Innovative practices at District Court improve survivor safety
A new Court Watch report released today documents innovative practices that judges, bailiffs, interpreters and clerks are using in protective order cases at District Court. Each of the practices listed can improve survivor safety. We hope additional court personnel will consider incorporating these important approaches into their daily work. Judges help keep victims safe when they: Talk to […]
Judges fail to discuss gun restrictions with convicted abusers
Court Watch’s new study shows judges told only 1 out of 126 convicted abusers they were banned from possessing or purchasing guns. When a domestic violence abuser has access to a gun the chances of a victim being killed rise 500%. Judges need to be actively applying Maryland law by informing relevant convicted offenders verbally and in […]
Progress on visitation services for troubled families!
A coalition led by Court Watch Montgomery had a very productive meeting Monday, Oct. 19th with County Executive Ike Leggett to advocate for safe, affordable, community-based child exchange and supervised visitation services! Both Mr. Leggett and the head of the Health and Human Services Department voiced great interest in trying to find a way, despite extremely tight […]
Delays in scheduling interpreters may result in lack of legal protection
A woman came to Silver Spring District Court last week for the final hearing on her protective order. When she got to the courtroom the judge told her there was no Farsi interpreter available. He suggested she wait until the afternoon so they could try to find someone, but they were unsuccessful. This survivor confided to […]
Memorial service for domestic violence homicide victims in Maryland
Between July 2013 and June 2014, 54 Marylanders lost their lives to domestic violence. 70% of the fatalities were due to guns. Last night a large crowd gathered in Annapolis to remember victims. Domestic violence homicides are preventable. New bills in the Maryland legislature would add protections for victims of violence in dating relationships and […]
New report out today on Circuit Court’s practices in domestic violence cases (Nov. 2013)
Protection for victims of domestic violence in Montgomery County’s Circuit Court – Deaths from domestic violence are a continuing and preventable tragedy in Maryland. In each of the last three fiscal years, the number of domestic violence victims killed in Maryland has increased. From July 2011 through June 2012, 49 Maryland residents died as a result of domestic violence. […]
Protection for victims of domestic violence in Montgomery County’s Circuit Court
This report is Court Watch’s first look at the protective order process in Montgomery County’s Circuit
Court. In it we analyze data collected over a year long period from September 2012 to September of
2013. As with our reports on District Court practice, we focus on court processes relating to the short
and long term safety of victims and the effectiveness of orders, relying on nationally acknowledged best
practices. While we found Circuit Judges were overall polite to both parties, many of the national and
state best practice standards widely shared by us since our first report in 2011 have not been put into
common practice in our County’s higher court. Staggered exits, in particular, were properly executed in
65% of cases, but in 35% of cases were either not used or used incorrectly. Almost half of judges failed
to remind respondents it was a crime to violate a protective order while a majority of the time judges
did not tell respondents they must surrender firearms owned or in their possession. As judicial
introductions varied widely in the amount of information offered, we recommend that the Circuit Court
play an audiotape like the one now in use in the County’s District Courts before the docket begins.
As the Circuit court hears most protective orders involving children, in our next report we will address
issues that arise when visitation and custody matters must be decided by Circuit Court judges.
Just “A Piece of Paper?”: Domestic Violence Peace and Protective Orders in Montgomery County District Courts (Second Monitoring Report)
In this follow-up report, Court Watch documents 510 hearings and measures changes in the most critical areas outlined in our first report of October 2011. Notably, in areas of court process and procedure, there have been significant improvements, including a sharp increase in use of staggered exits and the introduction of an English/Spanish audio explaining how a hearing will work. Judicial demeanor has also greatly improved, with fewer incidents of disrespect. However, individual judges varied widely in their use of warnings to individual respondents about criminal penalties for violations and firearms possession, as they did in questioning petitioners asking to dismiss their cases about their safety. The result was an overall negligible change in the numbers documenting use of these best practices in our first report. Our data also raised additional concerns. Of the 510 cases we heard, there were 380 where children were involved, highlighting the dangers to children of witnessing domestic violence and the need for courts to notify petitioners of off-site resources such as The Family Justice Center and the Safe Start counseling program for children.
Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence in Montgomery County: Challenges and Opportunities with Protective and Peace Orders
In this report, Court Watch’s first, we examine data collected by our volunteer monitors in District Court
protective and peace order hearings between January and July of 2011. While we document the
behavior of judges and court employees and are concerned by the rudeness and dismissiveness of a
small number of judges and bailiffs, that is not the bulk of this report. Using the nationally recognized
“Guide to Improving Practice” as our reference, we identify several fundamental best practices that
impact the short and long-term safety of victims and the likelihood of their returning to court and assess
how often judges utilize them.
Bilingual audio at court & other encouraging changes
Montgomery County district courts have evaluated our findings and recommendations (Download Report) and have made some significant changes, including the addition of a bilingual audio at court. Clerks at each courthouse now play an audio recording in English and Spanish before the judge takes the bench for the domestic violence protective order docket. The audio explains […]