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Domestic violence gets short shrift in Schenectady County

    Four years ago, Schenectadians awoke on Christmas to the tragic report of four murders and a suicide — all examples of domestic violence at its worst — extreme in its manifestation, but not unusual.
    The city responded by putting together the Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence. This group was discontinued as it was felt that a parallel effort, the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCR), was duplicative. So now the Mayor’s Task Force is gone and CCR meets, periodically, last in June.
    Former Police Chief Mike Geraci told the the task force that 70 percent of police calls for service were domestic related. District Attorney Robert Carney “guesstimated” that 50 percent of his office case load was domestic. A former assistant public defender told me that he estimated that 50 percent of his case load was domestic or had domestic violence in the background.
    I find these numbers to be both shocking and revealing. The amount of money currently spent by taxpayers in just these three areas is staggering and excludes costs of Family Court (caseload may be as high as 80 percent domestic violence-related), criminal court, sheriff’s time and jail costs. If the crime were graffiti or criminal mischief, politicians and the public alike would be up in arms, demanding results!
    The apparent lack of a comprehensive, coordinated, intensive effort on the part of both city and county officials on this issue amounts to negligence. Their response to date is, to say the least, less than effective. Other communities around New York state have CCRs that meet monthly, some every two weeks. Many of these groups target persistent and repeat domestic violence offenders.
We need voices on the Schenectady City Council, and in the Schenectady County Legislature to keep this issue on the front burner, insisting on effective action by responsible public officials — before being prodded by another Christmas morning massacre.
ED GUIDER
Ballston Lake
The writer is a member of the Ballston Men Against Violence.

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Why are these perps still in a position to victimize women?

    I read with a heavy heart the March 6 article in the Gazette concerning the tragic murder of a young woman whose body was found in an area basement. The headline stated, “Alleged killer has violent past, jail time.” It appears from the article that the alleged perpetrator is a predator who has victimized numerous women and children during his reign of terror.
    As I read the article it occurred to me that a perpetrator who had been through the jail system 17 times shouldn’t have had the opportunity to continue his pattern of serial violence within our community. Unfortunately, the sad reality of domestic violence crimes indicates that predators of violence are relentless in their pursuit of heinous ways to control, diminish, sexually assault, stalk, physically injure and kill the victims that they chose to violate.
    Perpetrators have to be held accountable by our society and most especially by our legal system. It’s a far too common scenario in our society that perpetrators of crimes against women face the most minimal of legal sanctions; consistently break orders of protection, with little consequence; and appear to have more rights than the individuals they victimize. Crimes against women and children are on the rise; incidents are becoming more dangerous and the lethal consequences are escalating.
    How many more victims must pay with their lives, how many more children must lose a parent, and how many families must grieve the loss of a loved one before our society and our community take the epidemic of domestic violence seriously?
    CAROLE MERRILL-MAZUREK
    Schenectady
The writer is director for Services to Women and Families for the YWCA of Schenectady.

Lets not forget - it " used to be OK to smack your wife around a little bit  only just 30 - 40 years ago-

" your honor- I had to hit her - she wouldnt shut up " might have been a perfectly good defense. Back in the good old days of the hoola hoop-

We like to think fondly of the  " good old days ".- forgetting about the bad stuff .

It also used to be OK to spank the kids.....I said spank not beat.....and this is another reason why I am not a police officer---the end result of the judgement and lack thereof of our justice systems penalties....I still wonder why we have conversations about 'sex offenders' considering we dont even know what one is or what to do with them after they are served 'justice'.......they cant resign now can they?

I remember my grandfather chasing my grandmother around the house with a belt-
My father did the same to my mother-

Both would have done jail time by todays " standards "

Latino culture and families in America still have a hard time with this today- they still think its ok to smack a woman around- I mean just a little -  Dont you watch COPS ?

Children- Im not talking about SPANKING- the way you may remember-

Until  2000 or so the guidline for child abuse in Florida was that the " marks had to be gone in 5 days "

The best domestic violence is the public kind > ....you know, at the market, at walmart, at the mall etc etc.......Sometimes I just have to leave and forget what I went shopping for......anyone see utopia coming yet.....oh, that would be the Patriot Act, wiretapping and RealID......

Remember that America was and is still evolving and 'slapping your wife around' was the European culture. However during America's evolution, 'slapping your wife around' was not an option any longer. So now, decades later and still evolving, we now have our own culture. The American culture!

America has an identity crisis. MAYBE in another couple hundred years we will have our own culture-

Frank Lloyd Wright said we wont have our own culture until we have our own architecture.

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Zero tolerance needed for domestic violence

    The fund-raiser for Debra Lee’s family (March 3 Gazette story) was as heartwarming as the brutal details of her husband’s attempt to beat her to death with a baseball bat were disturbing. One could only wish for a concerted, proactive effort by the community when it comes to creating a safe environment for all women, especially those who are threatened by sexual assault, battering and attempted murder by their male partners.
    It has not been heartening that [in Albany] the Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence appears to be on permanent hiatus. We don’t need more feel-good, half-hearted responses. Rather, we need a genuine commitment by mayors, district attorneys, police departments, domestic violence advocates and others to put a public face on zero tolerance for male-on-female violence. What is needed is a program of education like the DARE program in schools and workplaces. Also needed are men who will step up and tell other men that battering is unacceptable, whenever tolerance for abuse is voiced.
    If we can only create what we can first imagine, can we imagine the kind of community where all women are afforded the kind of safety men take for granted every day, or even where fund-raisers are held to support efforts to end male violence?
    MARK CHAFFIN
    Delmar

Domestic abuse, child abuse, war.....we clearly are a violent society. I'm not saying that the majority of the population is, but these people are certainly out there and no one or no government or law enforcement can protect every single person every single minute of the day from harm.

And I am noticing that even if stiffer penalties are created, they still behave the same, un-shaken by the consequences.

Quoted from bumblethru

Domestic abuse, child abuse, war.....we clearly are a violent society. I'm not saying that the majority of the population is, but these people are certainly out there and no one or no government or law enforcement can protect every single person every single minute of the day from harm.

And I am noticing that even if stiffer penalties are created, they still behave the same, un-shaken by the consequences.

This is why I am not a police officer.....one domestic call and I would go in banging heads together.....ask questions later.... >

Has anyone seen the movie " Raging Bull " lately ?  I didnt realize Jake Lamotta ( he is still alive by the way 86 yo by the way ) smacked his wife around so much-

Of coarse this was 50 years ago when it was OK  to beat your wife-

Sean Connary and Jack Nicholson have also admitted the same behavior. It clearly hasn't hurt their career.

I would bang their heads together too.....