Jackson Jambalaya

HOW MANY TIMES must we read in the news about ANOTHER woman killed by a man she once loved? First it was Heather Spencer, then Dorothy Shavers, now it is Latasha Norman. Not to mention the case on tv a few months ago where the woman was severely beaten by her ex-husband, a former cop, yet he was given a mere slap on the wrist by the justice system. It's clear something is not right at all. Yet, except for some hand-wringing, nothing is done. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Charges are mysteriously reduced, judges don't even slap the wrists of women-beaters, the police do not take suspects into custody, and still more women die.

Unfortunately, the impotence against domestic violence has spread even to The Clarion-Ledger as last week it opined on domestic violence in the wake of the Norman murder. The editorial was so weak as to be insulting to the collective intelligence of Mississippians. The paper has many jello writers. Jello because too many writers at the newspaper are great at writing about jello recipes, but are passive in their writing and grammar while having no backbone.

In this case, the editorial states the facts, then Dr. Mason's remarks, "Latasha's death was a case of a social ill in this country: relationship violence." He implored any woman who suffered abuse to "get the help that you need," and announced the university's center for social and clinical counseling would be renamed after Norman." It then continues:
Mason's announcement was paired with a similar one by Glenda Glover, the dean of JSU's College of Business, the university would establish a symposium on domestic violence in Norman's name...
Jackson already was reeling from the September death of Mary Heather Spencer, 28, who was bludgeoned to death. She was the girlfriend of George Bell III, 33, now charged with domestic assault and capital murder. Bell pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bond.
On Clarionledger.com's StoryChat, readers expressed sorrow and intent to help other young women. Writes one (http://forum.clarionledger.com/viewtopic.php?t=4604): "Too many of our young people are dying needlessly and too early."
Certainly, the question is valid: Can't more be done to protect our young people?
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007712050359
(For earlier post on similar jello-writing by CL on domestic violence: http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/clarion-ledger-tries-to-opine-on.html

The leading newspaper in Mississippi cannot muster up the moral courage to actually take a stand and demand our criminal justice system and legislature actually do something about domestic violence. One does not expect them to actually propose some actual ideas for reducing domestic violence as that would require actual thought and research. Remember, they are reporters. However, one would think the editorial page would write more than meekly begging for something to be done at the very end of this jello-torial.

"Kingfish, aren't you being too hard on the newspaper? We all hate domestic violence but what can be done that we haven't done already?" To that line of questioning I reply that there are several things that could be done in the next six months that could greatly help fight domestic violence.

1. Change the loophole in the law that allows a judge to suspend a sentence in exchange for "counseling". The law states: "Every conviction of domestic violence may require as a condition of any suspended sentence that the defendant participate in counseling or treatment to bring about the cessation of domestic abuse. The defendant may be required to pay all or part of the cost of the counseling or treatment, in the discretion of the court. " Section 97-3-7(6) of the Mississippi Code. http://www.mscode.com/free/statutes/97/003/0007.htm

In reality what happens is too many judges use this loophole to let someone off of the hook who has beaten his wife or children. For example, in the earlier post http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/domestic-violence-and-divorce-in.html, a man beat his ex-wife in Rankin County. This was his second arrest for domestic violence with a different wife. He completed his anger management class and voila, he was back home. Did I mention he later lost his visitation rights to his child after he assaulted him?

Do all battered families some good and close this loophole. The legislature will soon be in session and will have an excellent opportunity to actually do something about domestic violence.

2. MAKE POLICE REPORTS PUBLIC!!! How many crimes of domestic violence would be avoided if women had the ability to see if someone they were thinking of marrying or dating had ever been arrested for domestic violence or other crimes for that matter? Many states such as Louisiana make police reports available for a small fee. It's time Mississippi followed suit and allowed for police reports to be made public. In the above example, the wife-beater coached soccer for small kids after TWO arrests for beating different wives. There was no way to obtain a copy of the police report in order to protect the children from such a violent person. Although each agency can release the reports, most choose not to do so. However, don't worry. They'll tell you they take domestic violence seriously even while they cover up for the wife beater.

3. Set up as part of the continuing education for judges visits to battered women's shelters (not in their jurisdictions) so that they can better see how serious a crime domestic violence really is. Including Sheriffs and Chiefs in such a program probably is not a bad idea. If possible (and make it volunteer only for the victims), arrange for discussions on such tours.

4. Upgrade Simple Domestic Assault from a misdemeanor to a felony. One observation made about the Spencer case was SDA was the only charge that allowed the police to pursue the complaint against George Bell, III without the victim's consent. The problem is, that charge is a misdemeanor. A thug can take a baseball bat, beat his wife within an inch of her life, then face only a misdemeanor charge after somehow pressuring her to drop the charges. Since current laws are clearly not working, it is time to change the rules and make Simple Domestic Violence a felony. See http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/jpd-and-heather-spencer.html

These are just a few concrete proprosals which could better fight domestic violence in Mississippi as too many people have suffered from domestic violence for too long. It is a shame the jello-torial in the newspaper lacked moral courage to step up to the plate. It should have taken advantage of the opportunity it had to use its bully pulpit to push for changes in the laws. Sadly, our jello-writers are only good at hand-wringing when it comes to domestic violence, not actually fighting it. Instead of crusaders, we get cowards.

Who is going to speak up and truly fight to get the legislature to do something about domestic violence?