Brooklyn D.A. Partners with Medgar Evers College for Domestic Abuse Survivors Panel

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and his team members recently visited Medgar Evers College to participate in a panel discussion on “Criminalized Survivors: Working to Support Domestic Abuse Survivors at the Root Cause.”

A centerpiece of the event was the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) and its positive effects in the cases of domestic abuse survivors who had been charged with crimes. Originally introduced as a New York State bill in 2011, it allows judges to go outside the regulated sentencing scheme and assess whether domestic abuse significantly contributes to an alleged crime. Governor Andrew Cuomo finally signed it into law on May 14, 2019. Gonzalez opened the panel by introducing the audience to the DVSJA and explaining his early support of the law.

“I was proud to be one of the only prosecutors in the state to initially support [DVSJA], he explained. “Today, it’s the law. It gives prosecutors and judges the ability to do something that never existed before. In many of our cases, there are mandatory-minimums and even if you really feel that the person that’s before the court committed a crime and the person that committed that crime was guilty, what forced them into that situation seemed like it deserved mitigation, often the judges’ and prosecutors’ hands were tied under what the statute required in terms of minimum sentences. This new law allows prosecutors and judges to seek justice and for advocates to ask for a sentencing that’s more appropriate for what this person did and understanding the role trauma played in those cases.”

Also appearing on the panel were Lisa Perlman, Brooklyn D.A. Chief of DVSJA/START Unit; Ross Kramer, Incarcerated Gender Violence Survivor Initiative Director at Sanctuary for Families; Alana Tierney, Brooklyn D.A. Deputy Bureau Chief; and Manny DeJesus, Brooklyn D.A. Victim Services Unit.

The prevalence of criminalized survivors in the current penal system was driven home by Kramer, citing studies showing that between 75 and 90 percent of the women incarcerated in New York State’s women’s prisons are survivors of gender-based violence, either as children or as adults. According to Perlman, these incidents have translated to approximately 250,000 domestic violence 911 calls being made annually in New York City, with the Brooklyn D.A.’s office handling 10,000 domestic violence cases in a 12-month span. Given the amount of traffic Gonzalez and his staff see, it’s no surprise that his office’s domestic violence bureau has become a nationwide model for what a dedicated division in a prosecutor’s office can look like.

Perlman pointed to the extremely large and dedicated Victims’ Services Unit staffed by trained prosecutors that only try domestic violence cases. A more recent specialization is in criminalized survivors—people who have committed crimes but have a history of victimization. It is these people the DVSJA is applied to when it comes to factoring in what would be a just outcome through programming, alternative sentencing, diversion programs, and other sentences specific to a situation.

DeJesus explained that the key to the success of the Victim Services Unit is that the social workers in his team, along with advocates, work side-by-side with the assistant district attorney. A Family Justice Center, which provides services from more than 20 different agencies that work specifically with those experiencing intimate partner violence or sexual assault, is located on the same floor as the Domestic Violence Center. Tierney explained that getting victims, survivors, and even defendants the help they need is more the aim of her office versus making incarceration the end goal.

“There is so much that goes into the wheel of being hurt in a domestic violence context whether it’s sexual assault, verbal, or physical abuse,” she said. “Our resource [to the public] is that we have wrap-around services that are not just counseling. The biggest benefit of having counselors and advocates work alongside the A.D.A.’s in our office and having a district attorney that will understand you is that they are all trauma-informed. It is the high majority of cases where those defendants and victims have both experienced a major amount of trauma in their past, whether or not they’re ready to talk about it.”

Visit www.brooklynda.org to learn more about the victim services the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office offers.