Jackson Jambalaya

UPDATE: This should drive the point home even more. WLBT has a story about a woman who was stabbed repeatedly by her ex-husband. Needless to say, he didn't spend time in jail. He was sent to treatment ( Sound familiar?) and immediately attacked her again when he got out. The video is powerful: http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?s=7283403 Compare this story to the editorial below.


A pat on the head goes to the editorial page of The Clarion-Ledger. Like a little puppy dog, it tries to please but still fails to do so. However, one must admire its effort even when it can't get it right. What does one expect? Although they write about everything, they are experts on nothing.

In this case, the newspaper published an editorial calling attention to domestic violence in Mississippi. Nothing wrong with that as every decent person is against domestic violence. However, like so many other editorials, it is full of fluff as it shows an ignorance of the laws concerning domestic violence. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710280327

"victims of abuse aren't powerless in Mississippi and police and prosecutors have the tools to help prevent domestic violence and death."

Really? What exactly are those tools and how are they used?

"Attorney General Jim Hood told The Clarion-Ledger Editorial Board on Monday that Mississippi has a model law, passed in 1995, requiring an arrest as a 24-hour "cooling off" period when police are called. But too many cases fall through the cracks."

This part of the law is indeed necessary for the protection of spouses from domestic violence. However, the CL shows how clueless it is in the following passages:

"One of the difficulties, said Hood, is that protection orders should be made seamless between Justice Court and other courts and instantaneously available electronically, so that when called to a scene, police will have the information before them. Permanent protective orders should be made more easily available and less costly for victims to obtain...."

This is nothing but a display of ignorance. Does anyone really think that someone who has beaten to a pulp his wife and the mother of his kids is going to be concerned with what a scrap of paper says? The protective order is usually of NO protection to a victim of domestic violence. Suppose someone is hell-bent on hurting his wife. The protective order itself does nothing to stop him physically. If he decides to attack her, her only recourse is to somehow call the cops and hope they will come to her rescue. She has to contact the police afterwards, if she is able to do so, and file a complaint that he violated the order. How does this stop a thug from hurting his family? They play by the rules, he doesn't. They live in fear, he doesn't as the process still favors him if he decides to attack them. However, don't worry. Our Dudley Do-rights at the paper say phony protective orders help if they are cheaper. Yeah.

"Last fall, Hood created a Domestic Violence Division of his office funded by a two-year, $1.5 million grant through the U.S. Department of Justice. Part of its mission was to find loopholes in state law to address Mississippi's dismal record of violence."

This is welcome news. Heather Wagner of the A.G.'s office has worked very hard in prosecuting domestic violence cases and raising the awareness of domestic violence in Mississippi. Let us continue.

"The unit has also produced a booklet for police to carry with them that cites the laws and what to look for when called to a domestic disturbance. It spells out requirements such as "mandatory arrest with or without a warrant if probable cause exists."

How nice. A booklet. That is going to help out some women and children that have been beaten. Once again, it does not prevent domestic violence from occurring and is only reactive. You can also pass out all the booklets you want to cops and make them sit through seminars but until you start prosecuting some cops who fail to prosecute legitimate domestic violence complaints, it is hard to see how they will take it as seriously.

Now that I have bashed the editorial page, one may ask what suggestions would I make. Simple. Close a major loophole in the law.

Suppose the police are called to a home for a domestic violence complaint. A man has beaten his wife. Her face is bruised and bloody. Several small children are screaming, one of them shows a deep red mark across his little face. The police have their booklet. They follow the procedures. He is prosecuted by the D.A. THEN the judge follows state law and strikes a deal with his lawyer that if he completes an anger management class, the case is considered closed.

However, the Mississippi Code has a HUGE loophole for wife-beaters that was totally ignored by The Clarion-Ledger and Mr. Hood:

"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

What that means in real life is that someone beats up his wife or kids and then escapes punishment as he typically has his lawyer strike a deal with the judge or prosecutor that gives him only a suspended sentence if he goes to a few counseling sessions and promises to do better. Thus the punishment for domestic violence all too often means that the wife-beater gets to lay on a couch, shed a few tears, get in touch with his feelings, and never goes to jail. Meanwhile, his family lives in terror as they wonder why they courts and police refuse to protect them.

I personally know of one case where the husband punched his wife with a closed fist in the face while she was pregnant and hit her a few more times. He was arrested and booked into the county jail. Then he was given a suspended sentence in exchange for going to see a few anger management classes. More proof that the domestic violence laws in Mississippi are a complete joke. However, never fear as at the editorial page of The Clarion-Ledger, all is right in the world as the cops have their little booklets and victims have their worthless protective orders even while they live in fear and wife-beaters laugh at the criminal justice system.

If the newspaper wants to do something truly constructive, it should push for a change in the law so slick lawyers, lazy judges, and worthless prosecutors can't strike a "deal" while victims fear for their lives. It should question the JPD in the Heather Spencer murder as to why they reduced the charges when he savagely beat her in June. It if it is actually serious about stopping domestic violence, it should put the spotlight on judges who let thugs off the hook by sending them to "counseling". It should invite complaints by women who have put their lives in further danger by filing charges only to see prosecutors deal away justice. It should push the legislature to change the counseling loopholes in the law. Until then, their editorial is just a feel-good piece of fluff. Its an insult to battered women and children everywhere.