IN ITS SECOND annual report, the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee made about two dozen recommendations to various organizations and state and local bodies on how to improve services for victims of domestic violence in New Hampshire. The committee's report was issued at the 8th Annual Statewide Conference on Domestic and Sexual Violence in May 2002.

Unlike its first report, which made 13 recommendations for the court system alone, the committee's report this year had only one recommendation for the courts: "The Child Impact Program (CIP) [the mandatory statewide program for all persons involved in divorce or unwed custody proceedings] should include a component addressing the risks of separation when there has been violence in a relationship."

According to Judge Susan Carbon, supervisory judge of the Grafton County Family Division who chairs the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee, this recommendation was developed in recognition of the fact that a significant percentage of fatalities occurred near to the time of a couple's separation or divorce.

"This is a good example of why lawyers, police officers and advocates need to look at risk factors and screen cases for any heightened sense of danger," said Linda Griebsch, the public policy director of the Governor's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and a member of the committee. "Awareness that leaving a relationship can be the most dangerous time for a victim can help all professionals work with their clients to address safety concerns. All attorneys, regardless of their specialty, share in this responsibility."

In its second report, the committee reviewed four domestic violence-related deaths that occurred between May 1999 and October 2001. The circumstances around each were, as expected, complex. Two of the four involved unmarried dating relationships in which the victim had recently separated from the perpetrator. Two occurred in Grafton County and two in Hillsborough County.

The review of these deaths raised such issues as: domestic violence among the elderly and in geographically isolated populations; violence perpetrated by law enforcement officers; ongoing threats of suicide as a primary source of abuse and harassment; and the escalation of violence that occurred in a relationship that began while the couple was in high school.

In addition to the recommendation to the courts, the committee's report also included recommendations to the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, crisis centers, the Dept. of Education, Dept. of Safety, Elderly and Adult Services, employee assistance programs, law enforcement agencies and the Governor's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence.

The report also includes agency and department responses to the 100 recommendations developed during the committee's first two years of work and released in its first report. Many of the committee recommendations for the court system were addressed through the recent revision of the NH District Court Protocols for Domestic Violence Cases. The protocols, which were first released at the inaugural statewide domestic violence conference in 1994, were substantially rewritten in light of new state and federal laws relating to domestic violence and the Supreme Court's case law in this area.

One of the responses not achieved through the revision of protocols was in answer to the committee's recommendation to make domestic violence victim advocates available in all courts. The AmeriCorps Victim Assistance Program increased its numbers by one-third last year and plans another increase this year. Currently there are 12 crisis center advocates doing court work and four prosecution victim/witness advocates. Crisis centers try to back up the AmeriCorps volunteers with staff or volunteers to give as much court coverage as possible. Also, the NH Attorney General's Office is soliciting grant requests from local law enforcement agencies to increase the availability of victim/witness advocates to local prosecutors.

Carbon said the committee is pleased with the positive changes its first report elicited. "The response to the first report has been truly extraordinary. Nearly all of the recommendations have been adopted or are currently being assessed," she said. Carbon attributes the favorable response to the committee's "broad-based composition" and the fact that the recommendations "represent balanced and thoughtful discourse and consensus."

"The Fatality Review Committee reports are a testament to the commitment of all agencies, departments, branches of government and individuals who work with domestic violence issues to help end domestic homicides in this state," Carbon added. "New Hampshire is the only jurisdiction conducting thorough statewide fatality reviews that develops recommendations and then anticipates follow-up and implementation."

The Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee, a part of the Governor's Com mission on Domestic and Sexual Violence, was created by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in July 1999 to serve as another vehicle for reducing domestic violence-related fatalities through thorough, systematic, multi-disciplinary reviews of these cases. The committee's objectives include identifying and describing trends, high risk factors, current practices, gaps in systemic responses and potential barriers to safety for all New Hampshire citizens. Once these are identified, the committee hopes it can help with community-based prevention education to help promote safety through improved practices.

In addition to attorneys and judges, the committee also includes representatives of the following groups: state and local law enforcement; victim advocates; educators; physicians (including the state's chief medical examiner); batterer's intervention program providers; psychologists; the clergy; human resources; the NH Department of Health and Human Services; CASA; and the Department of Corrections. Attorney representation is also expansive. Members of the NH Attorney General's Office serve, as does an assistant United States attorney, professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center, the head of the state's Public Defender program, and a private defense attorney. Unlike most of its counterparts across the country, the New Hampshire committee has promoted inclusion of defense attorneys since its inception, believing that they, too, have an important role in promoting public safety, a fundamental goal of the committee's work.

Anyone who would like a copy of the committee's report or further information about the group's work may contact Judge Carbon's office at 536-7609.

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