Should Domestic Violence Cases be Referred to Mediation?
I go back and forth on the answer to this question and ultimately I come to the conclusion that yes, domestic violence cases should be referred to mediation IF AND ONLY IF both parties actually WANT mediation. As a former prosecutor, I handled domestic violence cases almost daily and more often than not, by the time the case made it to court, the parties were back together and back in love. This left us, the prosecutors, looking like the bad guys for wanting to prosecute some man or woman who beat up their significant other. If you were there, you would think WE were the abusers! So what to do? The prosecutor can (1) go full force ahead and hope the victim does not change their story in trial, which most times they do; (2) dismiss the charges and hope the victim does not end up dead or hurt worse later, which most times they do; (3) plead the case down to a lesser charge; or (4) require some type of counseling before doing anything with the case. There are many more solutions that prosecutors and the courts come up with to handle DV cases but each solution is ultimately the court getting in the middle of someone’s home life. Now in defense, the court is only in the middle of someone’s home life because they were invited by either the victim or someone who heard or witnessed the act of violence against the victim.
But the question becomes if the victim is not ready to protect themselves by prosecuting the perpetrator, then should the justice system step in to prosecute the offender or allow the couple to go to mediation because the reality is no matter what the court does – this couple is going to be together until the victim thinks enough of themselves to leave. My vote is for mediation. The couple can address issues that prosecution alone will not address. I know many people will disagree with me and say the offender should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and if I were the victim, I would agree. But we are not the victims and if the victim wants to be with their offender, the most we can do is try to give them the tools through mediation to keep them from continuously coming through the revolving doors of the courthouse.
