Articles Posted in Domestic Violence

New York has created a system designed to streamline the problems that arise in prosecuting domestic violence cases in the court system. Historically, cases of domestic violence are often heard in several courts at the same time because of the very nature of the offenses. This is especially true if the domestic violence issue escalated through its continuation. A domestic violence case could conceivably begin as a subject violates traffic laws to either harass the other party or to get away from the other party. Since traffic infractions are considered to be minor legal torts below that of a misdemeanor. It would be historically sent to traffic court.

If after committing the traffic violation, the suspect then commits a misdemeanor crime, that crime would be heard in the state court of misdemeanor crimes. Felonies would be heard in the superior court of the state. Because, domestic violence cases often have elements in each of these courts, New York decided to pass the one case one judge policy. In this system, called the Integrated Domestic Violence system, one judge is assigned to one family. All of the cases that involve that family, from the most minor traffic to the highest felony are then heard by one judge appointed to their problem. In order for the judge to be able to hear all of the cases, the judge has to be a Supreme Court Justice.

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On September 7, 2004, an appeal was placed before the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. It was an appeal on behalf of all mothers who had suffered domestic violence and who were separated from their children because their kids had witnessed the violence. What brought this about?

On April 2000, a mother sued the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Not soon after, three other mothers also filed their complaints. When the charges were investigated, it was discovered that ACS had a policy of taking children away from their mothers and homes if the mothers were victims of domestic violence. It was alleged that the mothers were “engaged in the abuse” because they were victims of it. The mothers protested that this was against their rights and that it violated the constitution.

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On June 3, 2010, the New York City Children’s Services (NYCCS) filed a case against a mother and father for not providing the minimum degree of care to their children as required by law. This was because the father regularly abused the mother in front of the children and the children were unable to go to school regularly.

The Family Court ordered that the three children be moved to their grandmother’s home and that the father would temporarily not be allowed to go near them or the grandmother, except on scheduled visits with the presence of the grandmother or NYCCS. Not long after, the grandmother and the three children moved to Pennsylvannia to stay with relatives.

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On August 15, 2008, a Bronx family was in Bronx Family Court on a delinquency action against their son. The parents were in highly emotional states. The family started to leave. The wife, who is divorced from the husband, threatened him. She stated that she would do him bodily harm. The court officers escorted the wife out of the courthouse but she was not arrested. All parties were scheduled to appear on August 18, 2008, in the delinquency situation with the son. Because the wife had threatened him, the husband requested that the court issue a temporary protection order under domestic violence statutes. The hearing on the protection order was set for three days later on the same day as the delinquency hearing.

When the wife arrived at the courthouse on August 18, 2008, for the delinquency hearing involving her son, she was approached by her husband’s daughter from a previous marriage. The daughter had a copy of the temporary protective order and attempted to serve the wife with it. The wife ignored her and proceeded into the building. Inside the building, the daughter approached the wife again. They were in the lobby of the courthouse. The daughter went up to the wife and dropped the service papers on the floor in front of her feet and told her that she had been served. The date of the inquest on those papers was for later that same day of August 18, 2008. The wife did not appear at the inquest.

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In December of 1996, a wedding was held in Kings County New York. Like most young couples, they were full of excitement. The new wife came to this marriage with one ten-month-old toddler from a prior marriage. They moved into her parent’s house a few months after they met and stayed thereafter they married.

The wife stated that the abuse began immediately with the husband having verbal temper tantrums calling her names in front of the children. After a while, she stated that she began to feel worthless as the domestic abuse began to escalate. At this time, the husband was employed as a New York State Park Control Officer which is a sworn law enforcement officer in the state of New York. The wife was hesitant to report the abuse because the husband was quick to remind her that a police officer charged with domestic abuse can never again work in law enforcement. He told her that he would lose his job and all the benefits that go with it including the children’s health insurance. It was enough to keep her scared and quiet for a while.

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It was a February day in India when a couple met for the first time. It was an arranged marriage. It was the second marriage for both husband and wife. The husband had two girl children from his first marriage. What this new wife did not know at the time, was that he had been investigated by Child Services in New York for injury to one of his daughters. The new wife was full of excitement. She had no children and was looking forward to beginning her new life as a wife and mother. However, that first day that they met, she was shocked by the husband groping her when they had not discussed this type of contact and did not even know each other. Still, she hoped that it was just a misunderstanding. The husband returned to New York to work as an insurance claims adjuster. The wife followed in September of 1991. In March, the wife’s father co-signed and later paid for a mortgage on a house in Staten Island for the new family.

The new wife describes her relationship with her husband during that time as a “Husband and Wife” type of relationship and never one that involved love. The wife became a nurse and bore her husband two children, the first child is a girl and the second was a boy. The wife stated that the first acts of abuse were immediate upon the marriage. Once the couple was in Brooklyn, she estimated that her husband acted out violently toward her monthly in the beginning, but increasing to weekly when they moved to the house on Staten Island. The wife stated that she did not tell anyone about the abuse because she is Indian and in her culture, it is shameful to discuss problems from a marriage with anyone else.

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This case is a battle between a man and woman, who are not married, for the custody of their two children, a 12-year old son and an 18-year old daughter. The man and women were in an unhealthy relationship involving domestic violence, for around eight years. The Family Court of Richmond County reviews the facts of the case and explains the reasons for their decision to award custody to the mother.

First, let’s go through the facts of the case. On June 1994, the father brutally assaulted the mother. According to reports, he beat her up and dropped a hot clothers iron on her. He was arrested and imprisoned for this. Their relationship then ended. Two years later, they reconciled and conceived a son. In 2000, the father and mother decided to move together. Two years later, they ended their relationship again.

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On September 17, 1998, The Supreme Court of Kings County, New York was called upon to address a situation involving a domestic violence case that was particularly egregious. Between the dates of December 26, 1996 and March 12, 2000, a man in their jurisdiction committed numerous crimes in violation of different orders of protection. The Grand Jury minutes of the case reveal that there were three separate orders of protection in effect that this subject violated before being arrested.

On September 17th the Supreme Court of Kings County was given a motion by the arrestee in this case to dismiss 14 of the counts that are shown against him on the indictment. He proposes that these counts are duplicitous. That means that they are duplicates or copies of charges that are already made. He proposes that these charges are duplicates because there were multiple acts in violation of multiple court orders and some were just counted more than once. In considering this motion, the court examined the following documents which were entered into evidence: the moving papers, the People’s opposition, the court’s letter dated June 29, 1998, the Grand Jury minutes , and the indictment itself.

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Domestic violence has an expansive effect. It does not just affect the victim but also their children. Abuse of a parent is detrimental to children whether or not they are physically abused themselves. Children who witness acts of violence are more likely to experience delayed development, feelings of fear, depression, and helplessness and are more likely to become batterers themselves.

Three mothers, on behalf of themselves and their children, filed an action against the New York City Administration for Children’s Services because the agency removed their children from them. The mothers were victims of domestic violence and these children, according to the ACS, were removed because the mothers neglected them by exposing them to the abuse.

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The effect and result of domestic violence extends to so many aspects in a victim’s life. There are even some aspects that you didn’t think will be affected by they are. The pain, trauma and extreme inconvenience of what domestic violence can do to a victim is very alarming. Take this case for example. The victim’s primary source of income, her job in a government agency was compromised that she had to file a court case just to get it back and prove her point. Her residence, which is one of the basic human rights was also affected and deprived from her for quite some time. And probably the most painful of all was that her children were also products of abuse by their father, the victim’s husband.

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