My Perspective, By Guest Blogger Jennifer Gentile Long, JD

If you’re a violence against women prosecutor, you have undoubtedly confronted barriers to effectively prosecuting your cases. You and your colleagues have struggled to overcome juror bias and misinformation in the courtroom, battled witness intimidation, collaborated with advocates and other allied professionals to eradicate challenges to victim participation, argued against challenges to the admissibility of evidence under Crawford-based case law and adapted to emerging technology employed by perpetrators to accomplish their crimes and evade detection. But what do you do when the barriers you face come from within your own offices? How do you counter criticism in the media or from political opponents-- that efforts to confront this violence that do not result in convictions demonstrate failure? In my experience as a prosecutor and in working with prosecutors around the world, it is critical to emphasize the following:   

Violence against women is a criminal act and offenders are dangerous.  Over the last two decades, research has revealed the seriousness of these crimes and the dangerousness of these offenders, both of which are too often minimized. For example, we have a greater understanding of lethality factors, a better comprehension of the impacts of stalking and the dangers posed by stalkers, and a more complete picture of the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence. Further, prosecutors now understand how and why to utilize lethality and risk considerations at hearings to decide bail and whether to issue no-contact orders. 

Bias and misinformation may be encountered within the system. Bias, misinformation, or a lack of information about these crimes on the part of prosecutors, allied professionals and laypersons can and does impact the exercise of discretion in investigations, charging decisions, court rulings, verdicts and sentences. Training, technical assistance and obtaining resources on the dynamics of these crimes, the negative consequences they cause to victims, and the importance of working collaboratively with multidisciplinary partners can help overcome these barriers.

The criminal justice system is a critical resource for victims of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and human trafficking. When the system is ineffective or indifferent to victims, they remain vulnerable, offenders are not held accountable, communities become less safe and justice is not achieved.  Ultimately, prosecutors, as criminal justice leaders in their jurisdictions, are responsible for ensuring that the system operates in an informed, fair, victim-centered, and offender-focused manner.

Prosecutors play a critical role in achieving justice. Prosecutors must work with the understanding that legislatures enact broad criminal laws and that the enforcement of those laws by police and prosecutors define the difference between “law-on-the books and law-in-action."

It is dangerous to measure success by conviction rates alone. These are some of the toughest cases to prosecute and investigate and undue concern about conviction rates can lead to high attrition rates that keep these cases out of the court system. Measuring prosecution outcomes beyond conviction rates to determine whether processes are victim centered and assessing levels of victim satisfaction regardless of whether there is an arrest or conviction is critical to making prosecution decisions that accurately account for the barriers to victim participation and the consequences to victim and community safety when perpetrators go unpunished.  

Prosecutors have a duty to lead, and their important role in educating allied professionals and the public about these crimes cannot be overstated. Prosecutors and other allied professionals can contact AEquitas for resources, training and technical assistance to overcome barriers to successful prosecutions as well as to refocus prosecutors’ goals from obtaining convictions to achieving justice. 

Jennifer Long is the Director of AEquitas: The Prosecutors’ Resource on Violence Against Women. This project was supported by Grant No. 2009-TA-AX-K024 awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The opinions findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of OVW.