseload.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “As Ill. Murder-Suicide Shows, System Can’t Always Protect Women”
ABAJournal.com: “When Protective Orders Don’t Work, Satellite Monitoring May Control Abusers”
ABAJournal.com: “Ill. to Use GPS to Enforce Protective Orders”
