Valley Interview : D.A. Can Now Prosecute Spousal Abuse Even If Victim Hesitates

Women are less likely than men to become victims of violent crime, but when they are victimized, it is usually by former or current husbands or boyfriends. Each year in the United States, more than 2 million women are battered by men they loved, according to the FBI.

State laws have been passed to make prosecution easier, but the biggest hurdle authorities face is getting a victim to testify against the person she depends on most--her husband or boyfriend.

Working to utilize these new laws and educate victims is Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schwartz, a Van Nuys prosecutor for seven years, who handles felony spousal-abuse cases for the San Fernando Valley--rape, assault with a deadly weapon, stalking and terrorist threats.

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Question: Describe some of the state laws that took effect this year aimed at assisting the prosecution of spousal abusers.

Answer: In felony prosecutions, we have a number of options. We can go forward with the case even without the victim and use her initial testimony. If the case is dismissed, we can also refile felonies.

Prosecutors can also get increased penalties for repeat domestic violence offenders. With one prior conviction for corporal injury to a cohabitant, penalties are increased from a maximum of four years to five years. Also, . . . a person . . . convicted of such a crime . . . cannot own a gun for 10 years. That law also includes homosexual and lesbian couples.

For stalking victims, the law has changed so that the California Department of Corrections must now notify the victim if the stalker is being released.

There are mandatory reporting requirements for medical practitioners requiring doctors and hospitals to notify police when they suspect a person they are treating is a victim of spousal abuse.

Q: Have years of efforts by law enforcement and courts made it easier for women to protect themselves?

A: Over the years there has been a tremendous amount of spousal-abuse education. We know victims are not to blame--it is not their fault that they are being beaten up--and violence is not an acceptable response to family disputes. It is a crime.

That understanding is a real change in perception for people.

We know there has to be more done in the initial contact with the victim to document what abuse happened. There are efforts to get 911 tapes, to photograph and document the victim’s injuries and to talk to other witnesses who were there so that later, should something happen and the victim is reluctant to testify, the case can be proved around her.

It is not the victim who prosecutes these crimes, it is the state of California.

Police now provide the victim with information about domestic-violence restraining orders, the process of what goes on in court, as well as hot line and shelter information. A mandatory arrest policy requires them to arrest the batterer . . . which gives the woman a window of protection, time to get herself and her thoughts together and rebound from the abuse.

But it is still tremendously difficult for a woman to protect herself because of the dependence factor. . . . It has been described as the Patty Hearst syndrome . . . a person taken hostage actually winds up depending on and identifying with her captors to the point that she will actually deny that she is being abused and attempt to assist the person who has abused her.

Q: How persistent is physical mistreatment of women by husbands and boyfriends?

A: The statistics are still horrifying. A woman is assaulted in her home every nine seconds. Spousal abuse is the second leading cause of injury to women overall and the leading cause of injury in women ages 15 to 44.

Traditionally, there was a notion that the female was the property of the male and he could do with her as he wanted. That is still the prevailing view in some societies. The changes have come about because now women have legal rights. A woman is not viewed as property, and a marriage license is no longer a license to batter.

A woman can report an incident of domestic violence and have the police intervene. In the past, the police would be very reluctant to intervene in what they viewed as a family matter.

The persistent mistreatment of women has always been here. What is changing is people’s attitudes.

Q: Describe the cycle of violence that occurs in domestic abuse.

A: It starts generally with a tension-building stage, with some arguments. Soon, the arguing is more frequent. Then there is the abuse. After the violence, very often the abuser is contrite and will apologize. He may cry or send flowers.

At that point the victim is generally very hopeful things are going to be fine again, but unfortunately the cycle begins to repeat, and incidents occur more frequently, with violence escalating each time.

There tends to be an isolation of the victim. There is physical abuse in the relationship as well as emotional. He may not want her to work outside the home. She may need permission to go out with her friends or see her family. He cuts her off from other sources of support so that she becomes mentally and emotionally dependent on him as well as economically. When she needs to get help, she has fewer and fewer people to turn to.

When children are involved, the problem is magnified. Not only does she have to care for herself, but she also has to take the children into account. They become victims, not only by seeing their father abuse their mother, but also because almost half the children in these families are themselves subject to abuse.

Q: Has news coverage of the O.J. Simpson case affected the problem?

A: The case brought awareness to the fact that if women stay in an abusive relationship, the consequences can be quite severe.

It has heightened awareness on the part of law enforcement and prosecutors that if a woman leaves her husband and he keeps following her, we have to take it seriously. Everyone is more aware of the potential disastrous consequences of domestic violence.

I personally thought it was important that prosecutors filed a motion to admit the evidence of Simpson’s incidents of prior abuse. The pattern went back so far and many incidents were observed by other people. In the cases I see, victims have been abused again and again. They return to the situation because they feel like they have no other options.

Q: What is the typical reaction of abusive men whom you successfully prosecute?

A: The serious felons that I see are in deep denial even though they face a long time in custody. They seem to blame the victim. I believe that it shows that if they were released immediately instead of going to prison, they would continue in their pattern of behavior.

I once prosecuted a man for raping the mother of his children. There had been a history of abuse for six years. They broke up and were living in different states. He came to her house and wouldn’t leave; she called police, and before they got there, he raped her. After being convicted by a jury trial, the defendant still describes the whole incident as a misunderstanding. Although he admits what he did, he blames the victim.

Q: Has education made women quicker to abandon relationships that threaten their safety?

A: When women understand that it is not their fault and that there are choices for them, they can be encouraged to leave an abusive relationship. It also helps if they understand that the abuse will only get worse through the years.

Women may not have many choices, though. The plain fact is that the shelters don’t have room for all the women who need them. To get into some shelters, the woman cannot work because a man can trace her through her work and follow her to the shelter, putting everyone else in the shelter at risk. If a woman has teen-age children, she is not eligible to go into most shelters because the children may call the father and ask him to pick them up.

The thought that there are a lot of options or places for these women to go is wrong. A woman has to be very strong to leave an abusive relationship.

The best thing that we can do is encourage women to report each incident of domestic violence and go through with prosecution. The earlier a victim gets intervention, the less chance there is for violence to escalate. When she intervenes, the abuser sees that there are negative consequences to his abuse.