Module 14
Developing Issues

Introduction

In most domestic violence cases, including those involving intimate partner sexual abuse, a victim who has appealed to the justice system for help will later recant or otherwise fail to assist the prosecution at some point in the proceedings. It is well understood that fear of the abuser is the primary reason why victims are unwilling to cooperate with the government.

Because the period following separation from an abuser is the most dangerous time for a victim and her children (see Risk Assessment) and because cooperation with a criminal proceeding is understood by both abuser and victim to be a means of separation, participation in the process increases danger to the victim. It is reasonable for a victim to conclude that criminal prosecution of an abuser will leave her less, rather than more, safe.

For that reason, as one court has noted:

"[D]omestic violence cases inherently present a combination of circumstances that obstruct, yet simultaneously intensify the need for, successful criminal prosecutions: low victim cooperation and high same-victim recidivism. See Tom Lininger, Prosecuting Batterers After Crawford (PDF 402KB), 91 L. 747, 768-781 (2005)."
— State v. Mechling, 219 W. Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311, 323 (W. Va. 2006), 2006 W. Va. LEXIS 66 at 379.

The Mechling court also noted other reasons a victim might avoid prosecuting an abuser, including:

  • economic dependence on the batterer;
  • concern that an immigrant batterer will be deported upon conviction;
  • fear of criticism from family or community who might regard a victim's participation in the prosecution as a betrayal;
  • apprehension that involvement in the criminal justice system will lead to the loss of child custody to a state child protective services agency
  • emotional connections to the batterer.

Id. at 380.

Battered women also fear that involvement in the court justice system will lead to loss of custody to the batterer himself. Immigrant victims fear that it is they who will be deported.

Resources 

Cases

State v. Mechling, 219 W. Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006) (2006)

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