Protecting Women - Or Not
I thought that in light of Zoe’s post, this article raises several important issues.
Supreme Court Decision Weakening Restraining Orders Short-Shrifted
in the News
6/28/2005 - In its last day before summer recess, the Supreme Court
issued decisions on six cases, only two of which, the decisions to outlaw
copies of the Ten Commandments at a Kentucky courthouse and to protect copyrighted material in Internet file sharing, were widely covered by the media. In a troubling but all too familiar trend in media reporting, Castle Rock, Colorado v. Gonzales – a case that weakens enforcement of restraining orders in domestic violence cases – was largely ignored.
In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that Jessica Gonzales did not have a
constitutional right to police enforcement of her mandatory court-ordered
restraining order against her husband. Gonzales had filed a $30 million
lawsuit against the Castle Rock, Colorado police department for failing to
respond to five phone calls she made reporting a violation of the
restraining order.
The town of Castle Rock, backed by the Bush administration and several police
organizations, won their argument that it would be unrealistic to enforce
every restraining order. With the vast majority of restraining orders requested by
women, according to the National Center for Violent Crime, the Castle Rock
decision puts women’s lives in jeopardy and potentially lets police departments
off the hook for failing to enforce mandatory orders.
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswire.asp
I read this article and could barely believe it. Do we really live in an age where file sharing and the Ten Commandments are more newsworthy than the fact that the Supreme Court just made the decision that its perfectly acceptable for restraining orders not to be enforced?
It only gets worse when you read the details of this disturbing case.
In the early evening of June 22, 1999, Simon Gonzales violated the restraining order his estranged wife obtained against him and abducted his three young daughters while they were playing outside of their home in Castle Rock, Colo.
Once Jessica Gonzales realized her daughters were missing, she
suspected that her husband, who had a history of erratic and suicidal behavior, had taken them. At about 7:30 p.m., she made her first phone call to the Castle Rock Police Department, requesting that the restraining order against her husband be enforced.She produced a copy of the order for the police officers sent to her home, but they told her there was nothing they could do. They suggested she call the police department again if her daughters did not return home by 10 p.m.
Soon after the officers left, Jessica Gonzales spoke to her husband on his cell phone, and he told her he was with the girls at an amusement park in Denver, about 40 miles north of Castle Rock. She called the police department again and demanded that police find and arrest her husband. The officer she spoke with refused and again told her to wait until 10 p.m. When 10 p.m. came and there was no sign of her daughters, she again called, and the dispatcher told her to wait for another two hours. At midnight, she again informed the dispatcher that they were still missing and went to her husband's apartment, finding no one home. From there, she placed another call to the police department and was advised to wait for police.
She waited until 12:50 a.m., then went to the police station. There, an officer took an incident report but made no effort to enforce the restraining order or locate the children.
He went to dinner instead.
Nearly eight hours after Jessica Gonzales first contacted police, at about 3:20 a.m., Simon Gonzales arrived at the police station in his truck and opened fire on the station with a semi-automatic handgun purchased after abducting his daughters. He was fatally shot during the shootout, and police found the bodies of the three young girls, who were murdered by their father earlier in the evening, in the cab of the truck.
Supreme Court Decision Weakening Restraining Orders Short-Shrifted
in the News
6/28/2005 - In its last day before summer recess, the Supreme Court
issued decisions on six cases, only two of which, the decisions to outlaw
copies of the Ten Commandments at a Kentucky courthouse and to protect copyrighted material in Internet file sharing, were widely covered by the media. In a troubling but all too familiar trend in media reporting, Castle Rock, Colorado v. Gonzales – a case that weakens enforcement of restraining orders in domestic violence cases – was largely ignored.
In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that Jessica Gonzales did not have a
constitutional right to police enforcement of her mandatory court-ordered
restraining order against her husband. Gonzales had filed a $30 million
lawsuit against the Castle Rock, Colorado police department for failing to
respond to five phone calls she made reporting a violation of the
restraining order.
The town of Castle Rock, backed by the Bush administration and several police
organizations, won their argument that it would be unrealistic to enforce
every restraining order. With the vast majority of restraining orders requested by
women, according to the National Center for Violent Crime, the Castle Rock
decision puts women’s lives in jeopardy and potentially lets police departments
off the hook for failing to enforce mandatory orders.
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswire.asp
I read this article and could barely believe it. Do we really live in an age where file sharing and the Ten Commandments are more newsworthy than the fact that the Supreme Court just made the decision that its perfectly acceptable for restraining orders not to be enforced?
It only gets worse when you read the details of this disturbing case.
In the early evening of June 22, 1999, Simon Gonzales violated the restraining order his estranged wife obtained against him and abducted his three young daughters while they were playing outside of their home in Castle Rock, Colo.
Once Jessica Gonzales realized her daughters were missing, she
suspected that her husband, who had a history of erratic and suicidal behavior, had taken them. At about 7:30 p.m., she made her first phone call to the Castle Rock Police Department, requesting that the restraining order against her husband be enforced.She produced a copy of the order for the police officers sent to her home, but they told her there was nothing they could do. They suggested she call the police department again if her daughters did not return home by 10 p.m.
Soon after the officers left, Jessica Gonzales spoke to her husband on his cell phone, and he told her he was with the girls at an amusement park in Denver, about 40 miles north of Castle Rock. She called the police department again and demanded that police find and arrest her husband. The officer she spoke with refused and again told her to wait until 10 p.m. When 10 p.m. came and there was no sign of her daughters, she again called, and the dispatcher told her to wait for another two hours. At midnight, she again informed the dispatcher that they were still missing and went to her husband's apartment, finding no one home. From there, she placed another call to the police department and was advised to wait for police.
She waited until 12:50 a.m., then went to the police station. There, an officer took an incident report but made no effort to enforce the restraining order or locate the children.
He went to dinner instead.
Nearly eight hours after Jessica Gonzales first contacted police, at about 3:20 a.m., Simon Gonzales arrived at the police station in his truck and opened fire on the station with a semi-automatic handgun purchased after abducting his daughters. He was fatally shot during the shootout, and police found the bodies of the three young girls, who were murdered by their father earlier in the evening, in the cab of the truck.
http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/~secure/docket/
mt/archives/001896.php
Mrs Gonzales followed all the legal procedures she could have - she got a restraining order, she notified the police when it was breached - and still, she was failed by the system. She trusted the police and her government to protect her and her children - they let her down.
And now, nobody even wants to take responsibility.
“Why doesn’t she leave him?” society sneers at women who stay in abusive relationships.
“Why won’t the Supreme Court support the rights of women who do?” feminists everywhere should reply.
posted by Laura @ Friday, July 01, 2005
7 comments
7 Comments:
Laura thank you so much for this article & bringing it to our attention.
I'm sitting here letting the tears flow.
Oh hon, I hope I didn't upset you too much. I just think its so important - even more so since a new supreme court justice is going to be put in place soon - that we start thinking about the legal securities we take for granted.
Laura,
Thank you for posting this info. I didn't even know about this ruling. This is just sickening.
Hi Laura,
It's not you that upsets me. I'm just grieving for the dead, for the craziness that exists in this world. Sorry I haven't been around much everyone. Hubby is on 3 weeks holidays so I'm not around the computer much. :)
Zoe,
I'm in the same position. I have a friend in town visiting for a bit, so my computer time has been limited at best. Hopefully next week things will clear up a bit for me though.
Zoe (by the way, I love that name),
I heard of this also, and was equally perplexed by the lack of "outrage" or even concern that this brought from the media at large. I did hear of short "side-show" comment about this, but it was immediately brushed aside by the Supreme Court's ruling over property rights.
I find it incoherent of our legal (lacking justice) system to issue protection orders, writs, and other such "peace bonds," and not give them the universal "teeth" they require for effective enforcement. I can assure you that the dismissive and disregarding behavior that Ms. Gonzales received IS NOT indicative of ALL law enforcement. However, it is still inexcusable (and in this case down right criminal) of the Castle Rock Police Department, as well as, Douglas County and the State of Colorado not to have a policy in place for the enforcement of a court issuance. However, I'm more than sure that they would enforce and act upon a court issued warrant. One more thing, Castle Rock has plenty of municipal ordinances covering "Offense Against Public Peace." Although their PD may not "have to" enforce this retraining order, they do have ordinances against harrassment, assault, disorderly conduct, trespass, disturbing the peace, discharging weapons, and damaging public/private property. I'm sure that they could investigated a call-for-help from a citizen, surmised reasonable suspicion, and charged her estranged husband with a bonafide crime.
What do I know, I'm not a Supreme Court Justice.
What is worse is how hard it is to get a restraining order. I have found that most police will brush off a woman unless there has been physical abuse (that is evident at the time of the request).
Grant it, my experience is limited to PA and NJ, but I've heard it is similar elsewhere.
Post a Comment
<< Home