Ohio going easy on domestic violence, newspaper says

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio has created a culture of tolerance for domestic violence by not enforcing the laws on its books and often treating the crimes with leniency, a newspaper investigation found.

A four-month investigation by The Columbus Dispatch whose results were published Sunday found that 45 percent of about 75,000 domestic-violence responses by law enforcement in 2008 ended without an arrest. The figure is close to the national average and comes despite the fact that Ohio law enables arrests to be made in cases of domestic violence.

The investigation found that domestic violence would overtake drunken driving as Ohio’s top crime if police made arrests in all domestic-violence calls.

Also, nearly 25 percent of law enforcement agencies don’t follow a 25-year-old law requiring agencies to tell the state about domestic-violence responses it undertakes. A task-force convened 13 years ago by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer recommended that repeat offenders face felonies and significant prison time, but they often face only misdemeanors.

“None of this surprises me,” said Nancy Neylon, executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. “We still haven’t placed accountability at the feet of the batterers. I still hear victim-blaming.”

The tolerance comes despite the fact that domestic violence costs the state more than $1 billion a year in medical expenses and social services.

The investigation involved the analysis of reports and data from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the Ohio Supreme Court, Franklin County courts and law-enforcement agencies from around the state.

Law enforcement across the state arrives at the scene of a domestic-violence call and encounters a range of scenarios, including arguments, the caller’s changing her mind or the disappearance of the alleged abuser.

“Nine times out of 10 ... you’re going to make an arrest if the person alleging [abuse] is willing to fill out a witness statement,” said Anthony Sebastiano, a Columbus police officer. “But they’re only willing to give a statement 70 [percent] to 80 percent of the time.”

Some victims decide they don’t want their abuser to go to jail. Others push ahead in a quest for justice, but the case gets derailed when their pasts are brought up or because they give inconsistent testimony to police.

About 40 percent of cases against Franklin County’s worst offenders fell apart, usually because a victim decided not to cooperate.

The availability of resources for domestic-violence victims and the treatment of their cases depend on the county, the judge or the police officer involved. The law gives judges and prosecutors discretion in how to handle cases. And though some big counties, such as Franklin County, have a strong safety net of services to help victims, counties with fewer resources don’t have much to offer victims.

“I shudder to think of what happens in [those] counties,” said Karen Days, president of the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence.