Deters: I'm rarely accused of being soft on crime
After reading Gabe Davis’ March 6 op-ed, "No victim-blaming when I’m Hamilton County Prosecutor," I am reminded of the 1984 Reagan-Mondale debate when President Ronald Reagan was asked about the age difference between the two candidates. President Reagan famously quipped, "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience."
Maybe it is Davis’ youth and inexperience that caused him to write an op-ed piece without knowing anything about how my office handles domestic violence cases.
He starts off his piece by accusing me of "victim blaming" in a rape case. I did not and do not "victim blame." In that case, I mentioned that the alleged victim was an attorney and, as such, I did not think it appropriate to party and drink alcohol with a client.He then spends the rest of his piece criticizing how my office handles domestic violence cases. My office prosecutes all felony domestic violence cases. My office only prosecutes misdemeanor domestic violence cases that occur in the county, while the city of Cincinnati prosecutes misdemeanor domestic violence cases that occur in the city.
My office is "leading the charge in fighting these crimes" and has been since the mid-1990s. We have always worked closely with victim advocacy groups, such as the YWCA and Women Helping Women, to help us with these cases and provide victim support.
Sometimes, however, even with this additional support, the victim is not willing or able to testify. In fact, in the early ‘90s and prior to that time, victims would appear in court and request dismissal of the charge, and the case would be dismissed without consideration of whether the victim had been threatened with harm unless they requested dismissal of the charges.
Frankly, this never sat well with me, and after attending conferences in the mid-1990s and learning more about these cases and the newest techniques for prosecuting cases without victim support, I changed how my office prosecuted these cases. At that time, I instituted "evidence-based prosecution," which required my staff to evaluate each domestic violence case to determine whether the case could and should go forward even where the victim was unable or unwilling to testify.
Since the mid-1990s and to date, we have, contrary to Davis’ assertions, vigorously prosecuted domestic violence cases often without victim support or testimony. In fact, my office was integral to the development of the Ohio law enforcement model protocol for domestic violence as well as the training of law enforcement and victim advocates across the state of Ohio on issues of domestic violence lethality with a focus on refraining from victim blaming.
I instituted a victim advocate program over 25 years ago and assigned advocates to work with victims of domestic violence to help them through the process and make it easier for them to testify in court and receive protective orders. I also hired a retired Cincinnati Police Department homicide detective in 1998, now my office’s chief investigator, to follow up on domestic violence and stalking cases to help develop the cases and provide additional evidence such as 911 tapes, follow-up photographs of injuries and medical records. In the mid-90s we began "vertical prosecutions" in domestic violence cases where my staff identified a serious risk for continued violence and a need to maintain continuity with a victim.
Davis argues that he will "move aggressively to prevent domestic violence abusers from obtaining guns." Good news. In Ohio, anyone with a felony domestic violence conviction is currently prohibited under Ohio law from having a gun. Additionally, federal law disqualifies a person with a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction or who is subject to a domestic violence protection order from purchasing a firearm.
I agree with Davis that these cases should be screened to determine if there is sufficient evidence to upgrade the charge to a felony. We do this, and have been doing this, for many years.
Davis says that in my office domestic violence cases "go unprosecuted and unpursued." I ask him to please supply me with some examples of county cases where this has happened.
Rarely, if ever, has anyone accused me of being soft on violent crime.