Chapter 12
Covering Domestic Violence
By Sarah Huntley

			In this chapter
			• Introduction • What is domestic    violence?    The Worst Case • The Legal System’s   Response to   Domestic Violence    Civil Courts    Criminal Courts • The Social   Response   to Domestic   Violence    Shelters    Hybrid Courts    Interviewing victims     and former victims,     survivors

Reporters often approach these stories in one of two ways: breathlessness over the classic crime question of “whodunit” or bewilderment that such a thing could happen. But these cases deserve more. Usually, it becomes clear quite quickly who the perpetrator is. And most of the time, there is a significant history that led to the final act of violence. As a result, these stories open an important public service window for journalists who want to write about the issue of domestic violence in a meaningful way. An enterprising journalist can often find examples of missed opportunities or failures by a system that strives to protect as many victims as it can but sometimes fall short.

Evaluating the system’s performance in a fair and defensible way is nearly impossible without gathering a complete family history. Some of the steps and sources are obvious; but others may not be.

• The police: As with any crime, the ability to get information from law enforcement will vary widely from agency to agency and depends, to some extent, on the reporter’s relationship with the investigators. But here are some generalities. Most of these cases follow the same protocol as a non-domestic homicide investigation. Unless there has been a long history of documented abuse, police are unlikely to characterize a homicide or even a murder-suicide immediately as domestic violence. In the beginning, the only hint you might get could come from police officials who hope to quell public panic about the possibility of a killer being on the loose. They’ll often say something like, “we don’t believe the general public is at risk,” or the crime “is not believed to be random.” The arrest of a suspect, of course, can help bring focus to an ongoing investigation – and a reporter’s search for answers. But it may not confirm your suspicions. In most states, prosecutors pursuing murder charges are not required to prove motive. As a result, they may or may not make domestic violence a key component of their case.

• Records: Paperwork is a reporter’s best friend when it comes to determining a couple’s history. Comprehensive checks should be done of criminal filings and requests for restraining/protection orders. These orders, which we will address later in more detail, are maintained by the civil clerk’s office, so finding them may require a separate phone call or database check. A civil court clerk can also help determine whether either person has filed for divorce recently or in the past. Because advocates say women are at their greatest risk when they decide to leave an abusive relationship, these documented attempts to end a relationship can be a valuable red flag. Even divorce files that have been closed without the court taking action can include helpful information.
  
  Ask police for records of previous calls to all the suspect’s current and former addresses, look for property records that indicate whether a couple has moved frequently, and if you are able to make contact with a sympathetic and cooperative family member, ask for copies of emergency room and medical records.
  
  In some cases, bankruptcy filings can be helpful. If a couple has filed for some sort of financial relief, pull the file to see who the accountholder and creditor is. Although the parties may file for bankruptcy jointly, the records may show who held the purse strings. You can check these at the federal bankruptcy courthouse in your community or online using the federal PACER system (http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/) for a small fee.
  
  One word of warning: If there are no records of violence or discord, don’t assume that means there haven’t been problems. FBI officials believe domestic violence is the most frequently committed crime in America – and the least reported. If records do exist, however, they can be a gold mine, both for the fact-based history they provide and for future stories that probe what attempts the system made to intervene.

• Family and friends: In many abusive relationships, victims may not have had close – or honest – contact with their relatives in years. Isolation is a means of control. By all means, talk to them. But be aware that they may have limited knowledge or may be wary of portraying their loved one in a negative light. Friends, neighbors and co-workers may be more helpful, especially if you can find witnesses or confidantes.

• Victims’ advocates: Confidentiality is an essential tenet of nearly all the services anti-domestic violence programs offer. So, while shelters, hotlines, legal advocacy and counseling programs may keep detailed records about who seeks their help and when, these sources are almost always unwilling to provide them to the media. Reporters have sometimes been successful at swaying advocates if the victim has died and has no reasonable expectation of privacy. But even if advocates won’t confirm a history, they can be invaluable for providing context that will strengthen your reporting. Nearly all are willing to discuss the dynamics of domestic violence, either generally or as they pertain to the publicly available information about the current case.

• Fatality review processes: In the mid-1990s, cities across the country began to realize that many of the worst cases contained valuable lessons. As a result, some of them formed interdisciplinary committees to study domestic violence-related fatalities. The groups were charged with the task of looking for patterns and missed opportunities. In Denver, the group is the Denver Metro Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee. It includes law enforcement officials, victims’ advocates, human service professionals, prosecutors, probation officials, coroners, activists, treatment providers, forensic psychologists, and addiction counselors. The group reviews each fatality in significant detail, poring over records, law enforcement case files and talking to family members and others connected to the case. Each fatality results in a detailed case summary. The committee also publishes an annual report, looking at trends and recommending possible solutions. The case summaries and annual reports take time to compile, often surpassing the attention span of many media outlets, but they can be a wealth of information and help reporters get a better understanding of what the experts see as the most pressing concerns.  The process can take several months to complete, but most committees strive to have results within about six months.

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