Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner and former Saint Paul City Attorney Clayton M. Robinson, Jr. established a Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit focusing on domestic assaults where children are present. This groundbreaking partnership between local prosecution offices became operational on September 18, 2000.
Goals
The Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit responds to mounting research and concern about the impact of domestic violence on children. Children are present in 70 percent of domestic abuse cases prosecuted in St. Paul. Sometimes, they are witnesses, sometimes direct targets. Sadly, the child victims of domestic violence often become abusers themselves, perpetuating a tragic cycle. The new unit seeks to break this cycle by:
- Aggressively prosecuting all levels of domestic assault and seeking tough consequences for offenders.
- Connecting adult and child victims with services to help them overcome the impact of domestic violence.
Organization
The Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit unifies a fragmented system for prosecuting domestic assaults involving children.
Historically, the responsibility for prosecuting domestic assaults involving children had been split between the Saint Paul City Attorney's Office and the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. The City Attorney's Office prosecuted all misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases of domestic violence against adults. The County Attorney's Office handled the felony-level domestic assaults, as well as child maltreatment and child protection cases. This division of jurisdiction sometimes limited both offices' ability to effectively prosecute domestic violence while considering the interests of both adult and child victims.
The new Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit combines all prosecution functions in adult domestic violence cases where children are present at the time of the abuse. The three prosecutors in the unit review all levels of domestic assault – from misdemeanors to felonies. The attorneys are cross-deputized as assistant county attorneys and assistant city attorneys. Thus, police present reports on domestic assault cases involving children to a unified prosecution team. This ensures that cases are charged at the appropriate severity level without regard to jurisdictional responsibilities.
The unit includes a victim/witness advocate who works with victims and their children, providing support throughout the prosecution process and coordinating referrals to appropriate community-based service and advocacy agencies. These referrals constitute a key prevention strategy of the unit. By intervening with the victims and connecting them with services, the unit helps victims overcome the short-term and long-term impact of family violence. In the past, because of a lack of resources, no advocate was available to make these critical referrals in the vast majority of domestic abuse cases.
Collaboration
The Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit was developed in collaboration with key stakeholders to address the goal of reducing exposure to domestic violence. Valuable input was provided by community-based domestic abuse agencies, the St. Paul Police Department, Ramsey County District Court, and the Community Human Services and Community Corrections departments of Ramsey County. The unit continues to work in close collaboration with these agencies and organizations.
Legislation
The 2000 Minnesota Legislature provided first-year funding of $250,000 for the Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit, and Governor Ventura signed the legislation. Legislators and the Governor recognized the statewide benefit of the new unit as a possible model for other jurisdictions. The 2001 Minnesota Legislature approved an additional $197,000 appropriation to continue the pilot project and allow a meaningful evaluation.
Evaluation
A key feature of the project is an evaluation of the effectiveness of such a collaborative prosecution unit in domestic abuse cases involving children. The evaluation has been conducted by the Institute on Criminal Justice of the University of Minnesota Law School. The results have been used to continuously improve the prosecution process. The full evaluation can be found by opening this word document:
Evaluation of Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit. (PDF)
Need more information?
In January 2001, a progress report on the Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit was submitted to the Minnesota Legislature by the Ramsey County Attorney's Office and the Saint Paul City Attorney's Office. The report documents the unit's experience in its first three months of operation – from September 18, 2000, through December 19, 2000.
The report may be accessed below as a PDF file. For printed copies or further information, please contact:
The Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit
50 W. Kellogg Blvd., Suite 315
Saint Paul, MN 55102-1657
Joint Domestic Abuse Prosecution Unit (PDF)
