Courts still overlook domestic violence
It's important to see the two murders described in "Tales of domestic turmoil mark 2 Baltimore County shootings" (Sept. 18) in the context of the larger issue of domestic-violence homicides in Baltimore County and across the nation.
According to the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, in 2006, 12 people in Baltimore County were killed as a result of domestic violence. Those 12 victims represented just 17 percent of the state's death toll from domestic violence in 2006.
And the two murders reported in last week's article bring to four the number of domestic-violence-related homicides in Baltimore County The Sun has reported in the last two months ("Man faces murder charge in ex-girlfriend's shooting," July 31, and "Police charge man in woman's fatal stabbing," Aug. 8).
All too often, people think of domestic violence as a private matter and harangue the victim about why she or he didn't leave an abusive situation. But in both last week's shootings, the victims had left their abusers but were pursued and attacked.
While protective orders can be helpful for victims of abuse, the civil court that grants such orders has no power to keep victims safe by putting abusers in jail, the way a criminal court can.
Often victims seek protective orders in a civil court because the courts do not take the crime of domestic violence seriously. Domestic-violence cases rarely get prosecuted and, when they are prosecuted, abusers often serve little or no jail time and are sometimes merely sent to therapy.
Until the criminal justice system takes domestic violence seriously and puts abusers away, the victims will constantly be in danger, even after they leave their abusers.
Marie Lilly
Towson
The writer is a community educator for TurnAround Inc., a nonprofit group that aids victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
It's time to close Rosewood Center
As a person with a disability who is living in the community, I am appalled that other disabled people must live under the conditions at Rosewood Center described in The Sun's article "State health center faulted" (Sept. 14).
In light of the most recent report regarding the continued inhumane and unsafe conditions at the Rosewood Center, Gov. Martin O'Malley and his administration need to stop playing games and close down Rosewood Center once and for all.
