Background: In my April column "Texas bill to create domestic violence offender registry will harm innocent men" (Austin American-Statesman, 4/11/07), I explained that Texas HB 3958 will ensnare and punish many innocent men. This is in part because of the problems with the way Texas law enforcement and the judicial system handle domestic violence.

Once again reflecting the weakness of our movement both in the legislature and the media, HB 3958 was just passed by the Corrections Committee of the Texas House by a unanimous vote. The problems with the bill are detailed in my co-authored column below.

For Texas voters, the five Representatives that voted to support the bill were Madden; Hochberg; McReynolds; Haggerty; Jones, Delwin. Two representatives--Dunnam and Oliveira--were absent. 

Texas bill to create domestic violence offender registry will harm innocent
men
By Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks
Austin American-Statesman, 4/11/07

House Bill 3958, sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio), will set up a domestic violence offender registry similar to the Texas Sex Offender Registry. Castro is correct to identify domestic violence as an important issue; however, there are serious problems with the way law enforcement and the judicial system handle domestic violence. These problems will cause many innocent men to be ensnared by this bill.

HB 3958 would set up a central database containing information on anyone who has been convicted or "received a grant of deferred adjudication" for a family violence offense on three occasions. The three conviction requirement is defensible, but the inclusion of deferred adjudications — which are analogous to plea bargains — is a major problem.

Like many states, Texas has adopted aggressive arrest procedures on domestic
violence calls. While politically popular, many of the architects of these types
of policies are increasingly concerned that they have led to widespread abuses.
For example, Greg Schmidt, who created the Seattle Police Department's domestic
violence investigation unit in 1994, says that police officers are often
encouraged to make arrests "in petty incidents, often where the abuse is mutual
or it is unclear who the aggressor was." Moreover, Schmidt has concluded that
the policies and the political climate that surround them pressures officers to
see men and only men as the offenders, even though research shows that women
comprise a significant minority of those who commit domestic violence.

Former Dallas Police Department patrol officer Paul Stuckle, now a criminal
defense attorney in Plano, believes that these policies often lead Texas police
to make arrests based only on the alleged victim's statements, and that officers
often fail to complete a fair and thorough investigation.

The highly publicized case of former major league baseball player Scott Erickson
has come to symbolize the problems with aggressive domestic violence arrest
policies. Erickson called the police during an altercation with his girlfriend
in July of 2002. According to The Associated Press, the Baltimore, Maryland
police concluded that Erickson's girlfriend Lisa Ortiz: initiated the fight by
hurling objects; decided to come back twice after Erickson carried her out of
the apartment; repeatedly kicked the apartment door; caused Erickson two minor
injuries, one of them to his pitching arm; and herself suffered no injuries.
Nonetheless, the police arrested Erickson. Afterwards Ortiz publicly stated that
Erickson, who did not pursue her either time after carrying her out, "has never
been physically abusive toward me."

Erickson and his legal team did manage to get the charges dropped, but most men
aren't so fortunate. Many Texas District Attorneys follow "No Drop" policies in
domestic violence cases, pursuing marginal cases which ordinarily would be
dropped for lack of evidence. Without a strong criminal case, prosecutors often
try to intimidate defendants into accepting seemingly harmless deferred
adjudications. Most men in these situations lack the money and resources to wage
a long legal battle, and accept deferred adjudications, often without realizing
that they cannot be expunged.

Inclusion on the domestic violence offender registry will be ruinous to some
men's careers and reputations. The list will contain the person's name,
photograph, date of birth, last known address, physical description and their
offenses. Many of the men who will be placed on the registry are noncustodial
fathers with child support obligations, and the registry will make it much more
difficult for them to get and keep jobs.

In addition, the list would be applied retroactively. Men who agreed to deferred
adjudications in previous years did so without knowing that their decision not
to fight their case in criminal court would place them on a domestic violence
offender registry for life.

The bill's requirement of three cases does provide a safeguard of sorts. Yet
once the registry is created, it is very possible that future legislation will
lower the requirements for inclusion to two or even one case. It is also
possible that men with domestic violence restraining orders will be placed on
the list, even though these restraining orders are granted to almost all who
apply, with little judicial review. The bill may also be amended to require the
state to pass out flyers with all the man's information on it to every household
within a mile of his house, just as is done with the Texas Sex Offender

Registry.

Many deferred adjudications are not fair findings of wrongdoing, and should not
be treated as such. HB 3958 will harm many innocent men.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 13th, 2007 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Domestic Violence/DV System, Men's rights, Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police, Men's Movement, Bills/Initiatives, Elections, Politics, Court Cases, Family Court Reform Movement. You can trackback from your own site.