COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania December 17, 2002 1:15 p.m. - - - BILL 020613 - resolution authorizing the City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Public Health & Human Services to hold joint hearings to investigate the unmet needs of domestic violence... - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ, Chair COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED-MILLER - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 I N D E X BILL 020613 PRESIDENT JUDGE FREDERICA MASSIAH-JACKSON .. HONORABLE MYRNA FIELD ...................... HONORABLE IDEE FOX ......................... 16 CAROL TRACY, Women's Law Project ........... 58 CYNTHIA FIGUEROA, Women Against Abuse ...... 85 ROBERTA HACKER, Women in Transition ........ 101 ANA LISA YODER, Lutheran Settlement House .. 112 NEYDARY ZAMBRANO, Congreso de Latinos Unidos .................................... 133 CHRIS MALLIOS, ESQUIRE ..................... 143 OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU, Women Against Abuse Legal Center .............................. 159 STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ, Phila. Legal Assistance ................................ 176 STACEY SOBEL, Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights .............................. 201 3 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
This is the Committee on Public Safety on Resolution 020613. The Council people who are on the Committee, please come up to the hearing room on the sixth floor. We're about to begin. Will you please read the resolution.
Authorizing the City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold joint hearings to investigate the unmet needs of domestic violence victims in Philadelphia, the current response of Philadelphia agencies to domestic violence, and the full range of options to enhance that response through the implementation of a coordinated community response, and further authorizing the Committee to issue subpoenas and such other process as may be appropriate to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents in furtherance of the investigation to the full extent authorized by Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter.
Thank you. This is not one of those issues that this Council takes up that deals with contracts or 4 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 deals with the distribution of monies to special interests across the city. There are very few people that give political contributions in order to further the public policy issues that we will be discussing here today. In essence is, how do we respond to abuse and to the abuse that families and women suffering in our city and across the society every day? And how do we as a government organize ourselves to be able to structure a process and institutionalize systems that are able to sensitively take care of the problems that these acts of violence occur and bring about? So this is not an issue in which if you're interested in it, you can make the Inquirer in terms of a list of contributors that give to your campaign and so on. It's an issue about human beings and human rights and the rights of people to be able to have a city government and a court system that answers to their needs. And we have quite an impressive list of individuals to testify. And I would call at this time, because of the pressing appointments that they have, the President Judge Massiah-Jackson and the 5 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Honorable Judge Field. JUDGE FIELD: Excuse me. Could I possibly have one of our books for our presiding councilman? I think they gave one to Councilman Rizzo, but you didn't get one.
I didn't get one here. Thank you. Please identify yourselves for the record. Thank you for coming. JUDGE JACKSON: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Councilman Ortiz. Good afternoon, Councilman Rizzo. My name is Frederica Massiah-Jackson. I'm the President Judge of our Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia. And our Court of Common Pleas has three divisions.
Put the microphone closer to you. JUDGE JACKSON: Our Court of Common Pleas has three divisions. We have the Family Court division, the Trial division and the Orphans Court division. And with me today we have Administrative Judge Myrna Field, who was appointed by the Supreme Court earlier this year, 2000, February of 2000, to 6 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 be the administrative judge of the Family Court division. I'm also joined by our supervising judge of Domestic Relations, Judge Idee Fox. Our domestic violence courts are located in the branch of our Domestic Relations of Family Court division, and that's why Judge Field and Judge Fox will be making presentations today. The First Judicial District recognizes that domestic violence and a domestic violence court can institutionalize procedures to promote victim safety, to ensure accountability and to enhance decision-making. Our First Judicial District works with several agencies and advocacy groups, many of whom are going to be testifying today, to strengthen the community's response to domestic violence. We know this is a serious problem in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Family Court's domestic violence court has been presented as a model for other jurisdictions, and you'll hear more about that from Administrative Judge Field and Supervising Judge Fox. Other cities call and visit us as they plan and create their own courts. 7 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 In the letter that Chairman Ortiz sent to me, you asked, "What additional resources do we need," and I'll simply say that we have prepared a very comprehensive book for you, for Councilwoman Marian Tasco and for the members of the two Committees. And in that book, I believe at Tab B -- no. It might be Tab A -- we have our wish list, Councilman Ortiz, for --
We all do that. JUDGE JACKSON: A wish list for additional staff, additional equipment and additional resources. And certainly when I come back to see you in February and the entire City Council relating to our FJD budget, I'll remind you of this day.
I will hope that we can begin putting what the wish list is on the record and what is needed. Because having had practiced in Family Court at one point in my lifetime, and my wife practiced at a very intensive few years in Family Court in that division representing children and women, I am very much aware of the trauma and the psychological, not only physical violence, that occurs and the danger that 8 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 many individuals have if they dare even to come before and try to bring in a case before the Court. So I would like you to take me through the process that takes place in the court, and also what is the current numbers of the case load that is presently before the judges, and the staffing that is available and how this process works vis-a-vis the clients that are brutalized in many ways. JUDGE JACKSON: I'm going to introduce you at this point to Administrative Judge Myrna Field, and she'll address those concerns.
Your Honor. JUDGE FIELD: Good afternoon. I am privileged --
You're going to have to -- because we don't have a very nice room here in terms of acoustics. JUDGE FIELD: Well, that's all the courtrooms, but we're not complaining about those. That's all of them.
You see, Judge, you didn't wait until I finished the sentence. I said we don't have a nice room in terms of acoustics, but otherwise, it's a very pleasant experience that you 9 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 have provided for us. So you're going to have to have the microphone closer to you. Our systems are not the ones they use in the United Nations. JUDGE FIELD: Okay. Good afternoon. I'm privileged to have an opportunity to discuss domestic violence with you. You asked a series of questions. The questions are answered in the book. What I'm going to do is give you the answers, a little bit of history and the answers to your questions about present numbers, and then I'm going to ask Judge Fox to walk you through the procedure. And I'll also address what we would love to have, finances permitting. Judge Fox will walk you through the procedure, and there is a section in our book that has all of the forms. So to understand where we are now, you need to understand the absolutely explosive growth of domestic violence. We always say every area of the court is exploding, but this area really has exploded. The Protection From Abuse Act was originally enacted in 1976, but it was not until 10 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 1989 that Family Court initiated a specialized unit staffed by five court employees to assist unrepresented victims of domestic violence. Unrepresented victims of domestic violence must be 99 percent of the people that we see.
How many? 99? JUDGE FIELD: About 99 percent. Is that fair? Unrepresented, 95 to 99. Basically, they're all unrepresented. And they are overwhelmingly female, although they are frequently men, but there are many more females. Okay. To complete petitions and initiate the court proceeding, it started out as the Abuse Assistance Unit and opened up in March of 1990 at 1600 Walnut. Women Against Abuse trained our original staff. At that time -- and this is important -- we had only one judge presiding over civil cases heard three days a week and contempt of those orders heard two days a week. So we did the whole job in 1990 in five judge days. In '89, as we opened, 2,000 petitions were filed. As soon as people became more aware of our program and by the end of 1990, we're up to 7900 petitions. And we already had problems trying to 11 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 handle the significant increase. In 1991, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was about to close down the unit. A media campaign by many of the people in this room assisted in a reversal of that decision. Funding has always been a problem because the Commonwealth has never -- has only funded abuse for the first year. Other than that, we have always had to fund it through the court budget. The University of Pennsylvania Law School's public service program volunteers students from other areas, and of course, the advocacy groups, most of whom are represented here today, have consistently assisted the victims to come in and to file. In calendar year '99, we were up to 87 petitions -- 8700 petitions, an 800 increase over the year before. We also at that point had to put on a second judge.
Judge, you got to talk to the microphone. JUDGE FIELD: I'm sorry. A second judge for two days a week. So at that point, we were 12 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 devoting seven judge days weekly to this area. In 1992, we got additional responsibilities, because we had to prepare lists and docket. In 1992, we still used what I know you remember, the old-time docket books --
Yes. JUDGE FIELD: -- that you could break your back getting them down from the shelves. Well, we still used those in 1992, so we hand-prepared our court lists and, of course, we hand-entered our dockets. And that required us to hire one more person. So at that point, we're up to six. In 1993, Community Legal Service threatened to sue because they felt that our services were inadequate for unrepresented victims of domestic violence, and that was based on our staff. Administrative Judge Esther Sylvester, who was then the administrative judge, initiated a domestic violence counsel. And as a result of her efforts, three additional clerical employees were inaugurated into this portion of the Domestic Relations Court. By the end of 1994, we had over 13,000 petitions. 13 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 In 1994, the Protection From Abuse Act was amended and it then included stalking. Immediately we found an increase in our petitions. An additional courtroom was opened and two judges, ten judge days weekly, were devoted to Protection From Abuse cases. When the parents' computer system was modified to include domestic violence in May of 1995, we were able to computerize the domestic violence division. This, of course, meant that there were new cases. And at that point, we also were able to handle the cases heard in the Municipal Court. You may or may not be aware of the fact that in non-traditional hours, after 5 o'clock, weekends and holidays, persons seeking an emergency Protection From Abuse Act order go to the basement of the Criminal Justice Building. There they are heard by a non-Family Court employee. They are heard by a master. If the master determines an emergency order is appropriate, it is issued at that time, although it is not docketed.
If this happens and 14 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 there's an altercation during the weekend -- JUDGE FIELD: Right. The most common time, as a matter of fact.
And the police are trained to tell her where to go or take her to the basement of the Judicial Center? JUDGE FIELD: They will not take her. They will send her.
But many times women are afraid to go down there by themselves. JUDGE FIELD: No question. And it tends to happen late at night on Saturday. At the very least, it's dark. They may need public transportation, which tends to be less available in the midnight hours. And they also have children. They have to take their children with them in many cases.
Right. So many women perhaps don't go. They may be abused. They may be in a violent activity, and the police, they call the police and then the police tells them, Well, go down, take a taxi and go down to the Judicial Center 15 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 and they don't -- JUDGE FIELD: Yes. The police will not transport them, but they will come and stop the altercation and give them advice.
And they will tell them where to go? JUDGE FIELD: Where to go. But the second hurdle, assuming they get there, the second hurdle is that they have to convince the master on duty, who is not a Family Court employee, if this becomes a Municipal Court function, after hours and during the weekends and holidays, they have to convince that person that their plight is worthy of an emergency order. And if so, they will get it. We will docket it for them, but not until the next business day.
And what is the training that this individual they go before? JUDGE FIELD: Well, you will find as you go through our answers that we do not know what that training is because we have no jurisdiction over this non-First Judicial Court employee.
And if you had jurisdiction over this court employee, what would 16 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 you require of them? JUDGE FIELD: Same training that we give to all of our Domestic Violence Unit intake workers. Exactly the same training. And we're very lucky in that many of the advocacy groups in this room, at least two of them, Congreso and Women Against Abuse, are active on an almost daily basis in our court and have done some training for us, and also pick up if there's a language problem, which is very helpful.
Do you have any information or data in terms of cases that go before this arbitrator and are not -- JUDGE FIELD: Yes. Judge Fox tells me she can answer. JUDGE FOX: We don't.
To the microphone, and identify yourself for the record, please. JUDGE FOX: I'm Judge Idee Fox. I'm the supervising judge of Domestic Relations. We do not have access to the statistics as to the number of individuals who go to the CJC on the weekends or in the evenings and ask for a petition and are turned away, or ask for an emergency order and are turned away. These are not 17 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 statistics that are maintained by the group who carry out this function, and we do not have access to those statistics.
So we should get that in order to get a very clear picture of the actual incidents of domestic violence that do occur. JUDGE FIELD: Oh, I can tell you the actual -- I can tell you that. I can tell you that as of this moment, we have already processed --
No, but those are the ones that get to you. JUDGE FIELD: Well, the police would know how many they respond to.
But what about if they don't file? JUDGE FIELD: If they don't file, we're never going to find out.
That's what I'm saying. If they go before this -- JUDGE FIELD: The master will take what he deems to be an emergency, but then we treat it as if it was filed in front of us come the first business day.
So we don't know how 18 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 many he doesn't treat? JUDGE FIELD: No, we do not.
That he rejects because he doesn't have -- JUDGE FIELD: No, we do not know that.
And that's, I think, a number that can be essential for us to get a true picture of what the real incidences are. JUDGE FIELD: Let me bring another number to your attention that I think is astounding. I have an article here from yesterday's Inquirer. You may or may not have seen it.
I haven't seen it. I read the Daily News. Mark McDonald is here. JUDGE FIELD: The number that's astounding to me is in the whole state of New Jersey last year, 49,000 petitions were filed. In the whole City of Philadelphia this year, we will probably file 15,000. That's 15,000 cases of violence. And we do not know, of course, who got turned away and who could not get down there.
15,000 that you actually get to -- 19 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 JUDGE FIELD: We've docketed over 14,000 as of the 9th of December. And if tradition holds -- because I've done this work, I have physically sat as the abuse judge really for a considerable period of time. If tradition holds, the holiday season for a lot of people is not going to be very festive, that our numbers will go up at that time.
Judge, what happens to a family that comes before the Court? JUDGE FIELD: What happens to the family?
Yes. JUDGE FIELD: Well, the family, if you're taking about a family, they're already ripped apart by the time they get there.
Right. JUDGE FIELD: They are going to, assuming that -- well, the first step is, they have to serve the other side. And that's a horrendous task, just made a little bit easier by a very recent modification in the law. Typically what happens is, you call your home or you call where you know the other side is. 20 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 And may I say for this, unfairly, that most of the time it's the woman calling a husband, not all the time, but most of the time. She calls. He answers. She calls the police and she says, Help me, I know he's at 295 whatever. They get there. They see the curtains move. They ring the bell. They may even call up and hear his voice, but they will not break the door down. They have no jurisdiction to do it, and will not break the door down. So everything fades. And she repeats this many times. And on the tenth day, she comes back to court and she says, I have not been able to serve my husband. At that point, she discusses why not. At that point, we can authorize mail service. We can speed the whole thing up. And she's able to come back and eventually get a permanent order, which is good for 18 months.
But she is sent back to the house where the husband is still in? JUDGE FIELD: Maybe. Maybe. Oh, on the order, we can evict the husband, we can put in a temporary child support order, write in there -- she 21 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 has to file for child support. We can put temporary child custody, temporary child support order in that original order, as long as we accomplish service. In fairness constitutionally, we have got to serve the other side one way or another. They don't have to read the papers, but we have to give them the opportunity to read them. Okay. I'm going to move on to our wish list, because I think I've impressed you with our numbers, and I will hand out copies of yesterday's Inquirer article, which focused on New Jersey, but made the point that many of Pennsylvania problems are exactly the same. And I see my friend Ms. Frasier Clemens read it yesterday.
Hi. Good afternoon. JUDGE FIELD: Certainly. How are you?
Hi. I'd like to know how many emergency orders are issued on the weekends? JUDGE FIELD: On what?
On the weekends. 22 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 JUDGE FIELD: I cannot give you that number because we docket them. See, we pick them up and we docket them as if they came in when we were in business, when we were open on traditional hours. So we cannot answer that question. Now, I could, if you wish, start doing it on Monday and just ask the person -- I know it takes somebody a whole day Monday to do it. I know that. And I know that the night court; that is, whoever goes in there from 5:00 in the evening till 9:00 in the morning, works a half a day every day picking up that work. So I know the time it takes. But I could get you those numbers. We can start counting them -- probably count yesterday's, count Monday's.
Because the data collection is under your control, correct? JUDGE FOX: No. Well, there's two different levels of data collection, and I think the easier way to explain is just to walk you through it. We're really restricted by what the statute allows us to do and what the Rules of Civil Procedural allow us to do. After business hours and 23 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 on weekends, the Protection From Abuse, the emergency matters, are handled by what's referred to statewide as the Minor Judiciary. In Philadelphia, that would be Municipal Court. Municipal Court contracts out those services, and they have masters. I remember when I was an attorney and sometimes served as a bail commissioner down at the Roundhouse, at that time the bail commissioners did this, and little by little expanded based on the numbers. The system has been changed over the years based on the numbers. So what's happened now is, a family comes in with an emergency procedure. And you asked, Councilman, we have to hope that the police officers provide their information.
Right. Hope. JUDGE FOX: We have to hope that they do, because that's not something we can control, but what we do have available, those services, that they're there at the CJC. One of the reasons they're there is, that's a central location. It's open 24 hours a day and it is secure. And that's the most important thing, is that it is secure 24 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 there. It is always secure there. But a woman goes down there -- and I use that gender just for the purposes of explanation. A woman goes down there and explains to the people who are working there what happened, and she completes a petition based on whether or not there's the possibility of an order being issued. The Minor Judiciary does not accept a pleading as we would from 9:00 to 5:00 in Common Pleas Court. The Minor Judiciary accepts the petition and issues --
Is there staff there that advises them as to how to prepare the petition? JUDGE FOX: Yes, there is, and assists them in how to prepare the petition. And periodically we do reach out to that. I hope you don't think it's a closed door. We periodically, when we find out there's been a breakdown in communications between how they view these emergency orders and how we view them, we've set up in the last two years through Judge Presenza training programs with the masters down there to explain how the judges in Family Court view these emergency orders, these ex parte orders. 25 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 And it should be understood that this is an emergency order that travels into the next business day. Because the person comes down there, if they receive an emergency order, they receive that order, and the next working day it is transported to Domestic Relations on 11th street where it is docketed into our system and the packet forwarded to the Common Pleas Court judge, who reviews it, and if he or she believes it warrants the action of the master, will sign off on it, sometimes expand it, sometimes reduce it.
But if a woman comes in and she's beaten and she shows signs of having been beaten and -- JUDGE FOX: They're going to grant an order.
-- and she puts the order and the petition in, and then she, as Judge Field said, she has to serve that. JUDGE FOX: She has to serve --
She has to serve it. JUDGE FOX: With the assistance of the police department. The police department --
Does the master on 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that weekend -- JUDGE FOX: Explain how --
-- does he call or she call the police department and say, I have a woman here who has been beaten, she has to go back to her home to serve this order? JUDGE FOX: No. They explain to go to the police district in her neighborhood or to contact the police in that neighborhood to meet them to serve the order.
Do we know, again -- and I know that this is just for the record -- do we know during this, because it is a weekend, and a woman who will actually go to the police department and -- JUDGE FOX: The way we can judge it, from our perspective, is how many women come into court on the return date. Because it's not just receiving an order. You receive a temporary ex parte order and you're given a hearing date. The way we judge it is when the individual comes back into court and says, I did not make service and why, and explains to the judge why they weren't able to make service. 27 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
So let's say the woman goes to the master, she gets the petition, she gets the order and she does everything that you're talking about. She goes to the police district directly from the master's office. A police then accompanies her home, serves the order and then removes the husband from the house? JUDGE FOX: If there's an eviction, yes, they should.
Does the master order the eviction? JUDGE FOX: Yes, he can. He or she can.
He can? JUDGE FOX: Yes. They're authorized to order an eviction, and they often do. And oftentimes if the judge then reads it on Monday morning, say -- for example, if I'm the signing judge that day and I read the petition, and if the master failed to grant an eviction and now I read the facts and believe an eviction was warranted, I have the right to now evict that person even though the order wasn't originally entered that way.
So if it is not served, if the husband went to the bar by the time 28 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 and he's not there, the police are not going to stay around waiting for him to come back. She has to stay there with this guy who had just beaten her. JUDGE FIELD: Well, chances are she's not going to stay there, and that's where it's so important that these shelters be supported, because that's where she's going to have to go with the children.
Thank you. Thank you for that. So I understand, it's not a given that the eviction will be part of the process; is that right? That's not an automatic? JUDGE FOX: It's not a given that an eviction will be granted.
Now, if the complainant asks for the eviction, is that good enough? JUDGE FOX: If she --
If the wife -- JUDGE FOX: If she alleges facts that would warrant an eviction. 29 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
She just simply says, I don't want this man in this house. JUDGE FOX: No, not under the Act. It would require that acts have been committed that would place her in danger and --
Well, if she comes in bruised, is that -- JUDGE FOX: See, now you're changing the facts on me. I mean, clearly -- I mean, that's why -- it's a system that is geared to pro se litigants. And by "pro se," I mean unrepresented litigants. It's a system that has developed around unrepresented litigants. So that the people who are accepting those emergency petitions are assisting people in preparing it. They oftentimes -- sometimes they take photographs of the individual and they attach that to the petition, so you see the photograph of the person, so you see the injury. So it's not just a matter she says, Hi, I want to throw him out, but, by the way, no one saw your injuries. People are looking at her and saying, I notice you have a black eye. How did you get that black eye?
So what I'm hearing, 30 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 and I don't mean to misinterpret this, is that if a person comes, goes through the process, is physically injured, could I assume that most likely there would be an eviction? JUDGE FOX: You can assume that if they are living together, there should be an eviction.
Well, then there should be. That's why I'm heading you back to the process where if the person says that I'm, A, frightened that I'm going to be beaten again, I have a black eye, that there shouldn't require any lobbying there to -- JUDGE FOX: No. 15
-- get that eviction? JUDGE FOX: No. You're right. There shouldn't be any lobbying to get that eviction. Because it's an ex parte order based on the reading of the petition.
Thank you, Mr. Rizzo. Do the shelters, do the agencies that take in women or men, although I believe men are usually the abusers and not the abusee, but are the 31 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 shelters represented during the weekends in this court? Are there people from these agencies that could determine that this lady or this woman or this family or child should not go back home because they would face imminent danger for their safety and so on and then take them to a shelter? JUDGE FIELD: I think if you're talking about the weekend, you have to realize that the First Judicial District does not control the weekend.
No. I understand that. I'm just asking whether there is a system -- because what we're trying to see is what, if anything, we need to change, if at all, in terms of the system and whether we should recommend that women shelter groups be at the courts during the weekends so that they can maybe take action of that sort or maybe you would recommend that, that would be the case. JUDGE FIELD: I think that they are more likely than not to get their information in a booklet, a copy of which is enclosed in here, and also from the police. I think that they are really -- the only person that can guarantee on site 32 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that they will know something about what's happening on the weekend, because I can't tell you that volunteer groups are consistent in their representation in the CJC over the weekends. I think a lot of it depends on who gets lucky and gets there when the right people are present. But the largest problem here, and the worst of the problems, is the service problem, because fully 50 percent of the cases will not have service at the right time.
And what happens? JUDGE FIELD: And they just get continuances. And we have to string it out until we can get -- and I said they just amended the law, so there will be mail service and it will be a whole lot easier to get service. It's very hard to serve.
So that puts a woman in very, very dangerous -- JUDGE FIELD: Absolutely.
-- situations. If service cannot be confirmed or is not done and then there's a continuation -- JUDGE FOX: Councilman --
And I know about 33 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 continuances. JUDGE FOX: Councilman, I just want to clarify that even though the case may be continued for lack of service, the temporary order remains in effect. So that temporary order, whether it be a stay away order or an eviction, it remains in effect until the case comes back to court. So it's not like, Well, you didn't make service and the case is dismissed. JUDGE FIELD: But the problem is that he still doesn't know. And we keep saying "he," because it is more likely than not it's going to be he. He still doesn't know.
I accept culpability for the male gender. JUDGE FIELD: No. You don't have to. But he still doesn't know and he still can say, I didn't know, and walk in the house, start taking out the assets, obviously refuse to do anything for the children financially on the theory that he knew nothing. JUDGE FOX: If I could just finish up Judge Field's response. We would be hardpressed to say that the need for advocacy groups or shelters or 34 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 community groups participating and being involved at the emergency site or any site in the courts is not something we would encourage and hope for. The more educated the public, the more assistance that can be provided pro se litigants, the more easier it will be for us for these cases to flow through the system. And that's why we don't want for a moment to think we discourage that. We encourage it, and any assistance we can give to any organization in trying to walk them through the system and understanding the system, we would volunteer.
But you have a case load of close to 16,000 a year. And you have how many judges at the present time? JUDGE FIELD: We have two judges sitting full time on this.
Two judges? JUDGE FIELD: And an additional judge sitting contempt part time, criminal contempt.
That's a case load of -- JUDGE FIELD: And the numbers are astounding. I mean, you can look at 60 cases a day. JUDGE FOX: We've tried very hard at one 35 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 time -- when Judge Field said "domestic violence," they had 60 to 100 cases a day. We've tried to break that number down to no more than 40 a day by scheduling according to the number. Now, that may seem a very difficult number, except if you look at the numbers that we presented to you, half of the cases, close to half of the cases that are before the judges, the parties don't appear. And the cases --
Even the complainant? JUDGE FOX: The complainant does not appear in close to half of the number of cases on any given day. JUDGE FIELD: But you need to realize, and I really don't want to be sarcastic, but great many of these women go back to the situation they came from for a lot of reasons that, frankly, are none of the Court's business. I mean, would I live with that man? Of course not. But some women don't see an out. And he is still providing financial support, and that's a habit she's lived with for a long time. And, unfortunately, she will go back, they will make up. They will go back. A lot of people can't get here because 36 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 they have young children, it's impossible, and a lot of people resolve their domestic difficulties before the first court day.
So what you are saying to me is that daily half of the complainants don't show up, which means that -- and we have no 8 case workers that can follow into this woman's home, we have no way of the Court sending somebody and say, Well, there's a life in danger here? There is no way of us being able to communicate with this person? JUDGE FOX: And we are required, if the person is not there, we are required to dismiss the action for lack of prosecution and vacate the temporary order.
So when they don't show up then, you're telling me that half of these actions are dismissed. Are they dismissed -- JUDGE FOX: They're dismissed for lack of prosecution.
-- immediately, or do you give them another chance and try to inform them -- JUDGE FOX: No, no. 37 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
-- notify them, they didn't show? JUDGE FOX: No. They're dismissed, but then what should be made clear is if it's dismissed for lack of prosecution. If the next day she comes back into the unit and wants to refile, no one interferes with her ability to refile. She can refile and file again and get another court date, which is not unusual. But it's dismissed for lack of prosecution, and the parties do refile after they've been dismissed.
Do we have numbers on that of women that have not appeared and -- JUDGE FOX: In your packet --
-- that have come back and refiled? JUDGE FOX: We don't have numbers on the refiling. We do not keep numbers on the refiled petitions. But you see -- the petitions, as the ex parte petitions come in, they're walked over that judge. When Judge Field says there are two judges, there are 11 judges assigned to Domestic Relations. On any given day, there are two judges hearing just Domestic Relation civil cases. And then on Tuesdays 38 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 and Thursdays, there's a Domestic Relation judge hearing the criminal contempt cases.
So you have two and two -- JUDGE FOX: Two judges. JUDGE FIELD: Two and a half.
Two and a half. JUDGE FOX: Two judges five days a week hearing a civil protection lists and --
And the contempt? JUDGE FOX: And one judge two days a week hearing a criminal contempt list.
And the criminal contempt is, I guess, those individuals that have violated -- JUDGE FOX: That the district attorney has prosecuted.
What's the case load in that area? JUDGE FOX: The filings for the year 2002, new cases listed in the year 2002, were 1,020. There were over 2,000 cases listed, but the new cases were approximately 1,020.
And you have results 39 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 of the action, what the adjudication has been? JUDGE FOX: No. Those statistics we do not keep.
You can't keep? You don't have it? JUDGE FOX: We do not maintain those types of statistics.
So, Judge, how do we -- because that, to me, is -- the fact that 50 percent doesn't show up is something that we need to look at and see what, if anything, can be done. What are the resources that are needed for us to be able to have and make the system as effective as we can? Because I think what this does is save lives, if anything. I mean, we have people who have died at the hands of their husbands along these lines. JUDGE FIELD: There are none of us, including myself, that have ever sat in that court that have not, unfortunately, nothing else we could have done, but we are aware of a murder which came out -- homicides which came out of that court. No 24 one who sits there has ever. It's the single worst part of my experience in 11 years as a judge, sir. 40 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
No? JUDGE FIELD: In the criminal cases. Just criminal. Not normally.
In the criminal contempt? JUDGE FOX: If they come in to testify in the petitions, it's because somebody subpoenaed that witness. In the court criminal cases, they're subpoenaed by the district attorney's office.
And do they show up? JUDGE FOX: We have not -- I have not noticed any problems with the police not showing up as far as the criminal subpoenas go.
So they dutifully come forward? JUDGE FOX: One of the difficulties that we have -- and you asked Judge Field about how we can improve services. These are families, and whether or not domestic violence has separated them or made them not live together or evicted somebody, oftentimes they have children together. Oftentimes 41 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 these are families in needs of services, whether it be treatment for alcoholism, for drug addiction, people don't have a job. These are families that are in need of help. We are a civil court that can enter an order. One of the problems we've had is a coordination of services citywide so that we can refer families for help. Oftentimes you'll see people will come in and say, Well, I don't really want him evicted. I'd like him to stay, but I'd like him to get help. How much help we can offer them, we're just -- we're a court. So we can try to provide referral services, but how much information we have is really based on sometimes the ingenuity of that judge in obtaining that information. So we'd like more communication between all of the groups in this room and throughout the city so these resources will be known to the judges, to the system, so we can always refer these families for help, because these are clearly families in need.
Well, one of the results of this hearing is that we get Carol in and the other groups that are here to have a meeting 42 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 with you and Judge Field and Judge Massiah-Jackson and so on and see how we can begin putting a process that can begin really putting services, preventive services and other types of assistance to both the husband and the wife and the family so we can begin to proceed and bring down the case load that we have presently in the city. JUDGE FOX: I would like to point out to you there's also another group that tends to -- when you talk about men and women, we have an increase in the number of senior citizens who have been abused by their adult children. And oftentimes the adult children have mental health and drug and alcohol problems, and the parents are very hardpressed. They're elderly parents who are trying to still have this closeness with their child, but at the same time, they are subject to threats and abuse. These are very, very difficult cases that are oftentimes neglected, because sometimes we look at domestic violence as a man/woman thing and we might sometimes overlook the number of senior citizens. We see an increase of those cases over the last two years, and these are adult children 43 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 with senior citizen parents.
Do we have any gay or lesbian couples that have -- and do we have a way of maybe -- because that's obviously part, and nobody talks about that. JUDGE FIELD: Oh, no. I've done those cases, but we don't count them. But you know when you have them in front of you. JUDGE FOX: We don't keep separate statistics about the demographics of the parties filing petitions, whether they be man, female or sexual preference. JUDGE FIELD: The statute talks about people living in the same household, and that covers it.
-- like to get some clarity on one issue. You had said that Philadelphia has 16,000 cases that have been filed this year. 44 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 JUDGE FIELD: 15. We expect to hit 15,000 by the end of the year. We're at 4 something now. 5
Okay. 14,000 by 6 December 9th? 7 JUDGE FIELD: Right. That's accurate. 8
New Jersey had 9 49,000 for the entire state. A comparable city in 10 New Jersey, do you know any numbers on the number of 11 people that have filed and -- 12 JUDGE FIELD: Well, they mention Camden, 13 Camden County. I'm going to give it. They had 14 3700. That's the only thing that's in this article.
I was actually just wondering how many judges and whatnot they had handling -- JUDGE FOX: The ratio of judges per case?
So is there anybody in any state, if you've done that type of research, that has the ideal? I mean, who has handled this well -- 45 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 JUDGE FOX: Well --
-- across the country? Nobody? JUDGE FOX: Well, if you look at the packet, we were --
I haven't had a chance to -- the first time I laid eyes on the packet is when I walked in the room. So I have not had a chance to read it. JUDGE FOX: If you look at --
I understand that, but people don't know that. People think that we've seen this and read it and whatnot, and that's not true. JUDGE FOX: If you look at what's been designated under Tab I, there's a creating a Domestic Relations court, a violence court, in your booklet. And Philadelphia was one of the best practices. So primarily because it was a designated court, it had a unit that handled the submission of the handling of the petitions. And we like to brag about that, but if you ask us are we in need of improvement, yes, we are. We are. For us to say we're not wouldn't be 46 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 fair to the citizens. So, yes, we're in need of improvement. It's a very difficult court. And I have to tell you, when you ask about a model, one of the difficulties with the model is, is the number of pro se litigants. It's much different in Philadelphia County than it is in Pittsburgh, where you have a number of smaller subdivisions. Primarily when we go to judicial conferences statewide and we talk about the number of pro se litigants in domestic violence cases, which is up to 90 to 95, then we talk about custody cases where they're as high as 80 to 85 percent, other judges can't believe it. Because it's just a very different type of atmosphere in the courtroom. We are very much trying to elicit testimony from people who are trying to communicate very emotional issues.
Well, I think this is an important issue, and to move one step further, I think that we have to figure out how to protect people once they get the protection order to prevent these murders and other people being injured. JUDGE FIELD: Remember, it's just what 47 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the article says. It's only a piece of paper. It's like anything else that originates in a court. There are those who will respect it and those who will not stop.
Can the police, in your judgment, can the police, their role, can they enlarge, improve? How do you see law enforcement really? Once you give an order, how do you see that order being implemented and done? JUDGE FIELD: The Commissioner will be here, and I think that it would be fair to give him that chance. But if you look at --
But I'd like to hear from the judges. JUDGE FIELD: Well, if you look in here, you'll see one thing they can do is, every single police station has a contact person for domestic violence, which is a very new step. I think there's been, since I did it, which is probably about eight years ago, there has been an enormous public awareness, police awareness of the problem. I think the police are much more sensitive to these issues than they were when I was doing it about eight years ago. I think really 48 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 anybody in the field would say that, that there is more interest and more sensitivity to the needs in this area.
So in terms of resources, once again, could you clarify and state what is it that you need to be able to perform the judge of the domestic violence court -- JUDGE FIELD: Well, we were very conservative in our list. We didn't ask for more judges, which would be, of course, helpful, and more clerical staff, which would be more helpful.
Well, you should ask for more judges, ask for what -- JUDGE FIELD: We asked for a faster computer. Our computer system is about ten years old. Those of you in the area know that ten-year-old computers are prehistoric. We asked for additional --
You should see ours. JUDGE FIELD: We asked for additional staff. We asked for the ability to have audiovisual technology, because right now, I am ashamed to tell you, but it's true, that the people who come to be interviewed scream through a window until they get 49 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 behind there, for a lot of reasons, and we wanted audiovisual techniques so that we could interview more easily and more comfortably and also remembering the privacy needs. We would like to have more printed material in more languages to explain to people exactly what their rights are and what they can do and also where they can seek help outside of the courts.
Are your statistics -- you said you don't do the demographics, but are your statistics by race? You don't have that? JUDGE FIELD: No, no. We do not do that.
Can you do that? Legally can that be done? Can we see how many cases of abuse are coming from the Cambodian or Latino or African-American communities and so on? JUDGE FIELD: But you raise a very interesting issue --
Because I know that in our community, a lot of cases are not reported. And those that are then face other types of problems 50 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that are cultural in framework and has to change. JUDGE FIELD: There are cultural implications. There are cultures in which this kind of behavior is the appropriate behavior. And we have an education need to tell people that it cannot be done. I just point to one case I had because it involved the Moroccan community, which I don't think is a huge number of people in Philadelphia. But apparently -- and wherever these people came from, this was what you did, this was the way that people took care of things in their household. And that's an education function. We have to tell people that in society we cannot do it.
But how can we structure a program for that community if we have no 18 sense of how many of them come in or how to do it? JUDGE FOX: I don't think it matters in the numbers. I think it's clear that domestic violence affects every community in the City of Philadelphia. That's been our experience. I don't think you can define a group that comes in or that's more one group than another group. So I think the services require across 51 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the city in every community.
Are there bilingual -- how many bilingual personnel do you have? JUDGE FIELD: In that office? I don't know. There are two in there, but also we have Congreso, who is represented here today. I'm sure they'll tell you who comes to us with a bilingual counselor. I think they're here three days a week, and Women Against Abuse are here two days a week. And they -- they're all volunteers.
But Congreso is Spanish. How many bilingual staffing -- because we have -- JUDGE FIELD: Staff, two.
We have an ever growing Asian community, and the Asian community is much more diverse than just Chinese. JUDGE FIELD: Let me tell you what we have done, because we have the problem all through the court system of languages that are not frequently used, so we don't have -- we only have really on staff Spanish interpreters in the court system. 52 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 We have a telephone system where you call a telephone number. It's a very modest rate, something like a dollar and a half a minute. The list is like 75 languages long. Now, we can call that number, we get a translator in whatever exotic language. It's an amazing list. And with the use of the speaker phone, we can at least advise people of their rights and what is going on in the courtroom. For a full-scale hearing, there's no question we have to have an interpreter, in what might take us a few days to get that interpreter in the Philadelphia community. But for an immediate court information service, we can do it hours a day on a frankly 16 toll-free telephone number at very modest court. 17
Because we have a 18 large Mong community in this city. 19 JUDGE FIELD: I'd love to give you the 20 language list, like 75 languages long. They service 21 everybody, and they do it while you wait. It's very 22 fast. It's just an amazing system. 23 Actually, we have found that our call 24 for exotic languages has not been as much as we thought, and that may be because we are not 53 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 educating that community as to the rights that they have.
People may not know about it, or if they do, it's -- I mean, when I call up an office and I get a phone message and it said if you want to continue in English, press 2. If you want to continue in Spanish, press 1. If you want to continue in Vietnamese -- I mean, you sort of hang up almost immediately, because by the time you get to 4, you're just like confused. So I would imagine that a lot of folks that come from different cultures are not used to this type of technology and can't access it. So our duty then is to see how we can make those communities and our services more accessible to them in whatever way is needed, and sometimes, as Judge Fox said, we have to be very creative as to how we do certain things. Anything else, Judge? JUDGE FIELD: Well, I have a very creative system that I don't know a whole lot about that crossed my desk, but I think it's a marvelous thing. It's called the Sentinel System. And for the cost of $7 a day, you rent this system. It 54 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 works like electronic monitoring. I don't have a share in this business. I don't even know anything much about it. But you put a button in the house, a button -- he has to wear a button, she wears a button. You set your distance. If he comes within X number of feet of the wife -- and we've been saying the wife all along because that's the normal ordinary scenario --
Sort of like a ankle bracelet? JUDGE FIELD: The satellite reads it and it can go directly into the police. I think it's an extraordinarily simple, easy system.
Is that used anywhere in the country? JUDGE FIELD: I'm sure he tells you where he's using it, yes. But if there was interest, I could contact them.
I would like to -- let's see it and see if there are any constitutional provisions that may be -- JUDGE FIELD: Exactly the same as anything else that's monitoring. It keeps somebody 55 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 away from the house. They know they're going to spring an alarm. And it's a cheap and easy 24-hour solution, as opposed to posting a police officer, because --
But he has to wear it, right? JUDGE FIELD: Well, if he doesn't wear it, of course -- it's the same thing like the order. It's a piece of paper. You respect it or you don't.
It's not like the ankle that is very difficult to take off? JUDGE FIELD: Well, I never ordered it because I really never had the finances to consider the system. And one button --
Maybe we should look into it. JUDGE FIELD: But I was amazed. I had done the math once. For like $50,000, you got an extraordinary number of days at $7 a day. And we would never be able to do our 14,000 cases. I understand that. But we certainly could isolate the 500 worst and use a system like that. It's cheaper than a police officer outside the front door, which is your alternative. 56 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
I have no problem recommending that we do something like that. And I see Terry looking at this and Carol. That might be something that we might be able to begin looking in and making available. If $50,000 is it, we're spending -- that's one consultant or one law firm that we don't give a contract to, and maybe we can use in-house lawyers or something like that. But $50,000 is not a lot of money to spend for one -- even if it saves one woman. JUDGE FIELD: It's a modest number. You price it by the day, and it's a modest number of days. But as I said, we could probably handle our worst cases like this. Obviously, staff morale, this is a very difficult job from inside. It's not very pleasant for the participants, of course, and not for the plaintiff, but it's equally difficult for our staff.
It is the most emotionally draining legal practice there is in the system. I remember Lydia, my wife, she would come home just devastated by some of the cases. And you need a certain emotional strength to be able to practice law and do these cases. And I don't know 57 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 how many attorneys we have and how long they last in this practice, because it is such an emotional drain on the individual. So you can imagine if it's an emotional drain on the attorney representing, we can imagine the pain and suffering that goes through the individuals that they represent. Judge, the staff and I will go through this. This is what we were asking for, and you have answered that Interrogatory that we sent to you in a -- JUDGE FIELD: I want to point to you just where the specific answers, which tab is the -- we're not going to go over the answers, but i want to make sure you know they're all there. They're all at C. All of your answers are at C.
We really appreciate it. If anything comes up that we may need further clarification, we will be in touch with you. I really appreciate this booklet that you have given us. I think it's probably one of the most complete answers that we've ever gotten from the courts, because usually what we get is that, We can't give you the statistics, we don't have the 58 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 resources, we're not technologically there and so on. But I see that it takes a certain type of leadership to be able to accomplish a certain type of job. So I thank you, Your Honors, Field, Fox and Massiah. I'm glad that you guys are in the leadership. Thank you very much. JUDGE FIELD: Thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity to address you on this.
Thank you. Carol Tracy and Cynthia Figueroa. I get Cynthia, then I get Roberta Hacker and Lisa Yoder, Neydary Zambrano. Ms. Tracy, please identify yourself for the record. CAROL TRACY: My name is Carol Tracy and I'm the executive director of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia. Councilman Ortiz, we deeply appreciate the Public Safety Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee holding these hearings today. The Women's Law Project is a public interest law center devoted to improving the legal, 59 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 social and health status of women. Our work involves high-impact litigation, public policy development, advocacy and public education. We're pleased that the Committee is having these hearings. The Committee laid similar groundwork for efforts to improve the Philadelphia Police Department's response to sexual assault when it held a series of hearings over the past two years. As a result of these hearings, we've developed a good working relationship with the police department leadership and the Special Victims division. Over the last three years, we have accomplished a significant amount, including the reopening and review of thousands of mishandled sex crime cases, the improvement of the Department's crime coding system, supervision of investigations and decision-making and the soon-to-be-realized relocation of the Special Victims division to a more hospitable location. Much remains to be done in that area, including development of a protocol for responding to sexual assaults complaints and a comprehensive training program for the division, all of which will 60 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 be facilitated by the Division's upcoming move. Philadelphia once led the nation in the development and provision of meaningful legal remedies and housing and emergency shelter options for victims of domestic violence. Over the last ten years, however, Philadelphia has fallen behind many other major urban areas in its response to domestic violence victims and their children. The United States Department of Justice Violence Against Women office recommends that the appropriate response to domestic violence is the establishment of a coordinated community response. That represents an effort to coordinate the responses of the police, medical professionals and institutions, health and human service providers, the criminal justice system and advocates in cases involving violence against women. With a coordinated community response, procedures are implemented to enable interagency cooperation and a uniform responses. However, unlike many other major urban areas, like Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and San Diego, Philadelphia has not begun efforts to establish such a response. Although Philadelphia is now lagging 61 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 behind some other cities, we also have the benefit of learning from the experiences of those who have already moved towards a coordinated community response. And my testimony has a summary of several cities at the end of it. As the four Philadelphia providers will tell you today, the need for domestic violence services far exceeds their capacity to serve. While they and their clients interact with the City's police, courts and housing, Health and Human Services offices seeking needed help and protection from domestic violence, no one has a complete or accurate picture of the prevalence of domestic violence or of the services available. There is no central locus in government charged with responding to domestic violence, nor do the City's agencies have an understanding of the capacity of and services provided by the domestic violence agencies. This leads to inefficient use of scarce resources as the counselor, police officer, judicial officer or health care providers scramble to locate the assistance and service needed by an individual he or she is attempting to help.
62 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 A recent case tragically underscores the need for coordination. Jennifer Foster reported that her 16-year-old daughter, Nikea Goldsby, had been raped by her father. The report, as we understand it, came through the Department of Human Services and was sent to the Child Abuse Unit of the Special Victims division. Because of serious understaffing there, which is now in the process of being corrected, it took more than two weeks to assign this to an investigator. In the meantime, Jennifer Foster and her daughter had obtained a Protection From Abuse order and called police repeatedly for help within days. Although police came to the house in response to the calls, nothing significant was done to protect the mother and daughter. The day they were to be interviewed by the Child Abuse Unit, they were found murdered. This case represents the worst possible failure in the system. We do not know much else about this family. They could also have been involved with numerous other social service and school systems that also failed them. Let me also say at the outset that 63 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 domestic violence is complicated. It's about relationships. There is no quick answer or one clear response that is appropriate. That is why all the agencies and disciplines that are involved in domestic violence must be at the table. The four domestic violence agencies that are here today, Women Against Abuse, Women in Transition, Lutheran Settlement House Women's Program and Congreso, are the experts. They understand the complexity and danger associated with domestic violence. There is always the temptation when policy-makers focus on domestic violence to have knee jerk responses, such as mandating Protection From Abuse orders or mandating arrests. Responses that are not carefully planned with the full involvement of the person who knows the full range of issues facing victims can actually put women and children in greater danger. It is critical as we move forward to have the expertise of the domestic violence advocates guiding the efforts to improve and expand services. There's several areas that I'd like to highlight involving the police, the courts and human 64 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 services and housing systems, and I will try to highlight my comments, and you have in the testimony more in-depth responses. We've had a good working relationship with Police Commissioner Johnson, and he has made a clear commitment to continue to working with us on domestic violence and on the ongoing issues related to sex crimes. And the police have reached out to us on two significant issues. One was changing their 9-1-1 response, which I assume when they testify, they will discuss with you to improve and give a higher priority to domestic violence, and their 9-1-1 operators also asked to get more training in domestic violence, which Women in Transition was able to accomplish. The second big effort is, the police department is part of a nationally funded project by the National Center for Victims of Crime on Stalking and Domestic Violence. And it began as a small project, a pilot project, in the Northeast, and they are in the process of expanding it citywide, and they've asked for assistance from the domestic violence community in doing that. One of the interesting things out of the 65 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 pilot study that was pretty startling even to us, it showed that the 15th Police District alone had 700 domestic violence calls a year, that the entire Northeast division probably has 20,000 domestic violence calls. That's just the Northeast division.
20,000 calls? CAROL TRACY: That's what their report told us. See, we don't know. And one of the real issues that's important for us is just to find out how many domestic violence calls come through 9-1-1, how many are responded to, what the followup is with the victim assistance officers.
In one division. And how do they respond to those 20,000 calls? CAROL TRACY: Well, I think they'll probably be better able to answer that than I, but with the 9-1-1 call, it's a high priority now and the police -- it's a higher priority than it used to be. Domestic violence, until last year, was included in something called domestic disturbance. 66 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 That included everything from a dog bite to domestic violence. They've isolated domestic violence and given it a higher priority, so it should get very high response time. The police come. Depending on what is going on, they may or may not make an arrest. It may or may not be appropriate to make an arrest. They are supposed to give information to the caller about how to get a protection order. They may need to transport them to the hospital. There are a whole range of issues that the police should be responding to. The police have a new protocol that they put in place last year. Unfortunately, they did that without the input of the domestic violence community. Now, in an early meeting with Commissioner Johnson, we asked to have that directive reopened and to get input from the rest of us, and we are in the process of doing that, because we don't think that they probably have enough information or enough clarity about what to do when they respond to the call. Each district -- and I think that Judge 67 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Field mentioned that each police district has victim assistance officers and domestic abuse detectives. One of the problems that we have as a community is we don't know each other. And it's been -- the communication between the domestic violence advocates and the police is not what it should be. Through the stalking project and other projects, we have been able to get additional information and are in the process of setting up some meetings. I think the leadership of the police department is committed to improving its response to domestic violence. There are 6,000 patrol officers, and you know the complexity that is involved in getting everyone on board. The coding of domestic violence also needs some improvement. We worked closely with the police department to improve their coding, which was part of the crisis and the scandal in the Sex Crimes Unit. However, all the crimes that should be cross-coded as domestic violence currently are not. So it's an area that additionally needs improvement, as does their training. For something that is as severe as domestic violence, something that is as lethal as domestic violence, two- or three-hour 68 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 cadet training is simply not sufficient, and that is primarily what domestic violence training is now. So they need to improve that. And we need to be able to set up a system with them where we have information going back and forth, including complaints about bad service. For example, if a call comes into my office where the police haven't responded appropriately and I call the victim assistance officer, I have had nothing but good experiences doing that. But, you know, I'm the director of the Women's Law Project. It's not clear to me that that is true for the women who are calling themselves. Part of the problem is, we don't know. We simply don't know.
The police department has this new system, the Comstat system -- CAROL TRACY: Right.
-- that sort of tracks how many cars are stolen and how many houses are broken into in a neighborhood, and then they assign and they're able to catalogue and track. And they don't have anything along the lines in which they can track how many cases come in and what's 69 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 been the followup on those cases? CAROL TRACY: I think they could.
They could, but they don't have it. CAROL TRACY: What I've been told, I think, April a year ago, the police devoted an entire Comstat day to domestic violence. We tried to involve ourselves in it, but we're not invited. So I think that they have the internal capacity to do that, and I think the mapping of domestic violence is very important. And I think it's also critical to look at the households where there is repeated violence. And there's a fair amount of scholarship that talks about that being a really effective tool, just looking at the repeat houses. The 9-1-1 -- Inspector Small, who is in charge of 9-1-1 or emergency room operations, indicated that they thought there was a possibility of being able to put up hot addresses so that there would be even faster response time, or if the police are going back to the same address repeatedly, it means the danger is most likely escalating. That isn't in place now, but as he said, they have the 70 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 capacity to do that. The police department's extraordinary invitation to us to review cases is something that we'd like to -- to review sexual assault cases is something we'd like to explore with them in the domestic violence cases. That review, as we have reported to you in the past, has really been going very well. And the last time we reviewed in May, we saw a marked improvement in the way the police are keeping track of their files. We're not only looking at the unfounded cases, but we're looking at a random sample of open cases. So we think that this would have a review of domestic violence cases, but the advocacy community would have the potential to be very beneficial. I'd also just like to make some comments about Family Court. You heard a great deal about it. Family Court, as you heard, is the form in which profound and life-altering decisions are made. Tens of thousands of families come to the Domestic Relations division each year to resolve personal and intimate family matters involving divorce, child support, child custody and domestic violence. 71 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Thousands more are summoned to its juvenile branch where child abuse and neglect and juvenile justice cases are heard. This court will render decisions about where and with whom children will live and when and under what circumstances parents can see their children. This court has the awesome responsibility of issuing orders to protect families from violence and stalking, and it has what is considered the civil equivalent of the death penalty, the power to terminate parental rights. And like other courts, it can order the arrest and imprisonment of those who disregard its order. Despite the magnitude of its decisions, it is the court that has the least resources. And I think the court officials who were just here were very modest in their requests. They need considerably more. There are several serious problems that I'd like to draw your attention to. The first is that the Domestic Relations branch, which is located at 34 South 11th, was closed to the public for many years. In response to a resolution by the Philadelphia Bar Association to open the court to 72 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the public as required by federal and state constitutions, the court agreed to do that, but this goal has been achieved only in small part. Only people who know to identify themselves as observers are permitted limited access to the courtrooms. The general public simply cannot walk into the court and expect to visit a courtroom. Councilman Ortiz, if you wanted to go in to hear a domestic violence proceeding, unless you went up and identified yourself as observer, you would not be allowed in that courtroom. If you had a relative or a friend who was looking for support, you would not be allowed to go into that courtroom.
Frightened litigants in need of support persons or persons sometimes to care for their children while they were in the courtroom are denied this assistance. The court has taken no steps to address the space and security limitations that prevent it from opening completely to the public as required by the Constitution. And as you'll notice on this floor, there's a significant amount of First Judicial District court funds being expended to make fancy courtrooms here, and yet not one dime of that has 73 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 been diverted to 34 South 11th to make sure that that court is open and that it is safe. The vast majority of people using this court don't have lawyers. Judge Field and Judge Fox explained that. The court does not have the resources to provide them with written material or sufficient personnel to help them understand the law, the procedures and how to navigate such a complex process. So most of those 16,000 people who are coming there are on their own, with the exception of the help that is provided by the domestic violence agencies who are there. They're not on the payroll of court. The court doesn't pay them a penny to do what they are doing. There are no social services offered to these families in the Domestic Relations division. Unlike the Dependency division at 1801 Vine, which is mandated to provide services for families in which child abuse and neglect are present, no such mandate or availability of resources --
That's the area that I was surprised, because when I asked, they give the order and, in essence, tell the person, Well, go 74 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 back and serve it. But without trying to provide the other services, they don't have the resources to be able to get those services ordered, to mandate the services. CAROL TRACY: And I think that's part of the reason for these hearings, because there has to be much better coordination of these services. The court can't provide behavioral health services out of its own budget or out of its own mandate, but Health and Human Services could be in those courtrooms helping people. Many more resources could be co-located there, because we have people --
And at the site of these sessions where the masters are located, that there's presently no social service agencies present at that -- CAROL TRACY: There's nothing there.
There's nothing down there. CAROL TRACY: The only reason to keep it at the CJC is that there's at least some security there. 34 South 11th would probably be disastrous. You have to go down an alley to get into that courtroom. 75 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
Yeah, I know that. CAROL TRACY: So at the moment -- but the issue that they were talking about, and I'm not sure they made really clear, is they have to -- they have consultants who are doing the clerical work associated with the order, so they can't get into the court's computer system. So everything has to come back over to Family Court the next day. If they had just staff, their own staff that's over in Municipal Court on the emergency orders, then it would be processed immediately. Things get done twice. They do them by hand or in whatever way they do them when the emergency orders are processed and then they have to be reinput into their computer system.
But, I mean, if a woman comes in very frightened and very insecure, there is no way of really reassuring that person in terms of that you have entered a system that will make you safe. I mean, I don't think the person gets that feeling once you enter into the system. CAROL TRACY: And you asked a critical question, and it's a question that certainly as we've been reviewing the statistics about why do 76 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 half of the petitioners not show up. Now, it's much too simplistic and it's probably not accurate to say, Well, they decided to go back to their abusers. There are many complex reasons that they haven't come back. The fact that someone went to the effort to go down there in the middle of the night or on the weekend to get an emergency order suggests that there was some significant urgency associated with why they were there. Why they don't follow through -- now, it may well be their choice not to follow through. It may be that they're in greater danger by following through, but we don't have a clue why they don't follow through, and I don't think it's particularly healthy to speculate about it, particularly the speculation of she has chosen to go back. I'd also just like to make a few comments -- although any time you would like to stand in the doorway of 34 South 11th or anyone else on Council who would at 8:45 to 9:15 just to experience what people are going through, it's a worthwhile thing to do, because it's really -- it's unbelievable. 77 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 People have to show their papers when they come in. People get turned away. You're not allowed in the courtroom. You have to stand outside. In some ways, words are inadequate to convey the experiences of those who are in that court, including the judges. They have long lists. They rarely have lawyers in the courtroom. They don't have lawyers to present arguments or to offer witnesses. The pro se litigants, unless they have been assisted by Women Against Abuse or Congreso, have very little information about how to present their cases. Sometimes they just present the wrong thing. Sometimes the judges are unbelievably rude to them, to the petitioners and to the respondents. The hearings are very short. It's not an area in which justice as we know it and particularly as lawyers who practice in other courtrooms, it is not the kind of justice that we think is appropriate.
Well, when you have a case load as big as the case loads are, they try and speed it up. CAROL TRACY: Yes. Right. In the area of Health and Human 78 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Services' response to domestic violence, the Women's Law Project has just completed a major study for community behavioral health on the needs of pregnant and parenting women suffering from substance use disorders. In the course of that study, where we met with consumers, health and social service agencies, case workers and outreach workers, we found, an a massive literature review substantiated, that violence is endemic in the lives of women who are in Philadelphia's health and social services systems, as well as the criminal justice system. Case worker after case worker described going into homes to provide services to children where it was obvious that domestic violence existed. Some case workers would provide a hotline number, others were frustrated there were not enough domestic violence services to accommodate their clients. Many blame the mother for letting the abuser hurt her and her children. Most just turn a blind eye to the abuse because they didn't know what to do or believe that nothing could be done. Determining what can be done can be particularly challenging, especially if the woman is not yet seeking services. Extricating one's self 79 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 and one's children from domestic violence is both complex and dangerous. It frequently requires multi-systems coordinated response. Unfortunately, a fragmented social, health and law enforcement system which we currently have cannot accommodate most of these families. In the area of housing, you will hear Philadelphia has only one domestic violence shelter. As a result of the limited shelter beds --
One? CAROL TRACY: Yes. You'll hear much more about that from Cynthia shortly. Domestic violence victims and their families often must fall back on the City's homeless shelter system.
We have 15,000 cases that come forward. We have one shelter? CAROL TRACY: Yes. And we have --
So even if we wanted to, even if the judge wanted to, there would be no 22 place to send women that are needed? CAROL TRACY: Well, and shelter is just one response, and I will defer that to the next panel to describe in more detail to you. 80 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 But we have been told -- what I wanted to point out to you is that we've been told that when a battered woman goes into the Office of Emergency -- OESS, that she has to provide a PFA. Now, that can be a very dangerous thing to do.
Put that -- CAROL TRACY: Protection From Abuse petition.
Say it, for the record. CAROL TRACY: That can be quite dangerous. Only victims of abuse themselves can decide what remedies are safe to pursue. Obtaining a protection order may result in greater violence than just leaving. So the city has no business in making that determination for a victim. Even the Commonwealth's Department of Public Welfare does not require that, or any other piece of paper, for that matter.
And if she doesn't produce it or she refuses? CAROL TRACY: Well, we hope you will hear that, because we have not been able to get the clarity that we would like to on that issue when 81 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 we've made phone calls.
I don't think they're here. CAROL TRACY: When they come to testify, I would like to be proven wrong on that, but it's not what we have had.
Do we have them on the witness list? Tomorrow, okay. CAROL TRACY: Tomorrow, yeah. And in closing, I just want to say all of the speakers invited to present testimony today and tomorrow represent organizations and arms of city government that respond to or interact with domestic violence victims in some way. Through the testimony they present, we hope to gain not only an assessment of the need, but also an inventory of existing services that are currently available for domestic violence victims in Philadelphia and the policies and procedures that govern their availability. Only by knowing what the need is and what services are currently provided can we begin the process of identifying the gaps and move towards building the coordinated response to domestic 82 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 violence to which we all aspire.
They said 15,000, the judges said 15,000. I know that this would be more or less anecdotal and unscientific, but if actually 15,000 actually make it to be able to file a petition, what are the real numbers that we may have out there that potentially are out there in terms of that? CAROL TRACY: Well, if one police district gets -- one division, the Northeast division, gets 20,000 --
CAROL TRACY: -- and I think we have some national statistics that they'll be able to discuss. Councilman Ortiz, it is endemic. It is a public health crisis. It is a criminal justice crisis.
But it's not a crisis -- CAROL TRACY: And it's too marginal. Just in --
It's not a crisis that gets a lot of attention. CAROL TRACY: In today's paper there was 83 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 yet another story of a woman crossing the street with her child and her abuser shot the child first. The bullet hit the child in the hip. The mother fell on top of the child, huddled -- put her hands over her head. He stood there with the gun pointed at her head, shot her three times. The rest of the gun didn't fire. By some miracle, she only got fragments. She and the child left the hospital. And a passerby went after him and he was arrested. This is someone walking across the street. This happens day in and day out in Philadelphia and in cities and communities throughout the nation. And we as a community have not taken this seriously enough. We have marginalized it. We have blamed the victim. And we are just too far behind the times in dealing with this crisis. And that's why we appreciate so much your willingness to have these hearings to bring people together.
We don't see it as a crisis. That's the whole point. CAROL TRACY: We see it as a crisis.
I know, but I don't think the rest of the system sees it as a public 84 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 health crisis. CAROL TRACY: That's correct. That is correct.
It is. And we see it as such. Thank you. CAROL TRACY: Thank you.
Don't go away. CAROL TRACY: I won't. I'll be over here.
Cynthia. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Thank you, Councilman Ortiz. Again, my name is Cynthia Figueroa and I'm the executive director of Women Against Abuse, and I do want to state that we are the largest provider in Pennsylvania and we are operate the only battered women's shelter in Philadelphia.
I mean, that to me is -- because I kept asking the judge what, if anything, can the judge do and the court to send somebody -- first, that they're not present in the courtroom, and, second, that we actually don't have the facility, that we only have one, and if they go 85 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 to a shelter, which is more or less structured along the lines to service homeless citizens, not women who have been or families who have been abused. So they don't even -- that shelter doesn't have the services to provide to a family, a woman with her child that goes into it. They're not homeless. They have a home. They just can't go to that home. And there are no 10 services to be able to treat her and advise her and give her the right guidance as to how to proceed. Go ahead, Ms. Figueroa. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: With me are representatives from four other organizations in Philadelphia that also provide services to battered women, Roberta Hacker, the executive director of Women in Transition and Lisa Yoder from Lutheran Settlement House, Neydary Zambrano from Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Latina Domestic Violence Program. These four organizations represent the only programs in the City of Philadelphia that are actually certified by the Pennsylvania Coalition of Domestic Violence to provide services.
We get 20,000 calls from one district; we have four organizations that 86 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 are certified? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: That is correct. I want to begin briefly by describing what the reality is in Philadelphia as well as we know it, and just giving you a brief overview of the resources --
It's surprising that so few women actually die with so few services. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: I don't think it's that so many women actually die. It's how many women are actually classified in a domestic violence-related homicide.
That might be true. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: I want to follow that by discussing specifically our services and share some of the obstacles that are faced. At nationally it is estimated that 1.5 million are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner in the United States. In 2001 in Pennsylvania, 75 domestic violence incidents that occurred resulted in 110 deaths. The truth is, as you've asked here, Councilman, is that certain -- there is no exact number of how many people in Philadelphia are affected by domestic violence. 87 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Those statistics quote that one in every four women experience some kind of violence and that there is statistics that show that 35 percent of adolescents are in abusive dating relationships. As we providers know, we are just reaching the tip of the iceberg. I want to paint you a very quick picture of what we have as far as resources for the numbers that are presented. As Judge Field reported, we have about 50,000 orders of protection -- 15,000, I'm sorry, that are filed annually. There are four service providers. Collectively last year we, as four agencies, served 18,000 people experiencing domestic violence in Philadelphia.
You saw three a day? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Well, equally alarming is the limited staff and financial resources that the domestic violence community has to serve women and children. As the fifth largest city in the nation, we have some of the most limited resources in the nation. The four domestic violence agencies collectively have a total of 104 full-time staff that are devoted specifically to direct service. 88 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 There are only two major funders at a state level that provide domestic violence funding specifically for domestic violence programs. This is the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Our combined allocations from these two funders is $2.9 million per year for all four agencies. That does not reflect our entire budgets, but gives you an idea of what the state is providing. Women Against Abuse, along with the other providers, rely heavily on funding from private organizations and other city systems. Currently Women Against Abuse is the only domestic violent provider that receives funding from the Department of Human Services, which is a rarity in the state and in the nation.
Is that funding on top of the 2.9? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Yes.
It is? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Yes, but that's specific just to Women Against Abuse. 89 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
And by how much does that increase your budget? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Women Against Abuse's operating budget is 3.2 million. We have 78 staff, but that's, again, not all direct service, and that's all three sites, transitional housing, legal services, et cetera. As organizations, we nominally cover Philadelphia. We are all centrally located in Philadelphia. Congreso is in the lower North Philadelphia neighborhood; Lutheran Settlement House is in the Frankford section; Women in Transition is located in Center City; Women Against Abuse Legal Center is located in Center City; our shelter is in a confidential location, as well as our transitional housing.
Are there any organizations in Southwest Philadelphia? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: No. 23
That means they don't 90 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 have a problem with -- CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Nothing in the Northeast as well. We mentioned there was pilot project that was done. This will give you an idea of the lack of communication between the police department and the domestic violence communities. A pilot project for stalking initiative was done in the 15th District. There is no domestic violence service provider.
So we have a problem that in one district we have 20,000 calls, which may or may not be followed up on by the police. We have four agencies that deal directly with this problem, and they're all located really within a mile radius of each other, less than a mile radius of each other, and none in the far Northeast, none in West Philly or Northwest or Chestnut Hill. Because the rich also suffer from abuse. And none across in other areas of the city. What happens in those areas? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: What happens is, we --
Obviously, you get calls from each of these areas. 91 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: I think all of us can speak to this separately, but what happens is that we're providing services all over Philadelphia County. And what you'll see as we continue to talk about numbers is, we're incredibly stretched thin and, unfortunately, not only are we pulled to do direct service, but then we're put in a position of having to do systems advocacy for systems that are not appropriately dealing with victims of domestic violence.
The availability and proximity are two very key aspects of women coming forward. If they have to travel distances, it puts a very different outlook on the situation, and many perhaps do not come. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: It's a tremendous burden, especially for women -- as we know, domestic violence, one of the processes by which women are controlled is isolation, and a lot of these women never learn the public transportation system, can't get to our facilities, it's a risk for them to flee even to leave their homes.
And are the city social service agencies -- well, that will be 92 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 tomorrow, but are they set up to be able to -- do they have the systems within their own structures to be able to intervene in these cases where you can't and so on? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: The quick answer to that is no. I think that there is strong staff in all of the human services fields that work very well to meet the needs of battered women, but more often than not, unfortunately, women's needs are not being met, women and children.
Continue. Go ahead. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: Okay. As we have heard today, we don't have an idea of how many calls to the police department come in or how many of the reports are actually coded as 48 as domestic violence, and we're hoping that these hearings will be able to produce those numbers for us. We also know that the largest growing population, the juvenile justice system, is females, the majority of which report a history of family violence, yet there is extremely limited resources to provide services to adolescents, and there is zero to limited resources for adolescents fleeing domestic violence situations. 93 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Again, just to reiterate, there's only one shelter in the City of Philadelphia, at which our capacity is constantly full.
When you say there's limited funding, do you have any type of -- CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: I can speak for Women Against Abuse, and my colleagues would have to answer, but we do not receive any funding that's particularly just for adolescents. We meet the needs of adolescents through what we're already receiving in support. These organizations here are to provide a wide range of services together. We provide individual counseling, both in person and over the phone. We provide group counseling, shelter, a limited number of transitional housing. Everybody will provide you a little bit more information about the services that they provide. We fulfill only a portion of the need in Philadelphia, and we are confident that by telling you what we need and what we face, you can begin to understand and assist us in our efforts. Particularly, Women Against Abuse was founded in 1975 and opened the first shelter in 94 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Philadelphia in 1977. The Legal Center was founded in 1979, and we opened Sojourner House, our transitional housing program, in 1987. Women Against Abuse provides assistance to just over 11,000 people a year. Three service areas include, as mentioned, the shelter for battered women, transitional housing program and the Legal Center. As you will hear throughout these hearings, Women Against Abuse is only able to reach a small percentage. Our shelter only holds 55 women and children and our transitional housing program only consists of 12 units.
The capacity is 55? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: That is correct. It gets worse. Women Against Abuse constantly has to turn women and children away from shelter, because we're operating at full capacity. Furthermore, their tremendous needs and funding requirements, women are only allowed to remain at the shelter of a term from 30 to 45 days at max. Given the severe housing shortage in Philadelphia, this is far from enough time to secure permanent housing. 95 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 One common question that we get asked about domestic violence is why women stay. Philosophically many people in this room have heard me respond to this question, and often, as I mentioned, instead of providing direct service, we're in the business of justifying or sensitizing systems and society why it's so difficult for women to leave. Leaving is not always the answer. Why women should be blamed for abuse is still something that we face every day. Unfortunately, housing is an enormous obstacle for battered women attempting to leave and stay away from their abusive partner. This is becoming repetitive, but, again, there is only one shelter. Just to paint a bigger picture on a national level, the lack of shelter for -- the lack of shelter for battered women is a nationwide problem. New York, with a population of 8 million people, has only 15,000 beds available in the shelter for battered women. That far exceeds the capacity. Every day in New York an average of ten beds open up. However, the citywide hotline receives 600 calls a day during the week. Los Angeles has a similar problem in 96 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Ventura County. 500 women were turned away from two domestic violence shelters in 2001.
And we have no idea how many calls we receive a day? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: We receive approximately about 600 a week.
But we don't know how many the police receive a day? CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: That's correct. In Chicago, there are 211 shelter beds out of a population of 2.9, and there are rarely openings. To give you a comparison, while I point out that other cities suffer severe shortages for domestic violence, the situation is actually worse in Philadelphia than in other major cities. Chicago has approximately one domestic violence shelter bed for every 13,744 residents, and New York has approximately one domestic violence shelter bed for every 533 residents. However, Philadelphia has one shelter bed for every 23,076 residents.
Do you know how many 97 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 contracts we have per lawyer in the City of Philadelphia that they get from the city? I bet you it's lower than 23,000. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: I'm sure you're correct. Additionally, our lack of resources have meant that Women Against Abuse has had to operate as a triage system where the victims suffering the most severe abuse are the victims that receive services. Abuse tends to become more severe at times, so only by offering full services to victims suffering abuse, we tend to ignore victims attempting to get help early on in the relationship. A triage system, essentially, forces women to wait until the abuse is a matter of life and death. An additional systems frustration that we have as domestic violence advocate is the police response to 9-1-1 and violations from Protection From Abuse orders. The police does not always respond in a timely fashion, and when they do respond, there is concerns regarding followup or their response when they arrive. This is not to say that we haven't had positive experiences with the police and that they 98 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 have provided excellent services to some of our clients. Unfortunately, several bad experiences combined with many different experiences have left us wondering how seriously the Department has chosen to face domestic violence. We've had several cases where victims have called us in desperation because they've called the police, for the police never to respond. We should not and cannot have the capacity to be screeners for 9-1-1 calls. This puts victims in more danger and discourages them from calling the police a second time. Most recently, I myself personally received a call from a community legal services lawyer. She had a client on the phone who had a Protection From Abuse order. The abuser showed up at her door and was pounding on her door. The client called 9-1-1, as instructed, and a half hour passed. She called again. The lawyer called me to ask if there was any shelter space available. We were at capacity. I asked my staff to make arrangements to move families and double up. We created the space and instructed the client, once there was a safe and 99 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 available passage, for her to leave. She left minutes later. The police 4 never arrived. She's still in our shelter. 5 Women Against Abuse and our providers, 6 unfortunately, spend much of our time and staff 7 energy advocating with systems on behalf of battered 8 women and not enough time and resources related to 9 intervention and prevention. 10 While part of our role is to do advocacy 11 on behalf of the victims, the advocacy should not be 12 for fundamental services. These gaps in systems and 13 lack of sensitivity have left us reacting to 14 domestic violence rather than preventing. 15 The support to end domestic violence has 16 to come from the top and has to be supported by 17 local city administrators. The women and children 18 who experience domestic violence every day need our 19 help and our support from the city. 20 Thank you very much for your time and concern, and a special thanks to the Public Safety Committee.
You know, sometimes you think you know certain things and you actually don't. And what this is -- this is good, because 100 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 even those of us who are sensitive to these issues, our ignorance is immense. And I didn't know that the recourse available to abused women in this city, the primary one, because you don't have enough room 6 in one house, is the shelter system, which is totally inadequate and, if anything, I think it exacerbates the problem. Because as we talked with the Special Victims Unit, it seems to heap abuse on the abuse, and they're not prepared to handle. I don't know whether they're really prepared to handle homeless folk, much less a problem of family relationships that has gotten to such a dysfunctional level that it's abusive. And a city this large, we don't have the resources or the staffing and we don't have the systems set up to be able to go forward with this is -- CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: I just want to add about the Office of Emergency Shelter Services, it's not only that it is an issue that a homeless shelter is not an appropriate placement for a family fleeing domestic violence, but also there's a safety factor that needs to be considered for the other residents of a homeless shelter, including the staff. And that one of the reasons domestic violence shelters 101 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 are so specific is that there's a confidential location and that there are safety measures in place.
But if the problem is as big -- I'm sorry. You know, maybe it's part our fault because we don't -- we're not putting our attention as to where it should be as a government, and hopefully we can begin to change that, and individuals such as Councilman Cohen and myself who are here. I didn't know it was this bad and huge. And if I didn't know, you can imagine what some of my colleagues don't know. CYNTHIA FIGUEROA: And I would just like to say for the record that as providers, we often get dumped on or beat up quite a bit about why aren't we doing more, and I would say that we are doing the absolute very most that we can possibly do with the really minimal, minimal services and resources that we've been provided to by the state and the city.
But as a government, we spend so much money on so many things. Go ahead. Continue. ROBERTA HACKER: Given all this 102 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 information, I've pretty much rewritten, so I'm not sure I'm going to be speaking directly to what I've written. My name is Roberta --
Just add. Don't be repetitive and don't give us what your agency does, because we know what your agency does. And we'll put all of the testimonies on the record. What we want to do is really present a very true picture of what the situation is in the City of Philadelphia and the dysfunctional systems that we have operating within the City of Philadelphia, and then get into some of the suggestions, recommendations as to how to change these things and what is needed in terms of resources and other things. Obviously one of the things we need is more housing that we can begin putting women and families into shelters that are appropriate with the social services. As Carol said, we have to begin locating services within a place in which they all can communicate with each other. We've been trying to do that now for two years with the Special Victims Unit, and we have not 103 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 accomplished -- we have a place, but we have not accomplished yet the job of getting everybody and all the departments within it. But we will. I think during the next few months that will be done. So I don't want to hear -- just tell me what has your experience been and where do we go from here, in your estimation, where do we as a political and legislative body can begin to do to change, one, the consciousness of this Council and then put that consciousness into the budget and into the legislative area. ROBERTA HACKER: As I said, Councilman, I'm Roberta Hacker. I'm the executive director of Women in Transition. Let me address that, then. I will skip the overview of my agency. And I guess you've asked the right person, because I'm pretty much a straight shooter, so I'll lay it out for you. One of the things I want to have on record is that Women in Transition has just celebrated our 30th anniversary. We are the only agency in the city that has a contract with the coordinating office on drug and alcohol abuse. We were the first agency to be contracted in 1985 to 104 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 provide some screening services for women with substance abuse issues. Our focus and, perhaps, our greatest niche in the city is on the issues that overlap domestic violence and substance abuse. However, the other area that is of primary importance is taking the leap to link domestic violence not only to substance abuse, but to child abuse as well. And that is pretty much a lot of the work that we've been doing. But before we go there, I want to let you know something else. You were talking about some of the areas in the city where we provide services, and Cynthia laid out where we are located. However, I want to tell you something that's so fascinating. Our clients, we serve in person about 500 clients a year, 500 women a year. We answer about 3,000 hotline calls. Those hotline calls primarily come from two zip codes in the city. They are 19144, which is Germantown, and the other is 19143, which is Kingsessing. Those women come into our agency every day for services and counseling. So while we may 105 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 start out at the beginning of the year with 500 women that have come in for one-time service, because that's primarily what we do, we wind up providing a lot of crisis intervention services. Last night we had a graduation of women that went through about two years' worth of counseling and support groups. We graduated four women at that time. So there are four women that really made incredible changes in their lives. So I want to give you that positive piece, that these are women that came to us before they had to go to the police for help, before they had to go into the shelter. And so we were able to provide early intervention that cut off a lot of crisis work for them. But there are countless others that are still in a very serious and difficult crisis situation. I also want to stay that the --
But that number is a very small minority. ROBERTA HACKER: It's a teeny number, teeny. I mean, how much are we talking about, the number of protection orders? I think that's just the tip of the iceberg, and everybody pretty much would agree. 106 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
We're talking 15,000 orders that go to court or go through the system. We're talking about four that actually availed themselves of preventive services. ROBERTA HACKER: Well, that's four that went through two years' worth of counseling to make incredible monumental changes in their lives. I want to focus on two areas that come to my attention and it pretty much has been the work of Women in Transition; that is, the 24-hour hotline services and volunteer training and the issue of linking domestic violence to substance abuse, child abuse and promoting collaborative partnerships. The first is the 24-hour hotline and volunteer training. That's pretty much the service that we first provided when we started over 30 years ago, and we pretty much honed in on making that an effective service. The four domestic violence programs collaborate after hours on operating our hotline. So we collaborate them together so we can assure that there's always coverage. But one of the issues that's unique to us in Philadelphia is that almost every other major city in the country has an 800, 107 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 one number, where people can call for help. If we were able to do that and have the support and endorsement and funding from the City of Philadelphia to operate a single 800 hotline for battered women, that would relieve a tremendous amount of stress --
How many cities have that? ROBERTA HACKER: New York City, Chicago, LA, I think. CAROL TRACY: Big cities like Philadelphia. Some of the major cities have it.
What would be the approximate cost? ROBERTA HACKER: $900,000 to start.
And to be staffed with -- ROBERTA HACKER: All four of us staff a hotline. So all four of us have about one hotline counselor dedicated to our hotline. And that means that we can basically have one person on a line at a time for about a call that may range from 15 to 20 minutes.
So of the top ten 108 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 largest cities in the country, probably most of them have this? ROBERTA HACKER: Yes, or something like that. But that's an issue. The other issue that comes back to haunt us is is that the more work that we do in the community --
Has it been proposed over the years? ROBERTA HACKER: We have talked about this for a long time. I mentioned it to Mayor Street during his transition.
We'll make it happen. ROBERTA HACKER: That would be wonderful.
We'll make it happen. ROBERTA HACKER: I mean, the issue that we get is that as we do outreach to the communities; for example, when we do training at hospitals, then when they try to reach us via our hotline, they experience busy signals. So, I mean -- and it's a very difficult situation for us and it's a difficult situation for women. 109 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
I think the managing director should make a commitment to get this done, and we will request of her to do that. ROBERTA HACKER: Okay. I'd like to skip, then, to the next issue. That's on record now, right? That's done. Okay. The other is --
That's what these hearings are for. ROBERTA HACKER: Yes. I'm not going to hold my breath, though. All right?
No. I'm telling you, it took us two years to get the Special Victims Center done and so on, but I can promise you, this will get done. ROBERTA HACKER: Thank you. The other --
I'm not going anywhere, and he's not going anywhere. We'll get it done. ROBERTA HACKER: The other matter you heard talked about today, and you'll continue to hear about it, is some type of coordinated community response to domestic violence in Philadelphia. 110 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 We've worked on this. I personally have been working on this issue for close to years. 4 When I first came to this position at 5 Women in Transition, nobody talked to anybody. We 6 all were isolated and alone. We had been struggling 7 for a number of years to develop the concept of a 8 coordinated community service. We would like to see 9 the City of Philadelphia absolutely endorse and 10 support and promote the ability for the domestic 11 violence programs to work in concert with the other 12 systems in this city so that we can figure out how 13 we can most effectively and efficiently serve 14 battered women and their children. And that is not 15 that much of a difficult thing to do, nor is it that 16 costly. The other area I want to talk about is the work that we've been doing with the Philadelphia Women's Death Review team. I have included in your material a little color map, and this map shows deaths of women between 15 and 60 years of age between 1997 and 2000. And each red dot on this map indicates a woman who has been killed and where we know that domestic violence has been in her life, and it does include -- 111 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
How many dots do you have? ROBERTA HACKER: 94, over 1997 to 2000. Everybody has that.
In a five-year period, that '94 to -- ROBERTA HACKER: '97 to 2000. CAROL TRACY: Three years.
Three years. ROBERTA HACKER: Yes. And that's the result of the team being able to identify afterwards, after the fact, that there was domestic violence in the lives of these women. So they may not have all been domestic violence homicides per se, but the violence in the lives of women in Philadelphia.
It's safer flying over Iraq. No plane has been shot down yet, but it's a much safer to fly over Iraq than to be living here in Philadelphia. It's a safer job, to fly an F-16 over a war area and not get killed, than in Philadelphia where in a three-year period we got 97 women dead. Go ahead. 112 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 ROBERTA HACKER: Yes. And their children, by the way. And when we were speaking about homeless shelters, I recall a domestic homicide about two years ago that occurred on Christmas day right in front of the Eliza Shirley Shelter. A batterer came and brutally stabbed his partner to death on the street on Christmas day. And these things happen, as Carol has said, every day. So I would look to this Council for continued support, if not increased support, for the continuation of the Death Review team. It's a collaboration between Women in Transition, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, the Department of Health and the district attorney's office. And we review -- and we're the only review team of this type in the country that looks at the full spectrum of violence in the lives of women. Thank you. ANA LISA YODER: Good afternoon. My name is Ana Lisa Yoder and I'm the program director of the Bilingual Domestic Violence Project of the Lutheran Settlement House. And Lutheran Settlement House is a large social service organization located 113 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 in the lower eastern part of North Philadelphia. I'm going to talk just a little bit about our services briefly.
I know your services. I adopted my little princess through that, one of the services. ANA LISA YODER: Wonderful. So --
Tell me what -- because we have other folks that are going to be testifying, and I want to get and paint the picture that we're talking about here. ANA LISA YODER: What I'd like to start with actually, then, is talking about a client who came to our services, because I think it highlights some of the issues and needs within the systems in Philadelphia. Because we're part of a larger social service agency, clients connect to our program in a lot of different ways, and so they're able to access a variety of resources. So to illustrate this, I'd like to talk about a client who came to us through 114 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the Lutheran Settlement House's community education program. And I've changed the name of the client in order to protect her confidentiality. I'll call her Lisette. And she started attending GED classes at Lutheran Settlement House and was living with an abusive partner who locked her in the house when he left in the morning for work. She had to sneak out of a small basement window in order to attend her classes, and carefully return home before her husband returned from work. When she told her GED teacher about her situation, they connected her with a counselor from the Bilingual Domestic Violence Project, who provided support, resources and information. Through our services, she received support of counseling in a non-judgmental atmosphere that allowed her to begin assessing her situation, eventually leading her to consider leaving her abusive relationship. She was terrified to call the police, but when she finally did one day after he attempted to choke her, the responding officer told her husband to take a walk and cool off, and not seeing any visible wounds, allowed him to stay in the 115 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 house. After this incident, the physical abuse intensified. With the support of her counselors, she was able to make plans to --
He did not direct her to go to court? ANA LISA YODER: I'm sorry?
He did not direct her to go get a petition? ANA LISA YODER: I believe they did, yes, but nothing else beyond that was done. And she actually was not in a space where she was able to -- was ready to get a PFA. She felt like it would make it more dangerous for her. So after this incident, the physical abuse intensified. With the support of her counselor, she was able to make plans to safely leave her abusive relationship and was able to get her GED, get a job so that she could support herself independently. Each woman's story is unique, yet Lisette's story highlights some common themes in the lives of battered women, including lack of resources and insufficient responses by the systems that could 116 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 be helping. There are a myriad of other stories of women who never reach a domestic violence agency and who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to escape from abusive relationships. The systems in Philadelphia with which victims of domestic violence come into contact all play an important role in the lives of battered women. They are in a unique position to connect them with community-based resources and let them know about available options.
Did she ever enter the city social service system, DHS and so forth? ANA LISA YODER: No, not DHS. She was involved with our services. That was the only service she was getting at the time.
Do you retain her or do you usually refer women to DHS? ANA LISA YODER: We would if there are any cases related to -- like if there are children in the home and there would be children who are in danger, then we are mandated to report to DHS. So in that case, we would. In this case, that was not the case, so we did not refer her to DHS. 117 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
So there have to be children in the home for you to refer it to DHS? ANA LISA YODER: Right. That's right. Well, DHS would deal with the cases where there is neglect and abuse ongoing, and so those are the cases that we would report to DHS. But we did see her ongoing in individual counseling for a while until she was finally able to leave her relationship. So I'd like to really focus on one of the systems that plays an extremely important role in the lives of the women that we see, and I'm talking about the Philadelphia Police Department and particularly the units known as the Domestic Abuse Response teams or the DOM units. These units were created in order to provide specially trained detectives who could focus specifically on cases of domestic violence. And I want to be clear as I begin these remarks that as domestic violence agencies, we're not here to criticize the work of individual officers. And, in fact, as we go about our work of crisis counseling and legal advocacy, we're often assisted and supported by officers who are carrying out their 118 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 duties in an admirable fashion. Rather, these comments have to do with the structure of the DOM units as they currently exist and some systemic problems that, in our experience, make it difficult for DOM detectives to perform the job they were originally assigned to do. I will first highlight some problems in the context of a specific project for which both Lutheran and the Philadelphia Police Department received funding. I will then discuss how a lack of clear stricture and priorities for the units likely create confusion throughout the city and why it is crucial that the Department consider improvement in service provision to victims that could potentially occur if the DOM units were more thoughtfully structured and the detectives better trained. In addition to our relationship with officers in the court and in crisis situations for women who call our hotlines, Lutheran's bilingual domestic violence project, along with the Women Organized Against Rape and Congreso, participate in a special project with DOM detectives in the 24th, 25th and 26th Police Districts. This project known as the STOP Project was designed to provide a 119 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 special coordinated multi-disciplinary response to Latino victims of domestic violence and sexual assaults in these districts, which traditionally have been underserved. All four agencies receive funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. As a part of this project, a bilingual and bicultural advocate from our agency is assigned in Courtroom 906, and strives to work closely with the DOM unit in the East division. This advocate is available to offer counseling and legal advocacy services to victims of domestic violence in Courtroom 906 where preliminary hearings are held in cases of domestic violence.
But this only is a service provided to all or to individuals that live only in the area of Lutheran and Congreso? ANA LISA YODER: We provide services to women all over the city, actually, but this specific project is really targeted towards women who live in the 24th, 25th and 26th Districts.
Have you or any of 120 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the other speakers here today ever convened a meeting of the women in government? When we started to talk about domestic violence in my first term running back in 1968, I understood there were very few women in government, but Estelle Richman is in charge of the police department. You know, she's over the commissioner. Joyce Wilkerson is the mayor's chief of staff. Alba Martinez is head of the Health Department. There are other women that are at top levels in the government. Has there ever been the thought of convening a meeting of women in government? Because I'm -- it's outrageous that the small cost of an 800 line or proper shelter activities or other support services are so rare today while literally hundreds of millions of dollars are appearing in campaign funding, appearing in spending for stadiums for rich people to turn from millionaires into billionaires. And for people at this stage and women who have reached the level that women apparently have reached at least by positions not to be effective to bring about major changes is an appalling thought. So I wonder what can we do to help utilize the fact that there is a vast difference in 121 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 status of the role of women in government now than there was when I first entered Council back in 1968, yet I find the same tone of indifference seems to exist, that this is only a small little problem, when I think it's a real major problem. It tells us about the quality of life in Philadelphia. It tells us about how government cares or doesn't care about people. Carol, could I interrupt to ask you? I know you've been working in this area for a long time. What's your assessment? CAROL TRACY: We have asked Estelle Richman, and she has promised us that she would put together a domestic violence task force to coordinate all of these issues. It hasn't happened yet, and I don't know if she's coming tomorrow to testify or not. I think the commitment is there, and I don't think that it's actually happened yet. Alba Martinez is a person who is actually uniquely qualified to work with us, because she once, when she was a CLS lawyer, represented battered women. And the issues that Roberta was talking about, the connection between child welfare and domestic violence, is quite apparent. Both 122 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 co-existent homes. It is our hope and our anticipation that when this task force is established, that she will be a key player in it. We have talked to Joyce Wilkerson about these hearings. She helped facilitate moving along, I think, the approval of the testimony. We have not convened a meeting of senior women in government, and in some respects, I have to say it is a little disappointing that senior women in government have not convened themselves to really address this issue head on. But I think we are positioning ourselves now to make that happen. Your help, of course, is appreciated.
Well, we would hope so, because I just feel, and I know Councilman Ortiz feels the same way, and there are a number of us in Council, we just wonder how long will people continue to be quiet in the face of the huge expenditures for public relations contracts in all kinds of fields and the abatements we give to developers to earn profits. I'm not attacking them. I'm just saying there seems to be a disproportionate use of common resources. 123 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 And you have the power, as I look around this room, I think you have an enormous amount of power if you began insisting and not being so polite and not being so -- well, I don't know what word to use. I just think you've got to make demands on government, because government's responsibility is owed to you. I think it's just terrible that in 2002, almost 2003, we're talking about whether we can achieve money for an 800 line, when lives are at stake and when the quality of life in Philadelphia is so much at stake. CAROL TRACY: And thank you for those comments, because I think we agree with you. I also think that particularly the providers have been so overwhelmed and overburdened by service needs, that it's taken a little bit of time to get us to this point so say enough. We really are in the place of, I hope, demanding more. We found, of course, working through this Committee one of the most useful vehicles to get information on the table to bring people here. They know that you control their purse strings.
But they're willing to come. I did invite the police commissioner for 124 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 today and -- CAROL TRACY: We don't see him yet, do we?
I hope that the police commissioner has had some emergency and hopefully that emergency will be over by tomorrow afternoon and he might -- he will be here. CAROL TRACY: Yes.
-- but I sit here, I see the wonderful talent in front of us at this hearing. I know you're all very concerned. I know it's a major problem, because it's been in part of my council life for many, many years, and yet if -- I think you've got to look at government as a major corporation, same kind of corporation that's interested only in money, because the emphasis in government today still is -- we hope it begins to change -- is still in the direction of, Let's take care of economic developers, and gradually it will trickle down somehow or other to other services. 125 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 I think we've got to fight back for the fact that the main responsibility of government is to deal with these human problems. And they're very severe human problems, and you've got the resources to do it. And if you decide on any kind of militant action, I think you can be sure that at least two Council members will be present. I expect there may well be many more than that. Because it's outrageous that Philadelphia should be at the bottom line for things like campaign financing, on things like human services in which -- with the kind of people we have in Philadelphia, the issue, the first issue, ought to be responsibilities of government toward the people in the city, the people who live in the city, the people who have human problems. And you're a wonderful group that can do that. I'm being advised that Commissioner Martinez and some others are going to give closing remarks. But I'm really not interested in closing remarks. I'm interested in action. I think Philadelphia ought to be the number -- with the talent of women in government that we have, the level of that development that's occurred in Philadelphia, I think we ought to be number one in 126 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the nation of providing human services. And I'd like to see movements take place in the community. And you're the community in this area. I'd like to see those movements take place which demand that Philadelphia ought to be the model city that develops the programs to put an end to this kind of saving pennies at the cost of human lives, because that's what I see. And any woman saved from a life of domestic violence is a tremendous attribute to society, to avoid that waste of human life.
Like I said, a couple of cuts in consulting contracts will do the job.
Or if you can get one contributor in the Sunday Inquirer, which carried a list of the hundred major finance contributors to the mayor's last election campaign, if you get any one of those contributors just to make that contribution aimed at services to the community, it would probably be ten time the budget we're talking about totally for human services. ANA LISA YODER: I guess I just want to --
Excuse me, Councilman. 127 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
No. Sir, you can go ahead and speak the truth. ANA LISA YODER: I think -- I just want to sort of reiterate what Cynthia said before and also what Carol mentioned, and, that is, that I think these agencies -- we have been as agencies really doing a lot of systems advocacy work --
But I think what David is talking about is that the problem -- and I have to admit, you know, when Carol and Terry and other folks --
-- started talking to me about it, it really was shocking. And then when the information starts coming in front of you -- and when you have the leadership of the court system sitting on that witness stand and they put forward the numbers that they put forward, the enormity of it then comes into view in such a realistic way. And then the responses that we have are so inadequate and really don't even begin to cover the tip of the iceberg. And when we have a problem -- and I 128 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 didn't know about an 800 line, I mean a $900,000 investment. We talk about having services available in the court system. We have one shelter for a problem that needs many more, and we send people and women and families to a homeless shelter when they don't need a homeless shelter; they need a certain home that has social services and counseling and therapy so that they can begin to put their lives in line. And if this was just three or four individuals, then you would say -- but when you get in one district, you begin to get 20,000 calls in just one district alone in the area of Philadelphia and you then have four social service agencies that service the problem, when none in West Philadelphia, Southwest or the Northwest of the city, then you have a crises. And it's the duty of government to respond to a crises. And we don't have a government that views this as a crisis. We don't have an administration that sees this as crisis. And it is. It's a budget of crisis, as much a crisis as if we had -- you know, because we react with much more passion and intensity when business people come here and complain about a hundred beggers out in the 129 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 street. And it seems that we mobilize legislative resources and a huge amount of passion to then deal with the problem of a hundred beggers. We don't deal with the issue of why those beggers are there, but we deal with the issue of getting rid of them immediately. But we get 15,000 women going to court, domestic court, and it seems that we don't have the same sort of passion and urgency. And urgency is the word that I think is definitive of what we should be doing as a legislative body and as an administration. And I believe every government official has to come and be here and speak their peace as to how we're going to change the system. That's why Sylvester Johnson, the commissioner, will be here tomorrow. ANA LISA YODER: I'm going to just continue. I was talking about the domestic violence units, the DOM units in the police district. I'm going to skip some pieces here to move along, but the main point that I'd like to make is just that the DOM detectives are potentially in a good position to be a part of a coordinated community response to domestic violence among the police, 130 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 victims service agencies in the district attorney's office, but they don't appear to operate according to any cohesive internal structure or directive. Unlike the Special Victims Unit, the DOM abuse response teams are decentralized and they're broken down into nine divisions throughout the city. Our experience with the DOM detectives is that many of them spend the bulk of their time attempting to obtain victim statements. Although it is important to get accurate information from victims, it should not be the detectives' sole focus. They should have enough time to connect women with important resources, participate in case review and to routinely do more in-depth investigations.
Well, they're not trained for that. ANA LISA YODER: That's part of the issue.
They're not trained for that. ANA LISA YODER: That's one of the things I definitely want to highlight. And I think some of the detectives do see their role more comprehensively than others. 131 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 We've had women from some divisions who have reported to us that the detectives have actually assisted them in obtaining a restraining order, and then we've actually heard other women say that they've not even been offered the most basic information about the services that are available to victims. So it really varies. Our experience is that it -- women's experiences with the detectives vary from division to division. And we are in --
I think the detectives and the average police person, if they're trained for it, I think they'll perform the service. I think what happens in many instances is that you're overwhelmed with the situation. You don't know what it is that you're supposed to do, because you've been trained to catch thieves and robbers and drug dealers and so on, and you have a family in turmoil. And it is very difficult for people to understand how to deal with that problem. ANA LISA YODER: And part of the problem is that we are actually unclear about how much training the DOM unit detectives get related to domestic violence specifically. And, of course, as 132 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 you said, due to the nature of the cases seen by DOM detectives, it's imperative that they receive intensive training regarding the nature of domestic violence. Without that training, there's no 6 guarantee that detectives are going to respond to victims with sensitivity and understanding of the issues faced by the women who are being abused. One of the issues that we see repeatedly is that many of the victims are reluctant to testify against their abusers for a variety of reasons, the most crucial being fear of further abuse and retaliation towards themselves or family members. Without an understanding of the many barriers that women face when deciding whether to prosecute, detectives are not equipped to deal with the reasons why a woman may change her mind after initially saying she would like to prosecute. We have experienced varying degrees of understanding of this issue when dealing with DOM detectives, making it unclear whether they're receiving adequate or uniform and ongoing training. The DOM units were created with the intention to train officers to be more sensitized to and have a more in-depth understanding of the issues 133 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 facing victims of domestic violence. The response of a detective can affect a victim's willingness to contact the police department in the future if she's in danger. The DOM detectives have a very important role in connecting women to important community resources, assisting them through the legal process and providing information about legal options. Once again, I want to reiterate that we have a great deal of respect for the Philadelphia police officers and for the role of the police department in general. The specific request that we're bringing for City Council consideration and action is to prioritize the creation of a uniform centralized response to domestic violence by the police department and the infrastructure to support an ongoing partnership with community-based domestic violence organizations. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you. Neydary Zambrano. I founded the agency, so you don't have to tell me about it. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Okay. My name is 134 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Neydary Zambrano and I'm the Women's Wellness Department manager of Congreso de Latinos Unidos. Basically I supervise the Latina Domestic Violence Program. Basically our expertise is working with the Latino community in the Northeast Philadelphia, and that's why some of the issues that I'm bringing today are issues that affect the immigrant community, not only with Latinos, but also other immigrant communities, as well as the domestic violence victims in general. Domestic violence is a very traumatic experience and is really -- it becomes harder when you have to share it with people from outside. That becomes especially tricky for Latinos, who are taught that they do not air their dirty laundry outside the home. The fear or shame can further be exacerbated by the threat of deportation, fear and distrust of authorities and linguistic and cultural obstacles that they confront. Language is one of the primary obstacles that immigrant victims of violence encounter when they request adequate response from police and other 135 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 city agencies. Latinos total 128,000 in Philadelphia, according to the last census. And based on the census of 2000, five percent of Philadelphia have limited English proficiency; that is, 60,707 people living in Philadelphia over five years old say that they speak English not well or not at all.
Actually, it's much greater than that. The numbers are much -- the census is wrong, but go ahead. Don't worry about it. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Yes. And that's something that I wanted to add, that these numbers are probably an underestimation of the reality.
I know some politicians that don't speak English very proficient either, so it's all right. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Okay. So having to divulge a private matter to a police officer is not only frightening and intimidating, but could also lead to traumatic consequences. The lack of bilingual officers or interpreting system that will allow the officers to accurately community with everyone at the crime 136 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 scene leads to confusion, revictimization and sometimes false arrest. In the Latino community, as in many immigrant communities, the male of the home is the one who generally works outside the home. This makes him either, if not bilingual, more comfortable to speak the language. In many occasions when police officers arrive at a domestic violence scene, they only interview the abuser or what is --
By the way, that thing about in terms of Latino, it was, but it's changing, but the relationship and the aspect of who is dominant and who is -- still remains the same, even if the woman is the one that works outside the home in our culture. So it's really a problem that really has not changed very much, even if the woman is the one that is actually earning the money in the home and so on. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Well, as I was saying, when officers arrive at a domestic violence scene, they only interview the abuser, or what is worse, ask the abuser or the children to translate for the victims. Unfortunately, rather than seeking 137 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the assistance of a bilingual officer on an AT&T line, police officers often simply arrest both parties. This response deters victims from seeking assistance in the future. In one of our cases about a month and a half ago, we had one woman said that said to us that they arrested her and the police officer actually told her that she would only leave jail when she learned to communicate in English. I know there are --
I'd like to find out who said that. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: In another of our cases about a month ago, one of our counselors called 9-1-1 together with one of the victims and requested a Spanish-speaking patrol officer to accompany the victim to serve a Protection From Abuse order and get the daughter -- or the victim that was with her partner. The victim and the abuser didn't speak any English. The counselor and the victim waited for three hours in the car, and when the officer came, he did not speak Spanish. Fortunately, he was very, very -- he really was very helpful. 138 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
That was recent? NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Yes. That was last month. He was very helpful and he called on the radio for a Spanish-speaking officer, and in less than five minutes two patrols came that had Spanish-speaking officers. This made us think and wonder why the victim's initial request could not have been fulfilled more quickly. As you can see, language can be a decisive factor for victims. Another issue is understanding the culture of different communities is also critical to crafting an appropriate culturally competent response to domestic violence on the part of the police. Because of their experiences in other communities where violation of human rights such as disappearance, torture and death are common at the hands of the police, a lot of American people look at the police as a source of fear rather than protection. Many officers lack the cultural sensitivity to recognize that certain communities' perception will influence the behavior of members of that community. These officers make wrong conclusions and can leave women vulnerable to 139 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 further violence. One of the issues that has been brought a lot to our counselors is that if they don't look at the officer directly in the eye or if they not state directly what happened, it will lead the police officers to feel that the women are lying. And that's not the reality. That's part of a cultural norm that some communities have. So like the fear of being misunderstood, women may be reluctant to seek the police assistance despite the fact that it could be crucial to their safety. Victims may also be hesitant to call the police or reveal information at a crime scene because of the perception that police as an authority figure has in that they are closely related with the Immigration and Naturalization Services. In immigrant communities, police are also seen as an arm of the INS, so undocumented victims may be afraid to call the police for fear of deportation. Actually, that fear of deportation is a common control mechanism that the abuser usually used to keep the women under the abusive situation. And women sometimes -- 140 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
And with the current atmosphere that we have, that only is making it worse. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Women sometimes are more afraid of being deported than the abuse itself continuing. After all, in many instances, returning to a politically and economically unstable region may appear to pose far greater danger than ensuring violence from an intimate partner. Women should not have to make such a choice. Unfortunately, for some victims, this fear of deportation is well-founded. The assessment that the police officers must make at the time of a violent incident can have a profound impact on a victim who may be defending herself. As stated in the police department response regarding immigrants, the police can respond -- can report an undocumented immigrant to the INS when the person is suspected of engaging in a criminal activity. Women certainly have reasons to fear the police if they are undocumented. An arrest for domestic violence may lead to deportation of an undocumented battered woman. Women are discouraged from calling the 141 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 police because of fear of being deported themselves or deporting their partner who may be the only source of income in the family.
You know, I introduced a resolution here in City Council that got passed, in essence, that asked our police department not to become an arm of the INS and not to inquire and report individuals based on their immigration status. If that is happening, I would really like to find out if that is really going on, because we are not supposed to be part of the John Ashford right wing hooping of people of the George Bush administration anti-immigrant type of politics, not in this city. We're still democrats and hopefully progressive. But that should not be happening within the police department. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: I would like to highlight here that it is also a perception of the immigrant community and also we have had clients who are really concerned about calling the police because of fear of deportation. And based on these documents that the police department responds regarding immigrants, they can actually report a 142 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 victim to the -- well, not a victim; a person who is suspected of engaging in criminal activity to the INS. So this is something that is there and --
But we have to educate our police, and our police then have to educate the citizens of Philadelphia. And we have to put a message out that they will not act as the enforcers of unjust laws that are passed in Washington. NEYDARY ZAMBRANO: Even immigrant women who are here legally and are permanent residents can be vulnerable to deportation if they're convicted of an assault on their batterers. This jeopardizes the safety of the women and their children, not only because they may go back to a devastating situation that they fled from in the first place, but that will get much worse if the abuser decides to follow them. In order to ensure the right of all victims of domestic violence to live free from violence, the Latina Domestic Violence Program and the other DV programs respectfully request the following: That the police officers at the scene of the crime, whenever possible, speak the language of 143 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 the victim and particularly at the VAO and DOM units. If there is not that possibility of having a police officer, then that a language line would be used to translate; that all police are trained in culturally sensitivity. Such training will enable police officers to be better aware of the cultural economics and potential fears that a victim may have and so that the officers may be better equipped with the skills necessary to get information they need to make a determination of the situation. And, finally, that all the officers are fully trained on the policies pertaining to immigrants and subsequently their responsibility in carefully assessing the situation so that victims of abuse are not wrongly arrested and charged with assault, even when they are acting in self-defense; hence, facing deportation.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Family Violence Unit, Chris Mallios and Elizabeth Jobes. CHRIS MALLIOS: Good morning, Councilman.
Good morning. 144 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 CHRIS MALLIOS: My name is Christopher Mallios and I am an assistant district attorney. I'm the chief of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit.
I got the letter from Lynn. CHRIS MALLIOS: Very well. This is Liz Jobes. She's also an assistant district attorney, and she is the assistant chief of our unit. I want to talk to you a little bit about our office's response to domestic violent in Philadelphia. And at the outset, I would like to say that our office and our unit is unique in Philadelphia, in that we treat domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault as all part of the same problem. It's all part of violence against women, violence against children and violence within the home. And we are the only agency, the only government agency in Philadelphia, that handles all of these cases in one integrated department. Our unit is staffed by prosecutors. There are 16 assistant district attorneys in our unit. We have four detectives in our unit. And all 145 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 of the detective and attorneys in our unit have been specifically chosen for our unit, not only because of their excellence as prosecutors and as police officers or detectives, but because we see in them a sensitivity to this issue and willingness to work on these types of cases. No one ends up in our unit by accident.
I know the previous director was quite a sensitive person, right? CHRIS MALLIOS: That's exactly right. And we learned a lot from her, and we are trying to continue the good work that she was doing.
She established certain parameters in terms of how those cases were to be handled. CHRIS MALLIOS: That's exactly right. And I was her assistant chief for a year and a half, and we're still carrying out many of those same parameters. Our detectives, two of them are veterans of the Special Victims Unit of the Philadelphia Police Department. One of them is an experienced counselor and one of them is a national expert in domestic violence, who is Anna Rodriguez and is here 146 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 today.
You've been sitting. You've heard some of the testimony. And I would like to find out from you how it is and where can we begin trying to structure systems that handle some of the problems that we've heard today. Because not all problems, obviously, are resolved by the DA. And we would like to hear, one, how you go about doing it, what is the process of it and your recommendations. CHRIS MALLIOS: Okay. Well, first of all, we realize, as you said, that the criminal justice system alone cannot stop domestic violence and cannot end the violence in the lives of victims. However, what we can do is be there and be a constant for when that victim and when that survivor of domestic violence does want to go to court, to give them an attorney and give them a voice to go into court and be a passionate advocate on their behalf. And that's what we're doing every day. One of the things that you asked in the letter to the district attorney are statistics about the numbers of domestic violence cases, and, 147 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 unfortunately, our office does not keep those types of statistics. I know the court system does and I know the police department does. I can tell you that, roughly, we have about 125 new criminal prosecutions of domestic violence every week. And I did the math. It works out to about 6400 cases a year. That's felonies and misdemeanors. That's cases that are being prosecuted in Family Court for violations of Protection From Abuse order, as well as cases in the Criminal Justice Center for misdemeanor trials and felony prosecutions.
Is it because of the police designation, that they don't designate crimes along the same lines? You don't keep those statistics? CHRIS MALLIOS: I don't --
Because it really would be very helpful to get a clear picture if your office maintained the number, and it would be good to see of those cases that are prosecuted, because it would give us a clearer view as to how they're handled and whether the courts treat male abusers or abusers of women as they would treat, let's say, a drug dealer that comes in and then they try to put 148 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 them away for life and so on, to see whether the punishment befits the crime as such. CHRIS MALLIOS: Frankly, it's a question of resource allocation, and we do not have the resources to have a unit of people simply keeping track of the numbers of these types of cases.
But isn't it simple? I mean, through a computer, you classify it, you punch it in and then you have results. I mean, whether it was dismissed, whether there was a plea agreement, whether the person was found guilty and what was the punishment, you know, was it probation. Do we have a series of judges, for instance, that treat women abuse in a much lighter manner than if it was aggravated assault out in the street? CHRIS MALLIOS: Well, you know, any time there's a domestic case that goes to court, there are issues that we have to deal with in these cases that would not be in the normal case. For example, if someone is walking down the street and gets robbed or attacked by a stranger, no one is going to go into court and say that that witness is lying against that stranger because they have a previous sexual relationship with that person. But when 149 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 someone has been in a relationship with someone, there are all these other issues, and defense attorneys attempt to exploit these issues in trial. And that's why we have specially trained prosecutors who attempt to overcome these defenses that are built that these types of cases. You're right, it might help in terms of the systemic approach to the problem to have these numbers for you, but as I said, we don't have them. Maybe we need to ask City Council for money to have a unit to keep track of these statistics. But we don't have that right now.
But that would give -- because I think it would give weapons to people like Carol Tracy, it would give weapons to organizations like Women Against Abuse and so on down the line to -- you know, right now judges, for right or wrong, some judges get attacked because of the lenient with drug dealers and they let them out, and your office goes crazy ranting and so on and you hold press conferences about -- I know that Lisa Rowel got really crucified through the press. I think the same should happen to a judge that let's a woman abuser out with two weeks' 150 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 probation, or whatever it is, or 45 hours of community service. And it would be good to have some detail as to what happens to these individuals that don't get to the point where they kill the woman, but they assault her and do bodily damage and maybe -- because if 15,000 go through domestic court and then -- I don't know what Judge Field said, but, actually, like a thousand of them or a few over a thousand go through a criminal contempt proceeding. And that's criminal contempt. That is not aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault and so on down the line, because -- and we really -- I think it would be helpful to us to help you get some more money from administration to do this type of prosecution if we had the statistics available that you could make the case and you could say, Listen, we have so many aggravated sexual assault cases coming in, but we're not able to prosecute them all at that level because we don't have the resources. And, really, I think it would give a hammer to the advocates of women's issues if they're able to have those numbers to put in front of politicians when they go up for reelection or 151 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 election in their activities. Well, what have you done to provide funds for putting these type of individuals away? Because they really are scum. I mean, really, a person who hits a woman is really bad. I mean, I know that George Bush has overused the word "evil" and "evil doer," but these guys are really evil doers. And I think I just would like to see those numbers and those statistics, because I think it would provide us with a tool to help you. CHRIS MALLIOS: I appreciate your passion on this issue, but the numbers are not available. As I said, the police department has numbers, the court system has numbers, and, remember, that although there were representatives here from Family Court today, the vast majority of family abuse and family violence cases are in the criminal court and not in the Family Court.
Right. And that's where we need your help, to give us those areas and those issues so really we can proceed on them. So go ahead. CHRIS MALLIOS: Okay. We have been 152 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 partnering with many of the organizations that are here today and other organizations, both formally and informally. We've participated in trainings at many of the victim advocacy organizations, and those organizations have come to the district attorney's office and helped train our attorneys and our victim witness coordinators and our detectives. We have -- I brought a list with me and I could go through the organizations where we participated in training. Women Against Abuse, the University of Pennsylvania, the Nursing School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia Probation Department, which serves a vital role in helping to prevent domestic violence. The National Liberty Museum, the Department of Human Services, Women in Transition, Temple Law School, the Weed and Seed Program, the Support Center for Child Advocates. We've helped train the Municipal Court judges. We've done trainings at Episcopal Hospital, at the Center for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights, Men against Sexual Violence, Women Organized Against Rape, Philadelphia Children's Alliance. And we could go on and on and on. We sit at meetings, some 153 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 are monthly, some are bimonthly, where we discuss these issues and we bring everyone to the table. We make speakers available. We never turn down an opportunity or a request from either a community organization, an employer. Anyone that wants to enlighten their people about these issues, we will send people out, and frequently the attorneys will go after hours on their own time, because it's an important issue and it's part of our job in the community to help raise awareness. And that's one of the reasons that we are so glad that City Council and this Committee is holding these hearings, because it is raising awareness of this issue. You also requested some internal memoranda that we used to help train our staff, and, unfortunately, we can't make that available. We are a government agency, but we're also a litigation law firm for the City of Philadelphia. And our concern is that some of those documents and some of those materials, if used by defense attorneys, could be used against domestic violence victims. Because you have to remember, Councilman, sometimes we can go into court and we can work things out, but for the 154 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 most part, we're dealing with very adversarial litigation.
And it's the way it should be, because -- you know, I'm an attorney on the defense side. CHRIS MALLIOS: I know that.
And that's the way it should be. But there are some individuals that really -- and I mean training manuals or training material, you don't think the trial attorneys in this city have those manuals? CHRIS MALLIOS: Well, you know, there are a lot of defense attorneys who are representing people in domestic violence cases that don't understand domestic violence. They don't understand the cycle of violence. They don't understand the responses, the government response, the counseling response. And sometimes that gives us a tactical advantage, that they don't know that, because if we can go into court and we can educate a judge or a jury about the dynamics of this relationship and the dynamics of what was happening in the case, then we have a leg up and we have a tool that we can use to help a victim of domestic violence in court. And 155 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that's what we do. That's our job. Now, with that said, should any agency or any -- whether it's a victim advocacy organization or a government agency ask us to come to the table and help us develop training protocols and memoranda and other materials to help either law enforcement or any other agency, we would be happy to do that. We would be happy to bring what we have and sit at the table and work in a cohesive way. But we just can't give you our internal memoranda. It's just work product.
So tell me -- you don't have the numbers, but you said that usually -- you put the number 6,000 out there? CHRIS MALLIOS: Well, as I said, I'm estimating approximately 125 new criminal cases a week, so 52 times that is about 6400 cases.
6400 cases. CHRIS MALLIOS: And we have divided the felony prosecution -- my unit handles the felony prosecution of domestic violence cases, and specially trained attorneys in our Municipal Court unit handle the misdemeanor cases.
And how many you 156 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 estimate in the felony prosecutions? CHRIS MALLIOS: I don't have that number for you. Again, I think either the court or the police could give you that information.
Can you try to give me your estimate? I'll get from them, but I'd like to hear what your estimate would be. CHRIS MALLIOS: I can't give it to you, because I don't know and I didn't crunch any numbers on that issue before coming here, and I don't want to be irresponsible by making some numbers up.
If you look at it, can you let me know later on? CHRIS MALLIOS: I'd be happy to do that.
Take a week and let me know. CHRIS MALLIOS: Sure. Again, it would be an estimate. And I also wanted to point out that the people we serve, the victims that come to court that we advocate for, are an incredibly diverse group of people, socioeconomically diverse, racially diverse, ethnically diverse, members of all sexual orientations, transgendered individuals. And we do 157 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 our best to make sure that everyone gets a fair shake in the court system. In addition, we do have people in our office who speak a wide variety of languages. And whenever -- the first thing that we do is, when we have someone who speaks a language that is not one of the common languages, such as Spanish or Chinese, we call our human resources department and find out who speaks different foreign languages. And if there's no one else available if our office, we either go to the police department or we will use the AT&T translation service, which is a valuable resource for us. Of course, in court, the court provides a verbatim transcription. So if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them, but, essentially, what we're doing every day is going to court and fighting for victims of domestic violence. As supervisors, Liz and I receive phone calls frequently from people in the different victim advocacy organizations that want us to take another look at cases, and we're always happy to do that. Sometimes cases are not what they first seem, and we're always happy and glad when something like that 158 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 is brought to our attention, and when possible, we specially assign those cases to attorneys, we bring the victims in, we bring sometimes the accused in, and we'll sit down with their attorney and we'll just -- and we'll try and get the best possible and the fairest result. We don't keep statistics on convictions, because we don't want to be pushing just for a conviction, because a conviction is not the appropriate result in every case.
No. We agree. We agree. We'd just like to get a total clear picture of the situation. CHRIS MALLIOS: And I can understand why someone in your position would want that. Unfortunately, I have to come here today saying that I don't have the information to give you.
We'll be calling you back to talk. This is not the end of what we're doing. This is a process. CHRIS MALLIOS: Okay.
Thank you very much. 159 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 CHRIS MALLIOS: You're welcome.
Ourania Papademetriou, Stephanie Gonzalez and Stacey. I saw Stacey here. Hi. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: I'm going to start by correcting your pronunciation of my name, Councilman.
Right. I correct people when they mispronounce my name. I'm sorry. Go ahead. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: I'm sure.
Identify yourself for the record, please, and spell your name for the stenographer. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: Yes. Thank you, Councilman. My name is Ourania Papademetriou.
It's misspelled. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: I think it may be misspelled. I think in my official comments my name is spelled, but I will spell it for the record. O-U-R-A-N-I-A, P-A-P-A-D-E-M-E-T-R-I-O-U.
I mispronounced it because it's misspelled on my sheet. 160 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: I'm quite used to that, as I'm sure you are, Councilman, to have our names mispronounced and misspelled.
My daughter is named Pilar, and in school they don't pronounce it correctly. They say Pilar, and she doesn't answer. And she's gotten into trouble with teachers and she said, Well, you didn't call me. My name is Pilar. She's a very self-asserting young woman. Go ahead. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: Thank you, Councilman. Again, my name is Ourania Papadmetriou. I am the director of the Women Against Abuse Legal Center here in Philadelphia. Women Against Abuse Legal Center is the first legal clinic in the country for domestic violence victims and has provided free legal assistance to more than 150,000 victims during its 25-year history. While experts agree that domestic violence cuts across all racial, economic, age and religious lines, it is often low income individuals with the fewest options and resources who rely most 161 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 heavily on the Women Against Abuse Legal Center for assistance. Amid the alarming statistics surrounding domestic violence is the encouraging evidence that legal protection is the most effective deterrent available today to halt domestic violence. In 1976, the Pennsylvania Legislature provided a framework for relief with the Protection From Abuse Act. Under this Act, the primary relief for -- I'm sorry. The primary vehicle for relief is a Protection From Abuse order. A Protection From Abuse order can provide a variety of remedies that are useful in preventing further abuse, such as eviction, temporary custody and support, and the removal of weapons. It is clear from our experience that at the Legal Center that the ultimate effectiveness of a PFA in actually protecting a victim of domestic violence from further attacks is directly related to how specific and comprehensive is the relief granted by the court. Furthermore, the ultimate efficiency of legal protection afforded abuse victims also 162 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 requires a coordinated community response through competent legal representation, specific and comprehensive judicial relief and, very importantly, an aggressive police response to allegations of abuse and violations of existing Protection From Abuse orders. The importance of police involvement cannot be overemphasized, because out in the streets it is the police that put the teeth into a Protection From Abuse order. In Philadelphia, 15,000 individuals annually file petitions in order to obtain Protection From Abuse orders. The overwhelming majority of these individuals, over 80 percent, are unrepresented in their Protection From Abuse action.
Actually, it's higher, according to the judge, but... OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: I think. Women Against Abuse Legal Center tries to provide either legal representation or legal advocacy services to each of these individuals and operates programs in nearly all the civil, criminal and juvenile courtrooms in Philadelphia where domestic violence cases are heard. 163 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Our staff and volunteers talk confidentially to the victims of domestic violence present in court. Our staff explains the court process and provides legal options counseling, in-court advocacy, resources and referral information, safety planning information and other supportive services to each victim that we are able to assist. Women Against Abuse currently employs four attorneys at the Legal Center. One attorney, just one attorney, works primarily on the legal representation in Protection From Abuse matters. Another specializes in representation for clients with disabilities, and the third attorney works principally on custody and support cases where there are domestic violence issues. I am the Legal Center director. I am also an attorney, and I'm responsible for the overall management and supervision of the Legal Center and its staff, which is comprised of ten civil and criminal court advocates assigned to the courtrooms where domestic violence cases are heard, a self-defense project coordinator, an intake paralegal and a litigation assistant. 164 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 A Protection From Abuse order is designed to stop a person from abusing, stalking, harassing and threatening a family member, household member, intimate partner or minor child. The primary purpose is to prevent future physical and sexual abuse. In order to obtain a PFA, a victim of domestic violence must first file a petition with the court. In this petition the petitioner needs to describe both the most recent incident of abuse and any past abuse. The petitioner will also need to detail the relief sought, such as the stopping of abuse, stalking, harassment, no contact, eviction, an order for temporary custody and support, and a request that the sheriff seize any and all weapons. It is important to note that here in Philadelphia there is only one sheriff assigned to confiscate all weapons that are ordered to be seized under each and every Protection From Abuse order granted. In Philadelphia, during normal business hours, a person seeking to obtain a PFA files his or her petition free of charge -- 165 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
That, I didn't know, one sheriff. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: One sheriff, yes, Councilman. He's right down the hall from our office. We share office space. One sheriff. One files a petition free of charge at the Family Court Domestic Violence Unit at 34 South 11th Street, Room 242. This wait for filing a protection order is invariably long and difficult. Court personnel assists victims in filing initial petitions for protection. No further assistance or forms are available if a victim later needs to modify or extend an existing Protection From Abuse order or to file based on a violation. In that case, a victim is forced to obtain these forms from the Legal Center or from Philadelphia legal assistants. The vast majority of these victims get no help whatsoever, rendering their PFA less effective and less of a deterrent to future violence. During the hours that court is closed; that is, from the close of business at the end of each day to the beginning of the next business day, 166 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 on weekends and on holidays, a petitioner must file 3 his or her petition at the emergency filing site at the Criminal Justice Center, where there is a domestic violence master present to review the petitions filed. It is our experience that too often victims are refused the right to file petitions at both sites. No one should be turned away when seeking protection. A further problem occurs when filings are accepted at the emergency filing site, but little or no relief is granted. It is up to a judge of the Court of Common Pleas after reviewing the allegations in the petition to determine whether any temporary relief is granted. After filing, the petitioner must serve the petition and notice of date of hearing on the respondent prior to the hearing date. For safety reasons, the Legal Center encourages victims to have police officers assist them in serving these documents. In Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department requires that the petitioner be present during service. All hearings in Philadelphia are held in 167 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 one of the two designated abuse courtrooms on the second floor of Family Court. The court typically schedules hearings for 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. lists. There is one waiting room for each of these two courtrooms, so all parties, victims and abusers alike, sit together in one space, increasing the likelihood of intimidation, fear and threats of violence. Often family members, friends and others accompanying the petitioner to court for encouragement and support are not allowed by the court personnel to enter the room.
We've heard that. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: When it is time to enter the courtroom, the petitioners are on their own to present their case and address the judge with their concerns and requests for relief. Over 80 percent of all petitioners enter the courtroom without attorney representation, relying on the judge to fashion for them the protection they need to stop and prevent further abuse. Generally, there are 45 to 60 cases per day per courtroom, and these are listed before each 168 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 of the two judges. While hearing these cases, the two judges must also review all petitions that were filed at the two filing sites, at the domestic violence unit and at the emergency filing site. All Protection From Abuse orders can be enforced through contempt proceedings if they are violated. Since violations of Protection From Abuse orders can result in criminal sanctions, the existence of a PFA can serve as a significant deterrence to future violence. The strength of the PFA as a tool to do this depends largely upon the responsiveness of the criminal justice system to the victims' report of contempt. The police may arrest the batterer without a warrant if there is probable cause to believe that a violation of the order has occurred. They do not need to be present to witness the act constituting the violation. When there is an arrest, the case is tried by the assistant district attorney at the Criminal Justice Center. Problems occur when the responding officer does not want to press charges when the 169 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 victim calls them alleging a violation. If this occurs, the victim can then call the police district and ask for the domestic violence detective to discuss the violation. However, it is our experience that it is very difficult to make contact with that detective. Police district phones are often busy or go unanswered, until the victim gives up and ceases to follow through on the violation of the order. The victim, thereby, becomes more victimized and less protected and less safe. Abusers are more empowered to abuse and less persuaded to stop if police do not take seriously a victim's call for help where there is a violation of an existing protection order. Although the victim can file a private criminal complaint or a civil contempt petition, there is just one advocate from the Women Against Abuse Legal Center to provide this assistance, and these remedies are far less effective than an actual arrest by the police where there has been a violation. Amid the alarming statistics surrounding domestic violence is the encouraging evidence that legal protection joined with the coordinated 170 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 community and police response and specific and comprehensive relief from our courts is the most effective deterrent available today to stop domestic violence.
Thank you. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: Thank you, Councilman.
There once was a saying, We're not going to take it anymore. When am I going to get an explanation here that is going to correspond to that? I think it's outrageous the report that the young woman just gave us about the lack of legal services. It would seem to me that a person who is suffering from domestic abuse would at least be able to present her case, would be very fearful as to what she might say, would certainly need sound legal advice from get-go, probably would often need legal advice to even continue to proceed. Putting the burden on the person herself or himself, whatever the case may be, just 171 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 discourages and lowers the number of people that are willing to undertake this added burden, because people suffering from domestic violence, in my experience over the years, are usually very fearful. That's why they've subjected -- why they've been subjected to this condition and permitted it to continue. And it takes an awful lot of courage for a person under those circumstances to be ready to proceed, to become a human being again with full rights. So that the need for lawyers available at all times to consult with, to encourage, to let them know what their rights are under the law and how they may be helped, somebody that can measly be checked with, I just think part of the demand of any society has to be for full availability of legal services, and they shouldn't be given by city administration grudgingly. I think it should be a very top priority. And I'm sorry I didn't hear the whole statement, but I have it and I will read it, but from the part I heard, it seems to me that that's got to be a very basic demand. Without that, I don't see how you can have any kind of a really 172 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 effective program. It seems to me that by the process of elimination, probably you're not seeing the worst cases that really exist in Philadelphia. Because people that don't get that kind of support are so less likely to try to correct the condition. They continue to live under it or they do terrible things to themselves. OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU: Thank you, Councilman, for those thoughts. It's not just having the attorneys available, and certainly we n need more attorneys available, it's also having services in the courtroom, advocates in the courtroom, advocates at all the filing sites to help people wherever they enter the court system to have representation, knowledge, legal options available to them.
Well, I would like to suggest that -- the budget for next year is being put together now. The administration will undoubtedly tell you it's already too late. But it's not. The mayor makes his delivery to City Council late in January. It's the only meeting of City Council that will take place in the month of 173 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 January. I think it's January 28th.
It's on a Tuesday. So you have little more than a month. But I would like to suggest that one of the tasks you might undertake is to develop for Councilman Ortiz and for these two committees and other Council members -- I had to go down to meet with Councilwoman Miller. That's what took me away from the meeting. She has told me she's very supportive of what the committees are doing, because she had worked in the field of domestic violence before she became a councilwoman. She's going to be fully supportive. I believe she was here earlier at the hearing, and she's going to try to make it tomorrow. But I think we'll have a lot of support in City Council. If you can come up with a budget that you would recommend, we can't promise to get all of it to you, but don't stint on the budget. Tell us what you really think would be needed in the Philadelphia situation, and then give us a chance to get at it. 174 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 I would like it, if it were possible, with the Chairman's permission to suggest if you could get that kind of a budget, all of you working together, say, within the next week or ten days. It doesn't have to be a perfect one, but a good one. We would like to begin raising the issue now. And we'd like to begin raising it so that City Council, instead of just reacting to the mayor's proposal, present to the mayor's office what we think the budget ought to include on the service. Perhaps, Mr. Chairman, we could even issue a temporary report from this Committee's hearing --
-- to advance the fight on the budget. Why don't we start now. It seems to me the situation is intolerable, and the sooner we correct it, do it, and don't worry about being polite or not polite. You know, we have free speech in America, and no matter who tries and how hard they try, they're not going to succeed in taking away that right, but if you don't use the right -- you 175 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 know the old saying, If you don't use it, you lose it. So begin using all of your programs, and we will try to assist you. You'll attract attention, and I think when the people of Philadelphia really get aware of this problem, I think they're going to respond, because so many families in the heterosexual society and in the homosexual society, and I wouldn't be surprised in the transgender society, in every society, there are these kinds of problems. They occur within families where there are marriages, they occur where there are no marriages. They occur between all sorts of people. This is just an overwhelming problem and it's a disgrace that human beings aren't given the support to get rid of this kind of a disease that really exists in our society. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me add something to what Councilman Cohen is saying. Women in this city make up over 53 percent of the electoral.
And you elected the 176 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 governor, incidentally.
53 percent of the electoral. We have testifying here today probably some of the most energetic, dynamic, intellectual women from across the city. Every City Council person is up for reelection in May and so is the mayor. Two years ago the stadiums and the teams were the priority of politicians in this city. Why don't we make it that priority of women and children should be the priority, that people that want to get elected to Council and to the mayor's office, that that's the priority that they have to look after. We got an opportunity to influence that, and I think if you follow what David is saying, in this year, this is an opportunity to do a lot of that. And budgets should be reflective of the needs of our communities. So, Stephanie, you're from Legal Services and now you're from the Public Law Center? STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: No; Philadelphia Legal Assistance.
Philadelphia Legal 177 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Assistance. Don't describe -- just give me -- we'll put this as such as -- Stacey, you have a book? STACEY SOBEL: I have a book. Don't worry, I'll be shorter than the book. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: And I'm not planning on reading from mine either. Don't worry.
I asked Judge Field and Fox about the gay and lesbian community, and they said, yeah, but they just don't do the demographics, and maybe you can give us some of that. But Stephanie Gonzalez. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ. Ferrandez. I got two in there, Gonzalez Ferrandez, F-E-R-R-A-N-D-E-Z. Councilman, thank you for inviting me here today and thank you for everyone for listening to this testimony. I had planned to read from something, but I'm not going to now.
We'll make it part of the record. It will be fully in the record. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: After 178 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 listening to all of my colleagues speak today, I want to touch on a few issues briefly. I think to take up for just a moment the appalling lack of legal services available for poor women in this city, I think we can illustrate that today, because I want you to know, Councilman, that every attorney, with the exception of one, who represents poor or battered women in this city in their Protection From Abuse cases, in their custody cases, in their child support cases is in this room. In fact, they're right back there. There's Melissa, who is brand new; Molly; Erica; Maureen; Susan; myself; Leigh and one woman who is out sick today. We're it. So what I bring --
There's Terry and -- STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I'm talking about the lawyers that actually go to court, over to Family Court. And so what I'm going to describe is what it's like for a battered woman who goes to Family Court and what she's going to encounter, because the Court already gave their statistics, 15,000 protection orders, petitions for protection are filed each year. That does not include the 179 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 custody petition and the child support petition that most of those women also need to file and for which they need representation and assistance. There are four main issues I want to touch upon at Family Court, and I was not here for the beginning, so I don't know if the first was touched upon. But the first is the court facilities and security.
We heard they're horrific. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I want to relate some personal experiences. I've been a legal advocate at Family Court for 13 years now, for five years as a paralegal and now eight years as an attorney. The bottom line is that Family Court is not safe. I don't think I can adequately describe the scene that you will find there. If you go to Family Court yourself one morning and you walk in the door at 34 South 11th Street, you'll be greeted by a team of officials, some sheriffs, some are a private security company and metal detectors. But once you get past all that, the woman has to go upstairs on 180 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 her own to the second floor courtroom to the third floor hearing officers, and there she doesn't know what she's going to find. Any one of the attorneys sitting here who has been to Family Court can tell you, and sat there for hours and hours waiting for the cases to be called, can tell you that they have seen numerous times a man curse at a woman, walk by and yell at her, tell her, You better drop this or you're going to regret it. I can relate a personal experience. One morning I was representing a woman who I'm going to call Joanne. We were there for a custody proceeding. She had been severely beaten by her husband. She had her protection order, but we were just waiting around. We had been there for more than an hour and she got up to go to the restroom. Maybe 15 minutes passed and she didn't come back, and I started to be concerned. So I walked out into the main lobby area in front of the elevators by the restrooms, and there I found her husband screaming at her. He was a very large man. Screaming at her, waving a piece of paper at her. At first I didn't know what was going on, so as I 181 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 got a little closer -- and, mind you, this is a crowded hallway. There must have been 30 people there. The only people I didn't see there were any of the sheriffs. But as I got closer, I realized he was yelling at her, You better sign this divorce agreement or you're never going to see the kids again. As it turned out, he had taken the children, and that's one of the things we were in court about that day. I mean, when I saw what was going on, there was no one to ask for help. I walked in between them and intervened. I was yelling at him myself, Go back to the courtroom, stop talking to her. This enraged the man even more. He began to scream at me. Just as -- he drew his arm back, and I was like, uh-oh, I'm getting it, you know, he's going to hit me now. One of my friends, a fellow attorney, who was actually a former district attorney, just happened to be standing by, a rather large fellow himself, and came over and intervened. I have no doubt that had it not been for 182 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that attorney walking over just that minute, both I and my client would have been hit that day. Fortunately, the man calmed down. Well, strode off, I should say, went back to the courtroom, and my client and I, we collected ourselves a little bit, we went back to the courtroom. Fortunately, that day we won the custody proceeding and I got my client's children back. But I wouldn't want -- the important point of this is, we never saw a sheriff that day. Now, I'm giving you a scenario that happened outside the courtrooms. And in the courtroom lobbies is where you will find the most sheriffs. In other parts of the building where many, many proceedings that battered women are involved in, custody proceedings, child support proceedings, you will find no sheriffs regularly assigned. There are just not enough sheriffs. I could tell you another story, but I won't.
There are two buildings, aren't there, at that location? Aren't there two buildings at 34 South 11th Street? STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: It's 183 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 actually one giant building. And you don't realize it, because it has various address. It's very confusing. It's confusing for me as an attorney there, much less any of the litigants. But you go in different doors, but it's actually all connected through upstairs corridors. So it's really kind of one joint building which is located between 11th and 12th Street and between Chestnut and halfway between Market. So as an attorney there, and I'm sure my colleagues could tell you, you have to learn which exits to use, because sometimes you have to -- it's sometimes convenient that there's so many exits. You need to go out a different one if you know the batterer is waiting out there for you and your client at the main entrance. So there's several areas. There's several main lobbies. And for the most part, only the courtrooms where the judges are on the second floor have regular security.
So we'll be able to 184 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 get from him the assignments of sheriffs. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: That would be a great help.
I know they're very much understaffed. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: They are. And I should add to my testimony, the sheriffs that are there are very helpful.
Are very helpful? STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Yes. And when you can find one, they are generally very helpful. It is more an issue of abundance.
Availability. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Yes, absolutely. Also in talking about the -- going to my next point, the physical plan of Family Court. Family Court is simply just too small. When you talk about a lot of these security issues, a lot of these problems arise because the women and their batterers are sitting next to each other, much like my colleague here and I are sitting next to each other, just this close. In a child support conference where a battered woman -- maybe she has 185 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 her protection order. Now she needs to get her child support to make sure that she can provide for herself and her children, she has to sit just like this, next to her batterer. There's a hearing official in front of her, and proceed to defend herself and to ask for child support. And you can imagine asking for money is one of the most heated times in any relationship, even a good marriage, much less in a domestic violence situation. I did a training at Villanova Law School a few weeks ago with a public defender who was a former hearing official, a child support hearing official, and I believe she said in 1997. She said that her hearings were so volatile, that she couldn't take it and she went back to being a public defender to deal with the criminals rather than to be a child support conference officer. That's just an illustration. We need waiting rooms where parties, plaintiffs and defendants, can sit in separate sides. We need facilities where the children can wait and not observe all this, because you have to understand, most of the time children are watching all of this. 186 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
I think we went through the same problem with trying to do the co-location aspects of the Special Victims Unit in which the rape victim had to go by the rapist or be present as they were being interviewed, and same thing. If it happens with children, it's something that should be fixed. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I should add, there is actually a lovely nursery at Family Court, but, unfortunately, it's quite small and not always staffed. And that's the reason -- children, who, of course, are required to be present during custody proceedings often to testify.
I visited that nursery. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I'm glad. Moving on to my next point, it talks about visitation facilities generally. Often when there's been a case of family violence, after the protection order or during the protection order proceeding, there is a need for a secure visitation and exchange location. We don't have that in Philadelphia. A battered woman, she may have her 187 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 protection order, but the judge may still order her to go to a particular place or wait alone at her home while her batterer comes to the home to pick up the children for the weekend. We become a city of exchange locations, because there is no city exchange location or a community exchange location. We exchange our children at McDonald's, at Chuck E. Cheese is a common one. I have a client who meets her batterer every Friday afternoon at the Starbucks Cafe near her house to exchange the child. Now, you laugh, Councilman, because it's unbelievable. It's not coffee anymore. Starbucks is where you exchange the children. But that's preferable, because the only other alternative that we have in which we regularly use is the police station. That is not a place to take children for visitation to exchange them. The same woman that was exchanging her children at Starbucks Cafe, I represented her last month in a proceeding. Unfortunately, her batterer became very angry with her at the Starbucks one day and threw the child into the car, sped off, tires spinning, threatened to kill her. We realize, Well, the Starbucks just isn't working out anymore, 188 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 because, unfortunately, the police never came to the Starbucks.
It's not the caffeine. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I don't think they had any coffee that day. So what we worked out, we were in court. We must have been there more than an hour, myself, her, her batterer and his lawyer, trying to figure out where we were going to pick up this 7-year-old little boy. The judge at the end -- it must have been an hour -- was very exasperated and said, I give up, we're going to the police station, that's all I've got. So that's where our visitation takes place, our exchanges take place. We need secure exchange locations. Other jurisdictions have them. They need to be community-based. At the same time, we need -- I don't know, Councilman, if you've ever had the pleasure of going to the 1801 Vine Street court nursery on a Sunday.
Yes. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Okay. 189 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 For those of you who have not, I'll briefly describe, it's not the most family friendly and hospitable place. But if there's needs to be --
I began my career at Legal Services, like many of us here. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: The facilities there, as I say, are less than family friendly. Supervised visitation for parents who may be a danger to their children are conducted at 1801 Vine Street in three two-hour sessions on Sundays. Although the court has attempted, and I have to commend them for this, to arrange for activities and structured activities for the children while they're at the facility, for the most part, it's a large room, there's no monitoring, there's no visitation which is meaningful there. This is particularly -- this is a problem for any child who has to go there and any party or any parent, but it's particularly egregious for battered women. Because, again, I want you to know that the supervised visitation facility is not safe. I can tell you my colleague -- well, a case in my office not too long ago, we were 190 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 representing a woman, again severely beaten by her husband. There were criminal charges pending, but he was released on bail and was allowed to visit with his daughter, who was years old, at the court 6 supervised nursery every Sunday. The little girl would cry. She didn't really want to go, but we couldn't figure out exactly what was going on. We knew nothing was happening to her. The sheriffs, again, are there. A couple are stationed by to observe the proceedings. But we didn't know what was going on. One day the little girl went to visitation. She came out crying hysterically to her mother and she showed her mother her jacket. It was in the winter. This is a low-income family. It's the child's only coat. The father of this child had been trying to make the mother drop, as we speak informally, drop the criminal charges and her restraining order and to come back home with him. He had taken in a magic marker and written in the lining of the child's coat a message to the mother, a very large message, telling her, not so overtly, but, essentially, threatening her that she had better 191 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 drop this case. And this had all happened during the supervised visitation with the child, in plain view of the sheriffs and others. And we were able to take the jacket as evidence back to Family Court to curtail those visits, but that tells you about the level of supervision that's going on during a visit, that someone can take a child's jacket and mark it. Again, other jurisdictions, they have therapeutic visitation for children who have witnessed battering and trauma. That is much more appropriate than what we have here in Philadelphia. I want to talk about another point, language access. From Congreso we heard earlier about the problems that language minorities deal with when they're calling the police for assistance, so I won't discuss that aspect, but what I do want to talk about is the problems that they deal with at Family Court. The Court reported that 15,000 petitions are filed every year. What they failed to mention is that if you do not speak English, they will not help you file those petitions. Only if you speak Spanish. The court has one full-time interpreter on 192 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 duty in the building. There's one at the Domestic Relations branch and there's one at 1801 Vine Street, the juvenile branch. And this Spanish interpreter, they're both great fellows. They're there every day, but they are predominantly needed for judicial proceedings. There are also fortunately, thanks to Congreso, there's a legal advocate in the Abuse Assistance Unit who can help Spanish speakers. However, if you don't speak Spanish -- and I give this as an example that happened to me yesterday -- you will not get assistance unless you can bring your own translator and file a petition for Protection From Abuse. I even handed a copy of my testimony to Judge Fox on her way out and I said, Read the language access part, because this is an egregious area.
I will call her up. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Well, I'm hoping when I return to my office, I'll have a phone call that this particular lady I'm about to tell you about has a remedy. I'm representing a Moroccan woman. She only speaks French. We were at the court yesterday 193 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 for her custody case.
Somebody mentioned that. We heard testimony about that case today. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Really?
Yes. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Okay. I was there yesterday morning with her for her custody proceeding. Unfortunately, the court had forgotten to order the interpreter, so there was no custody proceeding. I don't speak French, but my client speaks enough English that after the proceeding, she had began to tell me -- and I knew this was a domestic violence case -- but she began to tell me that her husband had again threatened her over the weekend. He had threatened to kill her and she was very fearful. Knowing the quickest way to solve this, I said, Well, come on, let's walk over to the Abuse Assistance Unit, let's just start your protection order. That's quicker than what I can do. We walked over there and first we walked to the window. And I don't know if you've ever been there, but you have to shout through a small hole in the glass. And so there I was -- I hope someone may 194 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 have described this, but her perhaps not. Yes. My colleague will discuss that, but, anyway, as I was screaming through the glass, I was asking how long the wait would be, because my client is the mother of a 3-year-old baby and she only has certain number of hours of child care. They said, Well, it's going to be four or five hours. And I said, Well, she can't wait that long, could I have the paperwork so she can go ahead and fill it out and we'll just leave it? No. She -- And we'll take it back home and then she'll bring it in tomorrow morning. No. She has to fill it out here. Okay. Fine. So we leave. She has to go pick up her baby. And, actually, she was going to try to access some other services in the city. Her plan was to go back today to sit. She would have the four or five hours that she needed to sit and wait to file the protection order. And then I realized, wait a minute, how is she going to do this? She only speaks French. So I called. I called myself the Abuse 195 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Assistance Unit. I didn't quite tell them who I was. I just said, Oh, I'm calling from Legal Services. I got a lady who needs to come over. She only speaks French. Can I send her over tomorrow? I wanted to give you the heads-up that you might need an interpreter. Well, we can't do that. I said, But I'm calling and letting you know a day in advance. No. We don't do that. Doesn't she have a friend she can bring? I said, No. Unfortunately, this woman does not have any friends to bring who can come and wait with her for four to five hours to translate her. Finally, after some haggling on the phone, I was given a number of another court official, that perhaps that person could help me find an interpreter. Needless to say, I didn't go through that, and this evening, after these proceedings, I will be writing the woman's protection petition. However, in the meantime, she is out there with no protection order. This doesn't just happen at the Abuse 196 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 Assistance Unit. I'm going to belabor the bit about language and interpreters a little bit more. In proceedings there are often not interpreters. Now, I have not witnessed a proceeding in front of a judge where there's not an interpreter present. It may have to be continued several times to get somewhat other than a non-Spanish speaker available, but they'll find an interpreter. However, there are many proceedings in which battered women participate, as I told you about the custody and the child support. We have had numerous women come to our office, including Spanish speakers, on days when the Spanish interpreter was busy, who have participated in child support proceedings, again, side by side with their batterer, where they do not speak English. They were called into the support conference and the support officer used the husband to translate for her. Now, you can imagine --
No. 25 STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I have an 197 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 example in January of this year with a Vietnamese women, in February of this year with a Chinese woman, and we've had numerous Spanish speakers report this.
Having the rapist interview the -- no. 8 STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I mean, you can imagine any child support proceeding. And the first question is always, Ma'am, do you still want to proceed with seeking child support? You can imagine what some of the gentlemen respond.
That's was in a court proceeding? STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: Yes. Of course, I can't draw on the record for confidentiality, but perhaps I could give you details. And they were both this year. And my colleague, who represented both of these women, is, unfortunately, out sick today.
I'd call the judge. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I should say -- well, hopefully, the judge is reading this. I should say that in one of the cases my colleague did get in and intervene when she realized 198 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 they had started the proceedings early. The conference officers eventually convinced that perhaps the husband was not the appropriate translator, but the support conference officer's response was to call in the parties' teenage son who was in the lobby, having accompanied his mother to court, for him to come in and translate between his mother and his father about his own child support. So that's the level that we're dealing with. My last comment, my last area, I'm only going to address briefly. This is about, which we've already talked about a lot today, the need for coordination. We've talked about the need for social services for other agencies to coordinate with Family Court during proceedings. As a lawyer, I can talk about this both in terms of the needs for evidence during proceedings and in terms of the need for services after proceedings. If you're a battered woman and you need to prove your case, whether it's a protection order or a custody case, let's say you did make a police report. You need to get a copy of the police report. You need to subpoena the officer to come 199 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 and testify. You have to pay money to get copies of the reports. You have to fill out a form. You have to wait for the report to get back to you. To subpoena a police officer, frankly, is even more complicated. And if you want to know the truth, I can't even tell you how to do it right now because my secretary does that. But it's a long and difficult process, and there's a fee involved. If you need records, perhaps, from the Department of Human Services, which might document some past abuse on the part of your batterer, again, you have to issue a subpoena. It's a very difficult process. We need police officers sitting in the courtrooms to provide the information that's readily available in their own computers. We need the Department of Human Services to be available. These are evidentiary matters. But we also need social services available on the remedy end. Family Court judges do not have access to resources. My colleague, who is sitting with us today, had a case where one of the judges was involved in a custody case and knew that the father in this case was a violent fellow, and she thought 200 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that angry management classes would be appropriate. That's something that we have here in Philadelphia, but she didn't know where to refer him. She didn't have a specific place. So all she did was write in her order, Defendant to have angry management classes, to attend angry management classes. Well, you can imagine, the father didn't know where to go either and wasn't particularly interested in finding them, so he never did. And today, unfortunately, this woman still suffers harassment from the gentleman involved. If we had social workers and others sitting and available in Family Court to provide resource, information, referrals for angry management, substance abuse treatment and all the other things that can crop up in the life of a family, and particularly in families which are experiencing violence, then we would go a lot further to remedy the situation in which our women and children find themselves. I think -- I could go on and on.
I know. STEPHANIE GONZALEZ FERRANDEZ: I've represented almost -- and I won't -- almost in my 201 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 career, in my short attorney career, I personally represented almost 200 women in a variety of cases, and the stories are endless. And all the stories I've given you today, with the exception of the first one, have happened within the past year. We've come a long way. In 1994, I was the only attorney in the city representing battered women in all areas of family law, and today we have eight. We've come quite a long way, but I hope with the help of City Council, we'll continue to go further.
We haven't gone far enough. Thank you. Stacey. Again, don't read me the book. STACEY SOBEL: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Councilman Cohen. One of the reasons why the material I gave you was so thick was because many people don't know much about domestic violence issues and same-sex relationships or for transgender people. I'm not going to go over a lot of that, but that's really more for the education of yourselves and your colleagues who, unfortunately, aren't here to be with us today, but we felt that it was important 202 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 information to get out. It might answer some of your questions.
It will be on the record, so that anyone will be able to read it. STACEY SOBEL: So I will summarize from this other stuff, and I'm going to hit on some of those points. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today regarding domestic violence issues related to the City of Philadelphia's courts, your departments and agencies. My name is Stacey Sobel. I am the executive director at the Center For Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights. We are a non-profit organization that advocates a quality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pennsylvanians through direct legal services, education and policy reform, and we're based here in Philadelphia. When the Center was founded six years ago, we never imagined the impact that domestic violence cases would have on our organization. However, it soon became clear that same-sex couples faced domestic violence at the same rates as heterosexual couples. The need to assist same-sex victims of domestic violence became so pressing, 203 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 that the Center founded our Anti-Violence Project in 2001 to specifically handle these types of cases in the LGBT community, as well as other violence issues. It is common knowledge, and some of my colleagues have spoken about this today, that domestic abuse victims will not seek the assistance of law enforcement or other governmental resources out of fear of retaliation by their abuser, the lack of knowledge of the judicial system or the fear that people will just not believe them. The decision to attempt to access these services can be fraught with tremendous anxiety, especially for same-sex victims of domestic violence. Many of Philadelphia's same-sex abuse victims do not even know that Pennsylvania's Protection From Abuse Act actually covers same-sex relationships, that Philadelphia's Fair Practices Ordinance forbids anti-LGBT discrimination, or that limited social services are available to them. Those who do know that the courts are open to them must consider taking the enormous risk of repeatedly coming out or revealing the nature of 204 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 their relationship with abusers to police, social service providers, legal service providers, court staff and possibly employers or landlords if their abuser violates a Protection From Abuse order and appears at the victim's home or place of employment. For many LGBT people, the prospect of having to endure so much exposure simply carries too many perceived risks, including the risk of being humiliated and rejected by police, attorneys and court staff at a particularly vulnerable moment, the risk of being evicted or the risk of being fired.
Are there any recorded cases in which those things have happened? STACEY SOBEL: Absolutely.
And I think those fears we understand, so that -- I'm interested in the areas in which those things have actually come about and been imposed on the individuals that you're supposed to defend. STACEY SOBEL: Sure. I was just about to get to that. I can give you a couple of examples. Just to let you know, approximately 10 percent of our cases that we handle overall are domestic violence cases. And while the police 205 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 sometimes respond appropriately to reports of same-sex domestic violence, in many other cases they do not. I'd like to give you an example of a man who was severely beaten by his partner. The police were called, and when they arrived to the scene, they harassed the victim for crying. And instead of bringing the victim to the hospital for medical treatment, the police officers brought him back to his abuser. The police have also failed to intervene in other cases that we've had, calling them fair fights between the two partners, or arresting both parties without regard for the circumstances. In other cases, the police will always arrest the bigger person or the one who looks more masculine, even if the evidence indicates that the other person is the domestic violence victim. We've also seen the police refuse assistance to a transgender person even though they had a Protection From Abuse order. The police officers told her that they would not assist her because she was a man, and they laughed at her and they left. 206 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613
Did that happen recently? STACEY SOBEL: Within the last year. When an LGBT person either finds the ability to report their case or actually access the judicial system, they are faced with additional hurdles. And I want to actually talk a little bit about the environment of Family Court, which I consider to be itself a barrier to assistance. To say it's cold and unfriendly to victims is putting it simply. I was thinking that some of my colleagues might have gone into some more detail, but I feel that I have to go into some discussion about the window with the little hole that's about this big, and the fact that there's so little privacy in Family Court. And I think that this disproportionately impacts the Center's clients. When most people come to this window to have their case heard by a court representative, they're doing so in a room full of dozens of people. While this can be embarrassing for anyone, it is even more difficult for LGBT people who must announce their sexual orientation or gender identity 207 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 in front of numerous strangers who may not approve of their relationship. The frequent comments people make in the room regarding the person at the window's case make this situation even more difficult. If you go to this room on a typical day, there will be a number of people waiting in line at the window and then there's people sitting in chairs. And as each person approaches the window and tells their story to the court staffer, everyone else in the room 12 starts making comments, Oh, he did that, you should do this, they should do that and they're --
They do that through this hole? STACEY SOBEL: -- critiquing. No. One person is at the hole talking to the staff and then they've got, just like I'm here right now -- everyone is nodding -- a room full of critics, if you want to call it, who are telling them, do this, do that, you didn't do that, you didn't do that, call Women Against Abuse, call Women in Transition, all these different things. And then all the sudden, because this hole is about this big, you're forced to shout, because -- well, first of 208 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 all, you can't hear hardly anything they're saying to you. So you're yelling there with your now or 4 30 best friends sitting next to you and you're 5 screaming, It's not a man; it's a woman. It's not 6 my husband, or, I am gay, it's not that way. 7 What happens is, this is even made worse 8 because the court staff will always use or assume 9 that any woman who approaches the window -- 10
Like those 11 restaurants up in Navaho with the bullet-proof -- 12 STACEY SOBEL: Exactly. 13
-- and a hole in it? 14 It is demeaning to go order food in one of those 15 places. I can imagine... 16 STACEY SOBEL: So you can imagine how 17 demeaning -- I cannot underestimate the difficulties 18 it is for someone to have the inner strength to walk 19 into that building in the first place. 20
We got to change that. STACEY SOBEL: And just to walk into that building and ask for help, usually those people have been victims of abuse for months and years. And then to go into that room and face that type of 209 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 embarrassment is difficult enough. To couple that with the fact that you are a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and that you've just announced that to everyone who is sitting there is that much more humiliating, demoralizing. And then you become fearful for your own safety or judgment, because you have no idea who is sitting in that room and how they might feel that you are there because you're involved in a same-sex relationship.
Oh, my God. We should have John Ashford visit that place. STACEY SOBEL: Well, it gets better, because after you yell through the hole that you're gay or lesbian or something, then you have to sit down right in those rows with those other people, and they stare at you, until your number is called and perhaps you get to speak to somebody else. Same-sex victims -- and I have to also say something here. Almost every single person here has talked about women, and as a woman, as someone who is very responsive to --
I asked the judge the question. Go ahead. STACEY SOBEL: -- to domestic violence 210 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 needs in our society, they are overwhelming women who are coming through, but for the men that have to go up to that window and say, I am battered, or, I am a batterer and sit there in a room full of women, or I've been battered by a male person, is a very hard thing to do, or for a transgender person to get up there in a room full of women is even that much more difficult than a lesbian to do. Same-sex victims are often very confused about how the Family Court system works and even if it applies to their relationships at all. For example, if you go into this room, you'll see a very large handwritten sign in the room that states that victims who are not spouses or relatives must be in a sexual relationship with the abuser. Well, first of all, that's not a correct interpretation of the law. A person who is being abused by a former partner may file a complaint. Additionally, no 21 sexual relationships is necessary. The couple may have dated, but not have been sexually intimate. It's also not clear to our clients what is meant by a sexual relationship or if LGBT relationships are even covered, because unlike 211 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 marriage, the state's laws don't even recognize same-sex relationships. Even more disturbing is the fact that personnel sometimes state that they cannot help the victims because they're in a same-sex relationship and they turn them away. This is especially true of victims who seek emergency orders at night or on the weekends. I know we've discussed that a little bit. And the staff often tells our clients to go file a private criminal complaint, which is a process which can take months to be resolved and provides no 13 temporary protection while the process drags on. When complaints are accepted in Family Court, our clients' problems are often the same as many of the others who have testified here, but I would say that they are magnified. Some of the judges encourage cross-complaints against our clients, even in cases where it's not appropriate. Judges also sometimes look at the more masculine partner as the aggressive and the more feminine one as the victim, even when the evidence indicates otherwise. These problems only compound the violence and fear that many victims face and make 212 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 them less likely to access the judicial system in the future. When it comes to the other city departments and most non-profit organizations that work within the city and provide services for domestic violence victims, they do not have materials or programs to address the needs of the LGBT community. For example, there is not one bed in the entire city shelter system that is available for a gay man or a transgender domestic violence victim. Also, people might be hesitant to seek the services of organizations that will assist LGBT people because, for example, the word "woman" is part of that organization's name. And even though they're welcoming, they just feel that those services are not intended for them. On behalf of the Center For Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights and our clients, I respectfully request that the Committees on Public Safety and Health and Human Services review the City's courts, their departments and agencies to ensure they are meeting the needs of all domestic violence victims regardless of their sexual orientation or gender 213 12/17/02 - PUBLIC EALTH - BILL 020613 identify. It is the City's obligation to assist its most vulnerable people. The city has taken steps to improve services to domestic violence victims, but more needs to be done. Thank you.
God, this gets more complicated as we go along. STACEY SOBEL: I don't know if you have any questions.
No. It's a problem. It's something that we have to attend to, and we will. STACEY SOBEL: Thank you.
We will. Thank you. This Committee stands in recess until tomorrow, December 18th, the year of our Lord, 2002, at 1:00 p.m. (Hearing adjourned at 5:15 p.m.) - - - 214 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on December 17, 2002, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)