Judicial Resposes to Domestic Violence: The Case for a Problem Solving Approach
![handle is hein.journals/wsulr27 and id is 9 raw text is: Judicial Responses to Domestic Violence:
The Case for a Problem Solving Approach
Judith S. Kaye and Susan K. Knipps*
I. INTRODUCTION
What is the responsibility of a court in dealing with a case of
domestic violence? Is it to serve as a passive adjudicator of the
issues presented by the parties, concerned only that the case is
legally resolved? Or is there a larger role for a court to play in
crafting a meaningful intervention that may change future behavior?
And what is the responsibility of a court system with respect
to the subject of domestic violence? Should it view domestic
violence as a serious social problem that courts can and should help
solve? Or should it remain scrupulously detached, processing each
case as it would any other and leaving it to the other branches of
government to pass laws and execute strategies that will constitute
society's response?
For centuries, questions like these never much troubled the
waters of Anglo-American jurisprudence. In large part, this was
because domestic violence was viewed as a private matter best not
discussed even behind closed doors, let alone in public settings.'
*. Judith S. Kaye is Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of
the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. Susan K. Knipps was her Counsel at the
time of the writing of this essay; Ms. Knipps is currently a Judge of the Civil Court of the
City of New York.
1. As the North Carolina Supreme Court stated in 1874: [i]f no permanent
injury has been inflicted, nor malice, cruelty nor dangerous violence shown by the
husband, it is better to draw the curtain, shut out the public gaze and leave the parties to
forget and forgive. State v. Oliver, 70 N.C. 60, 61-62 (1874) (affirming a fine of $10
imposed upon husband for whipping wife and inflicting bruises that remained for two
weeks).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wsulr27&div=5&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Judicial Resposes to Domestic Violence: The Case for a Problem Solving Approach
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