CITY OF SHELTER includes interviews with the nation's leaders in the field of domestic violence. Lt. Mark Wynn, Dr. Evan Stark, Sarah Buel, Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, James Hardeman, Judge Ronald Adrine, Alexandria Ruden, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Richard Rhodes are a few of the professionals in the documentary who present a comprehensive view of what it takes to develop a coordinated community response to domestic violence.
Domestic violence issues, frustrations, procedures, and danger are presented through the day-to-day experiences of police chiefs, patrol officers, detectives, prosecutors, judges, victim advocates, shelter directors, batterer intervention specialists, victims, batterers, court watch volunteers, doctors, nurses and clergy. The 8 1/2-hour training series, by award-winning producers Joey Easton O'Donnell and Patrick O'Donnell, took over three years to complete.
Part 1 - Starfish
(41 min.)
Part 2 - House of
Horrors: The Psychology of Domestic Violence (61 min.)
Part 3 - Herding
Cats: Beginning A Coordinated Community Response (48 min.)
Part 4A - The Health
Care Response (30 min.)
Part 4B - The Law
Enforcement Response (76 min.)
Part 4C - The Shelter/Advocate
Response (41 min.)
Part 4D - The Prosecutors'
Response (56 min.)
Part 4E - The Judicial
Response (45 min.)
Part 4F - The Batterers'
Intervention Response and Other Professionals (20 min.)
Part 5 - Coordinating
Councils Mature (42 min.)
Part 6 - City of
Shelter (33 min.)
All quotes are taken from comments by individuals in the documentary.
"We had three or four women who were murdered by their partners. That was the impetus for our task force back in '89. Sometimes it takes an incident that is very painful for the community."
--Chief Cel Rivera, Lorain (Ohio) Police Dept.
Opening with the tragic death of Cynthia Payne, Part 1 examines how attitudes and changes in laws have affected the way we approach the problems of domestic violence. We do not believe that, as members of coordinating councils or members of society, we can successfully address domestic violence without acknowledging past mistakes.
Included in Part 1: Domestic violence statistics, set against the context of human lives; Police Chief Cel Rivera, Judge Ronald Adrine, Lt. Mark Wynn, Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer-prize winning author of Why They Kill, and others talk about the effects of domestic violence on society; background on legislation aimed at reducing domestic violence; promising statistics emerging from cities like Nashville, Tennessee; and the beginnings of a coordinated community response.
Part 2: House of Horrors: The Dynamics of Domestic Violence (61 min.)
"Your batterer has tracked you down. He has a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, and he is so sorry, it's never going to happen again. Or, he has a .45 to your head, he's going to kill you if you don't come home. And we have the nerve to keep asking...''why do the victims stay?''
--Sarah Buel, University of Texas Law School
The experiences of victims, batterers, police officers, prosecutors, judges, victim advocates, and batterers' intervention specialists offer insights into the reason victims stay in abusive relationships, the terror victims live with, and the barriers they encounter when trying to leave. Part 2 also examines battering as chosen behavior, lethality indicators, and the effects of domestic violence on future generations.
Part 3: Herding Cats: Beginning a Coordinated Community Response (48 min.)
"I walked in the room and noticed that on one side of the room were all the law enforcement and prosecutor type people and on the other side were all the prevention/social service type people. And they weren't talking to one another. And I thought to myself, OK, we've got some bonding to do here."
--Don Knueve, Professor, Defiance College,
Facilitator, Defiance County DV Task Force
Ok, put on a pot of coffee for this one. Not necessarily riveting visual material, but lots of good, solid, advice from your peers, as well as group facilitation specialists, about the barriers domestic violence coordinating councils encounter, and ideas for over-coming those barriers. In the process of doing research for this series, we've seen that the effectiveness of the coordinating council as a whole can make or break a coordinated community response.
There is nothing easy about beginning a domestic violence coordinating council. Part 3 gets inside coordinating councils to look at the clashing and, ultimately, the collaborating of diverse professionals.
Part 4A: The Health Care Response (30 min.)
"I think the medical community has a vital role in the DV issue just because of the fact that often times the victim may come to see us first, either in the emergency department or their primary physician."
--Karen Weaver, RN, ER Manager, Defiance Hospital
In three years of studying domestic violence coordinating councils, we found a common characteristic of successful councils was that each person understood everyone else's procedures in response to domestic violence. Part 4A begins this cross-understanding by looking at the health care response.
Part 4B: The Law Enforcement Response (76 min.)
"Staying with a police officer in a house in the middle of the night, with the TV blaring and the heat turned up to about 100 degrees, and children crying, and a woman with a black eye and a bloody nose who will not talk to you, and an offender who is passed out on the couch, and here you are, standing in the middle of this call, and you have to do all the things that the law requires you to do. Now, this is not an easy thing to do. This is a difficult and complex call to answer."
--Lt. Mark Wynn (Ret.), Nashville Metro Police Department
The Law Enforcement Response looks at changing laws, changing procedures, and changing attitudes among law enforcement officers. Dual arrests, primary aggressor, and evidence gathering are some of the areas covered by chiefs, detectives, and patrol officers.
Part 4C: The Shelter/Advocate Response (41 min.)
"A big focus of this organization is to open doors for clients. We really don't believe that most of our clients need mental health interventions; we believe they need resources to get safe."
--Nancy Grigsby, Exec. Director, Artemis Center for
Alternatives to Domestic Violence
With a call to a 24-hour hot line, the process of keeping a victim safe begins. The Shelter/Advocate Response looks at the struggles of running a shelter, dealing with the court system, collaborating with police officers and, above all, keeping victims safe.
Part 4D: The Prosecutors' Response (56 min.)
"When I first started I was handed a stack of forms. I was told, 'DV cases, you don't need to worry about prosecuting them. All the victims want to drop. Have them come in, sign this form, take it before the judge and dismiss the case.' My first day on the job I took the stack of forms and threw them in the trash. And that was the start of our no-drop policy."
--Susan Brasier, Prosecutor, City of Riverside, Ohio
Incorporating actual trial footage, Part 4D addresses philosophical and legal issues involved in domestic violence cases, including recanting or uncooperative victims, threats and lack of clear physical injuries, incorporating prior bad acts, and most importantly changing attitudes among prosecutors. Touches on recent DV case laws.
Part 4E: The Judicial Response (45 min.)
"We all know that judges can have a chilling effect on any case. If the judges don't take it seriously, law enforcement won't take it seriously, because what's the use? If they're going to go out in the field knowing that once it gets to court it's not going to be received well, then why waste their time?"
--Hon. John T. Rohrs III, Defiance (Ohio) Municipal Court
Judges talk about recanting victims, batterer manipulation, sentencing, no-drop policies, lethality reviews, full-faith and credit, setting bond, dedicated domestic violence courts, and court watch programs. In our research, lenient court systems were frequently cited as the greatest barrier to stopping the cycle of violence, yet, many judges realize the impact they can have on stopping violence in our communities.
Part 4F: Batterers' Intervention Response (18 min.)
The views of batterers, batterers' intervention specialists, judges, police officers, and prosecutors are heard in this exploration of the effectiveness of batterers' intervention programs. This section examines batterers intervention programs in the context of a coordinated community response, touching on such issues as length of intervention, accountability, and coordination with courts and probation. Please note that this section is not a comprehensive guide to current "best practices" in batterers' intervention counseling. Your state domestic violence agency can refer you to training materials produced by Duluth, etc.
Part 5: Coordinating Councils Mature (42 min.)
"Domestic violence task forces can work, no matter how big or how small you are. But if you have personalities in there that go in with the idea that this isn't going to work, then maybe they shouldn't be in office anymore. Maybe they shouldn't be sheriffs or judges, or prosecutors, if they go in with the idea that it isn't going to work. Then let's get new blood in there and say it will work."
--Sheriff David Westrick, Defiance County, Ohio
A survey conducted prior to production of this series revealed that many coordinating councils have "made good progress, but are now stalled." Individuals speak candidly about dealing with difficult members, analyzing statistics, death review committees, case conferences, coordination of information and procedures between agencies, and building relationships.
Part 6: City of Shelter (33 min.)
"It hasn't been an easy road and it hasn't been a short one, but it has been a fulfilling one. I know that we are doing good things and at the end of the day you feel as though you are having an impact."
--Pamela Sears, Chief Asst. Prosecuting Attorney, Hamilton County, Ohio"Great strides have been made to raise the consciousness of the general community and, more particularly, the legal community, as to the damage that is done to all of us by allowing domestic violence to continue in a rampant fashion."
--Judge Ronald Adrine, Cleveland Municipal Court
One of the problems in making changes at the policy level is that the general public has little awareness of domestic violence or sympathy for its victims. Comparing public education efforts in domestic violence to Mothers Against Drunk Driving initiatives of the 1980s, this section opens with the need for a public outcry against violence in our homes.
What does it take for a community to be a City of Shelter? In the inspiring summary of the series, police officers, judges, advocates, and other community members remind us that the ultimate goal of a coordinated community response is to save lives.
This series was designed to assist professionals who interact with domestic violence victims, perpetrators, and their families. Segments of the series are appropriate for viewing by victims when accompanied by an advocate or counselor. Because such issues as determining primary aggressor, assessing lethality, and safety considerations are presented, this is not appropriate material for educating domestic violence offenders.