New Program Required For Abuse Victims
By:
Updated: June 10, 2010
The Midland County District Attorney's Office is helping
domestic violence victims see the big picture of their situations. For the past
eight months, women who start filing charges of abuse against their abuser, but
then change their mind, have been required to take a class, before the charges
can be dropped. In the past, they would just talk with a district attorney and
sign a piece of a paper. Over 200 women have already taken the class.
"The two- hour course that were offering is one hour
counseling and one hour of advocacy with a victim advocate," said Tonya
Eckert, Safe Place Program Director.
The counseling portion allows the abused victim to talk
about her situation. It gives them a way to express their feelings and heal
from any trauma they might have experienced.
"Then they see our legal advocate or one of the victim
advocates," explained Eckert.
Together they create a safety plan.
"We want to equip them to be safe in the situation
they might go back into and help them come up with ways to escape a situation if
it became dangerous,” she said.
Tools they didn't have before.
"I think this was an outreach to the individual to
make sure that everyone achieves at least a familiarity and a little education
on what is available in the community," said Assistant District Attorney George
Patterson.
Sgt. David Garcia with the
Midland Police Department looks over and assigns domestic abuse cases.
"Sometimes they go beyond that they will actually get a
statement and then a day or two later they'll call and say I've changed my
mind," said Sgt. Garcia.
He said that’s the biggest problem: the majority of women drop the charges and a lot of times they’re repeat victims. Sgt. Garcia believes this program is a good idea.
"Because a lot of times the victim for whatever reason feels they are at fought," he said.
The new program also applies to assaults, and terroristic
threats. Another reason the DA’s office implemented the course was to put all their
attorneys on the same page when it came to handling these types of cases.
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