Today’s domestic violence justice system response can cause the head to spin it is fast, formidable and, at times, unfair. A swift and sure domestic violence response system is certainly excellent for victims of domestic violence, but it can also provide excellent ground for false accusations of domestic violence to take route and destroy lives, careers and families.
An allegation of domestic violence alone will usually trigger an arrest and jail for whomever the police determine is the “primary aggressor.” That determination is often made by a single law enforcement officer who does not have sufficient information to dig below the surface of a situation. An officer will often make an arrest decision based only on relative physical size, emotional demeanor and a comparison of injuries. Once the officer picks the primary aggressor, that person is headed to jail and stays there until bail is set. Just one or two days in jail are enough to cause stigma, job loss, emotional chaos, estrangements from children and other negative life impacts. And this is only the beginning of the domestic violence process.