South Bend Court Watch Program data compiled
The South Bend Tribune has an article by Linda Baechle, executive director of the YWCA of St. Joseph County, titled “Courts part of problem in fight against domestic violence.” It begins:
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and once again the YWCA would like to share information with the community regarding our Court Watch Program which monitors domestic violence protective order hearings and misdemeanor domestic violence cases.
This year after compiling our Court Watch data we met individually with the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office and with the Community Corrections Board Executive Committee, which includes several judges including St. Joseph Circuit Judge Michael G. Gotsch, Superior Judge Michael P. Scopelitis and Chief Judge of the St. Joseph Superior Court John Marnocha (none of whom were the judges whose courtrooms we monitored).
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The Court Watch statistics once again this year were very grim. Only 38 percent of the individuals whose protective order hearings we monitored obtained the civil orders of protection they were seeking. Injuries of those seeking protective orders included being punched in the face, injuries to the abdomen while pregnant, facial bruises and bloody nose, punched and choked, black eyes and a variety of other bruises and contusions.
The rest of the article makes for an interesting and I recommend checking it out.
