{"id":5925,"date":"2021-11-10T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T15:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=5925"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:53:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:53:06","slug":"seeking-safety-women-go-to-court-but-its-not-that-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2021\/11\/10\/seeking-safety-women-go-to-court-but-its-not-that-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeking safety, victims of domestic violence go to court. But it’s not that simple."},"content":{"rendered":"
Two women come before a judge seeking domestic violence protection orders. In one case, a woman alleges that her abuser is trying to get possession of the house. In the other, a woman claims that her partner has physically harmed her.\u00a0 The judge denies a domestic violence protection order to the first woman but grants one to the second.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The first woman is killed by her abuser. The second woman’s allegations turn out to be false.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
“I think I used to keep those [two complaints] on my wall because I think that you have to remember your gut instinct isn’t always your right instinct,” says Durham County Judge Nancy Gordon, who heard the two cases at a judge\u2019s training in North Carolina in 2007.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Domestic violence protection orders, known as a DVPO or 50B order, per the legal statute that created them, are the court’s way of requiring perpetrators of domestic violence to stay away from victims or face arrest. But obtaining an order is fraught with complications.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Judges, prone to their own biases, act fallible. Nervous complainants sometimes file and withdraw their request several times. Victims must advocate for themselves despite frequently lacking legal experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Durham County courts have seen an influx of domestic violence cases, judges and prosecutors say. Even before the pandemic, increasingly sophisticated and discreet tracking technology made it easier for abusers to stalk their victims.<\/span><\/p>\n