Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office Uses Early Diversion Program to Deal with Minor Domestic Violence Cases

When police are called to a domestic violence scene and can identify a primary aggressor, they are bound by law to make an arrest even in minor cases. Sometimes, those cases can be handled in venues other than the criminal justice system.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, which handles everything from speeding tickets to murder in Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, can be overwhelmed with the domestic violence cases. “When the police are called to a scene and they see the injury on somebody and they can identify the primary aggressor, they have to make an arrest. It’s mandatory for them. This means we have a lot of cases brought for domestic violence in Prince William County,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth.

Ashworth said her office’s Early Diversion Program pulls some of those minor cases and keeps them off the court’s dockets. “We wanted to find a way to take those minimal domestic violence cases and divert them from the criminal justice system so they don’t result in criminal convictions,” Ashworth said.

Domestic violence cases fall into three categories. The worst cases involve serious violent offenses, malicious wounding, stabbing, or serious bodily injury and require legal proceedings. The second category of cases might include striking a victim and also require legal action. A couple of examples of the third category might be a case of siblings arguing over a television remote or someone throwing water on someone else.

Cases that fall into the third category are the ones that should be diverted. “What we are finding is that these people are caught up, these defendants, are caught up in the criminal justice system that could potentially involve having a criminal record, could potentially involve being put in jail and that’s not something that’s just and fair,” Ashworth said.

See video on the program here.

Judges, police officers, and the people involved, including the victims, appreciate the diversion program. Diverting cases lightens the workload leaving attorneys, social workers, and police free to concentrate on serious matters and cases.

Finding the cases that are appropriate for diversion occurs at the arraignment stage when fashioning a remedy that does not involve criminal conviction can be arranged.

Often a minor case of domestic violence is a symptom of something that can be repaired. “Domestic violence cases that the police bring are really a half-hour snapshot of what’s gone on in that household, but that’s not the whole story,” Ashworth said. “Often, these are long-term relationships and these problems have been going on for years and years and years. People don’t necessarily have the tools to change them or they’re not motivated to change them.”

The diversion program points people toward help. “This unfortunate event, where the police arrive, gives us that opportunity to kind of say ‘Look, there are resources available,’” Ashworth said.

Victims often benefit from having cases diverted as well. “Being able to empower victims to participate in the process as well as fill in what’s going on within the family dynamics and looking at some of the causes and conditions that have brought this to our attention – we’re able to sit down and start looking at strategies and problem solving,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office Domestic Violence Staff Attorney Thomas Scartz who oversees the program. “If there are anger issues, we can divert and have somebody complete an anger management class. Various approaches like that can result in an outcome that allows the family to proceed, improve, develop and grow.”

Often victims do not want charges to go forward. Diversion can accommodate victims’ wishes. “The victims are very positive in terms of this because what we are finding, particularly in these kinds of cases, is about 80 percent of the time, if not 90 percent of the time, they don’t want to proceed with the charge. Add to that, they participate in looking at what’s going on in their family,” Scartz said. “Really what we’re trying to do in that whole part of this is to sort of raise peoples’ emotional intelligence so that they’re better able to communicate with each other.”

Cases, where police, prosecutors, or victims want to proceed, are not considered for diversion and are sent to the courts for litigation, Scartz said. “We’re not going to divert a case unless the victim wants to, but this gives them the choice and some input. The advantage is letting them have some control in their own household,”