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Bar News - July 5, 2002 Domestic Violence Conference Draws Record Numbers of Judges, Lawyers Revised DV Protocol Issued WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE fatalities constituting nearly half of all homicides in New Hampshire, record numbers of superior court, district court and Family Division judges and masters and public and private attorneys attended the 8th Annual Statewide Conference on Domestic and Sexual Violence May 30-31 to share best practices in working with victims, offenders and children exposed to domestic violence and sexual assault. Nearly 500 victim advocates, law enforcement officers, social workers, clergy, psychologists, doctors, batterer intervention program providers, corrections officers and others joined the lawyers and judges at the two-day multi-disciplinary event. The conference, sponsored by the Governor’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Attorney General’s Office, was held at the Mt. Washington Hotel and Resort in Bretton Woods. Conference planners attribute the large numbers of legal professionals in attendance to the workshops designed especially for members of the Bar. These included seminars on how to use lethality assessments in the context of legal representation in a variety of issue areas; domestic violence and elderly clients; immigration issues; working with developmentally disabled clients who may have been physically or sexually abused; and how to handle interstate custody disputes where domestic violence is an issue. One new topic this year, a presentation titled "Batterers as Fathers" by Dr. Scott Hampton of Ending the Violence in Dover and Linda Griebsch, public policy director of the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, brought rave reviews from attendees and requests for additional coverage on this important topic at the next conference. The conference also featured a track with sessions of particular interest to judges. Retired Judge Michael Brigner from Ohio conducted a series of workshops focusing on ethical practices for judges and attorneys. In response to the oft-asked question of whether it is appropriate for judges to attend conferences of this nature, Brigner challenged judges and others to consider that in light of the high percentage of homicides that are domestic violence-related, a judge’s impartiality should be questioned if he or she does not spend time studying the issue. Another important part of the conference was the presentation of the NH Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee’s second annual report. In the report, the committee made about two dozen recommendations for various agencies, departments and organizations with respect to their dealing with domestic violence issues. More on the report will appear in a future issue of Bar News. Leading the two-day conference was Attorney General Philip T. McLaughlin, who has attended every domestic violence conference during his tenure. McLaughlin acknowledged the work of three individuals who have made extraordinary improvements in the field of addressing domestic violence: Donald Shumway, commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services and chair of the Governor’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence; Grace Mattern, executive director of the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; and Sandra Matheson, victim-witness coordinator in the Attorney General’s Office. Shumway, in turn, credited McLaughlin and NH District Court Administrative Judge Edwin Kelly, both members of the Governor’s Kids’ Cabinet, for their untiring and unfailing support of children and families in New Hampshire. Judge Kelly also took an opportunity to introduce the district court’s newly revised Protocol for Domestic Violence Cases. The court’s first edition, released at the very first statewide domestic violence conference in 1994, was substantially rewritten in light of new state and federal laws relating to domestic violence and the Supreme Court’s case law in this arena. The highlight of the conference was the keynote presentation by Olga Trujillo of ORT Solutions in Washington, D.C. In addressing the connections between domestic violence and child abuse, Trujillo gave an intensely personal account of having been a child victim of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her father, and then at the hands of her brothers after his death. Her mother was often victimized as well. Trujillo took the audience through a pictorial history of the abuse, showing her as a toddler into adolescence, describing the injuries and abuse that she had suffered by the time of each new photograph. The sometimes cute and silly pictures of a smiling little child belied the multiple broken bones and sexual assaults that had occurred as early as seven years old. Trujillo, who spent nearly a decade implementing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the Office for Victims of Crime at the United States Department of Justice and then administering a series of VAWA grants, asked the audience to remember that anyone, and everyone, can make a difference by offering extraordinary gestures of kindness and compassion. The annual conference also includes the presentation of the William D. Paine, II Award to an individual who has demonstrated significant commitment to community collaborations to end domestic violence. Rep. William Knowles of Dover was this year’s recipient in recognition of his years of service in the New Hampshire Legislature, serving as a sponsor on nearly every piece of legislation related to domestic violence. Rep. Knowles is widely credited with securing the passage of RSA 173-B, the Protection of Persons from Abuse statute, and all the amendments to bring New Hampshire into compliance with the federal full faith and credit provisions of the Violence Against Women Act of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1994. For more information on the Governor’s Commission or this conference, contact Sandra Matheson at the Department of Justice at 271-3671. For a copy of the District Court Domestic Violence Protocol, contact Judge Kelly’s office at 271-6418.
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