SAN ANTONIO – – A San Antonio town hall focused on domestic violence turned into a discussion about what victims encounter after they ask for help, and where the system may be falling short.
Victims, advocates and people who work in the criminal justice and family court systems raised concerns about protective orders, prosecutions and communication between agencies and courts.
San Antonio family law attorney Deanna Whitley said one of the biggest challenges is the lack of coordination between the criminal and civil sides of the legal system.
“The problem I see there is not integration on the criminal side with the civil side. They operate separately. They don’t coordinate.”
Whitley said a domestic violence victim may have multiple legal matters happening at the same time, including a criminal case and a civil protective order.
That can create gaps when information from one case does not make its way to the other.
“One of the reforms I would like to see is that those two systems are integrated at the magistrate level,” Whitley said, so that when someone is arrested, officials have a complete packet of information about the individual.
Menéndez calls domestic violence an ‘epidemic’
State Sen. Jose Menéndez, who hosted the town hall, said domestic violence has reached what he called an “epidemic level” in Bexar County.
He said addressing the problem will require better coordination among law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and other agencies.
“We’ve got to come together and find out where the cracks are in the system, where we have overlaps and where we can smooth out the delivery,” Menéndez said. “There has to be a comprehensive system of delivery so that victims aren’t alone.”
Menéndez said he wants to examine how domestic violence cases are investigated and prosecuted, as well as how different parts of the justice system communicate with each other.
Push for extreme risk protective orders
Menéndez also said Texas should consider extreme risk protective orders, sometimes referred to as “red flag” laws.
Those orders can allow a judge to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms if the person is found to pose a danger, depending on the state’s law.
“Extreme risk protective orders, also known as red flag laws, are something that I think are way overdue in Texas,” Menéndez said. “I think it’s something that we have seen that actually work in other states.”
Texas currently has protective orders that can be used in domestic violence cases, but Menéndez said he believes the system needs to be reevaluated.
“We do have protective orders, but I don’t think, it’s obvious to me that they’re not working,” he said. “So I think we need to take a look at revamping the whole system.”
Menéndez said he plans to make domestic violence a priority when lawmakers return to Austin for the next legislative session.
The goal, he said, is to identify gaps in the system and improve how agencies work together before another family experiences the consequences.
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