A law that must be enforced and prosecuted

Regardless of who the new sheriff is, he or she will work for all the people of Red Willow County and that means enforcing laws that are sometimes overlooked. I'm not referring to Gene Mahon's administration because I'm not aware that this has been done during his tenure as Sheriff but it has in other counties and jurisdictions and it could be done here too.

I'm talking about the crime of domestic violence. Unfortunately, some in law enforcement still hang on to the outmoded idea that whatever goes on behind closed doors is nobody's business but the people who live there but the law has never taken that position. Even so, there are stories galore about law enforcement refusing to arrest a man who has assaulted his wife on the assumption that the man's home is his castle and that he's in charge of whatever goes on there.

When this attitude is prevalent and is supported by a prosecuting attorney who plea bargains domestic violence cases down, the victim is stripped of almost any legal protection at all.

If there is one crime where plea bargaining should never be used, a good case could be made for domestic violence. The victim has no power or control over the offender in her home and then she finds out, if she ever has the courage to press charges against him, that she has no power or control with the police or the courts either. That simply can't be tolerated. When the court is her last resource, the court must prosecute her offender to the limits of the law.

Ninety percent of domestic abuse victims are women and most aren't able to defend themselves. They find themselves in situations where they are emotionally, psychologically and verbally abused on a regular basis, punctuated by the occasional physical abuse to prove to her that he means business. He threatens her with more severe punishment if she ever tells anybody about the abuse and, of course, leaving him is out of the question because he promises to hunt her down and kill her if she ever tries.

I can't imagine suffering through that kind of fear and intimidation every day of my life but thousands of women across the country do, including hundreds of women in our geographical area. A spokeswoman for the local Domestic Abuse Hotline told one of my classes that they get about 1500 calls a year from domestic abuse victims or their friends or family and that's only the tip of the iceberg because most victims not only don't call for help, they don't even tell anyone of the abuse that's ongoing because of the threats made to them by their offender.

I know that in intimate situations, tensions sometime run high when the other person doesn't act the way you want them to, talk the way you want them to or dress the way you want them to. And if they're told that, some sort of argument or conflict often follows that exchange but regardless of what's said or what's threatened, it's never okay for a man to hit a woman, throw her up against the wall or drag her across the floor, regardless of the provocation. He can leave the room, leave the house, get a separation or file for divorce but hitting his wife in a fit of rage and anger is something he can never do, and if he does and is convicted of it, he should be looking at mandatory jail time. It's against the law to strike ANYONE in anger, much less our life partner and when we do, we should be dealt with quickly and severely.

I know of so many cases of abuse in our part of the state, cases that no one else knows about, not even the woman's best friends. She's ashamed and embarrassed to tell anyone about it because she's still there with him, putting up with the abuse like she always has. And there are people all across the country who are just like her; putting up a strong face in public while all the time fearing the private time she's going to have to spend with him because she never knows what will set him off next.

Domestic abusers are bullies and cowards, picking only on those they know they can beat down, and the only thing that will reduce domestic violence is certain arrest and swift and severe punishment. If the offender knows that he will suffer the consequences of his actions, he will carefully consider those consequences before he acts; if there are no consequences to suffer, he won't.

There are few consequences the woman can impose on him but many that the state can and it is law enforcement and the prosecutor's job and responsibility to make sure that the state does just that whenever it has the chance.