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Public Hearing on Domestic Violence
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
3:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Public Testimony Concerning The Response To Family Violence

Executive Summary

I. Overview

After the death of Claire Joyce Tempongko, Supervisor Michael Yaki asked the Commission and Department on the Status of Women to conduct an investigation into the City and County of San Francisco’s response to domestic violence. The goal of the investigation was to determine what services and intervention programs currently existed, identify any gaps, and make recommendations that would close those gaps and improve the City’s response to domestic violence. As part of the investigation process, the Commission and Department convened a Review Panel, composed of community members with experience in violence against women.

The Commission and Department on the Status of Women and the Review Panel held a Public Hearing on Domestic Violence on May 15, 2001. Community groups and individuals concerned about the issue of domestic violence in San Francisco were invited to speak or submit written statements at the hearing. Speakers addressed existing City and County services for victims/survivors of domestic violence, identified gaps in existing services provided by the City and County, and made recommendations for improvements in the City and County’s response to domestic violence. Members of the Junior League of San Francisco volunteered to read written statements submitted by individuals who did not want to publicly speak themselves.

A press conference was also held, in the morning of May 15, 2001, announcing the hearing and inviting members of the press and public to attend. The press conference generated widespread coverage in print, television, and radio media. In addition to members of the public, representatives from city departments and the criminal justice system were invited to listen to the testimony.

Several themes emerged from the testimony at the hearing: coordination and communication between the different criminal justice departments; review of existing policies and protocols; methods to ensure that existing policies and protocols are being followed consistently; training, particularly on cultural awareness and victim sensitivity; and the clear and consistent need for more services, particularly for marginalized communities and children. Perhaps the strongest overall theme expressed during the hearing was the need for leadership in the criminal justice and social service systems to make violence against women a priority issue.

II. Summary of Recommendations by Members of the Public

The following recommendations were made by members of the public who testified at the hearing, listed as they relate to specific sectors of the domestic violence community. The recommendations are not in priority order.

Inter-agency and General
·          Every city department that provides funding or direct services for women and girls should be mandated to include effective, culturally appropriate policies, practices, and services for domestic violence and sexual assault.
·          Services for children who witness violent crimes must be developed, including services at the scene of a crime, protection for child witnesses, and crisis intervention and counseling services for children.
·          Lack of cultural competency and lack of culturally appropriate services remain as serious barriers throughout the criminal justice system and in community services, including offender treatment programs and victim/survivor services.
·          There is a need for more education and prevention programs about domestic violence and sexual assault, particularly for youth. These programs need to be bilingual and include training for community leaders. Youth should be actively involved in all phases of decision-making, program design, and implementation for prevention and education programs.
·          Sexual assault is one of the most hidden forms of violence against women, in spite of the fact that most survivors experience significant and long-term symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder.
·          More community education programs are needed so that women who experience violence are not re-victimized by family members, community members, and institutions through victim blaming, isolation, lack of understanding, or retaliation.
·          More community awareness about woman-to-woman sexual assault is needed.
·          Victim/Survivors of violence against women need to be dealt with as "whole people." All components of the civil and criminal justice systems and community service providers need to address the holistic experiences and needs of victim/survivors rather than only dealing with one aspect of their experience.
·          Domestic violence should be viewed as a public health issue, not a problem that will be solved through the criminal justice system.
·          There is a need for more understanding of Arab culture and more culturally sensitive services.
·          Immigrant women with and without legal residency who are being battered are often isolated and have a difficult time finding accessible services.
·          Women are frequently economically dependent on men, which creates an additional barrier to seeking services, or leaving a violent relationship. More economic development, employment, and training programs are needed so that women are more economically independent.
·          Reports of domestic violence are increasing rapidly in Asian communities, yet the criminal justice response and community services are not increasing their response.
·          Elder and dependant men are also frequently the victims of abuse, but there are few services available for them.
·          We need more education for the criminal justice system and service providers on same sex domestic violence and cultural sensitivity regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (G/L/B/T) people. Social service programs need to incorporate services for the G/L/B/T communities, particularly for G/L/B/T youth.
·          There is a lot of violence targeted at girls that is happening in schools. This includes dating violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Prevention education programs to address these problems must be created and services for victims provided.

Criminal Justice System
·          The Police Department, Adult Probation Department, and the District Attorney’s Office need to make violence against women a true priority, not just in policies but also in action and follow through. The problems in these departments have been caused by many individuals and speak to a fundamental lack of organization and priority, not the failures of a few individuals.
·          The Police Department, Adult Probation Department, and the District Attorney’s Office need to work cohesively to ensure safety for victims of domestic violence and provide timely investigation, prosecution and probation monitoring for misdemeanor and felony domestic violence crimes.
·          The Police Department, Adult Probation Department, and the District Attorney’s Office should maintain full staffing for their domestic violence units and all units working on violence against women, including sexual assault and elder abuse.
·          All levels of law enforcement need better training and education on violence against women. Specific topics of training include victim sensitivity, cultural competency, assessment of lethality in domestic violence cases, and same sex domestic and sexual violence.
·          The JUSTIS program, or a different database system, should be installed and provided with adequate operating resources so that all components of the criminal justice system can have accurate and current information regarding criminal cases. Criminal and Family Courts should be included in this database system.
·          The city should track 911 calls related to violence against women. An oversight committee should be established to oversee the data collection process and track a sample of cases through the Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office, Adult Probation Department and the courts.
·          The Police Department should review the training on violence against women provided to recruits in the Police Academy and institute ongoing comprehensive domestic violence training for all officers.
·          The Police Department should ensure that their policies and procedures are adequate to the reporting and investigation of violence against women crimes and that existing policies are adequately followed. Examples of past failures by the Police Department, as reported by members of the public include: failure to file a police report, inaccurate police reports, refusal to interview witnesses, failure to collect evidence and/or submit evidence for testing, failure to proactively arrest defendants once arrest warrants have been issued, lost evidence, failure to accept reports from prostitutes, and failure to accept reports in same sex relationship incidents.
·          Police officers often exhibit biases in their response to calls based on a woman’s appearance, occupation, class, accent, background, age, disability etc. Black women and prostitutes, in particular, report experiences of inappropriate or biased police response. Training on cultural competency should be developed to address these specific issues.
·          The Police Department should treat all victims, including the families of homicide victims, with more sympathy, compassion, and respect.
·          The Police Department should develop protocols regarding children who are witnesses to violent crimes, including addressing safety concerns and referrals to crisis intervention services.
·          There have been problems with the courts, including failing to record criminal convictions.
·          The District Attorney’s Office should ensure that their policies and procedures are adequate to the reporting and investigation of domestic violence and that existing policies are followed. Examples of past failures reported by members of the public include: consistent acceptance of plea-bargains often with probation sentences, and failure to get arrest warrants in a timely fashion.
·          The District Attorney’s Office should not use the Child Abduction Unit against women who are trying to protect their children from batterers.
·          Eighty-nine percent of domestic violence survivors who receive restraining orders report that the violence decreases or stops altogether. Criminal justice resources should be targeted towards the 11% of cases where the violence continues or escalates after issuance of a restraining order.
·          Victims have experienced difficulty in serving abusers with restraining orders and requested that options and/or resources be provided for serving restraining orders.
·          More public service agencies should provide assistance with obtaining restraining orders, particularly for clients sixty years and older.
·          The domestic violence laws should be changed to reflect elder abuse laws.
·          Women who have children and are working as prostitutes often do not file police reports about violence they experience because they fear losing custody of their children. Protocols should be developed to address these concerns.
·          The vast majority of women (90%) and girls (75% - 95%) in the criminal justice system have sexual abuse and/or domestic violence in their backgrounds. Services for women in the criminal justice system should be addressing the needs of victims/survivors of violence. Alternatives to incarceration should be provided for victims with histories of victimization.

Commission and Department on the Status of Women (C/DOSW)
·          C/DOSW is in a unique position to hold both city departments and community agencies accountable. This includes holding city departments accountable for the problems in the system that led to the death of Claire Joyce Tempongko, and ensuring that recommendations are implemented.
·          Public education on issues of violence against women is needed at all levels. The Commission and Department on the Status of Women should take leadership in increasing resources for prevention and education programs.
·          The Board of Supervisors should review the budget for the Commission and Department on the Status of Women and increase funding for violence against women programs. These programs save lives and prevent future violence.

Community Based Services
·          More money for all levels of community-based services is needed, including crisis intervention, advocacy, court advocacy, shelter, transitional housing, and prevention/education programs.
·          More services are needed for victim/survivors of violence against women. Offenders have direct access to treatment and victim/survivors do not. Within treatment programs, probation officers frequently advocate on behalf of their probationers, but there are not enough advocates available to work with victims.
·          There is a need for more shelter space for battered women in San Francisco. If women who live in San Francisco are forced to go to shelters outside the city, resources are needed to help with transportation and transition.
·          Social service agencies should accept collect telephone calls.
·          Domestic violence shelters will not accept women who use IV drugs or are prostitutes. Women with these experiences, who are victimized by violence, should have more resources and options for assistance.
·          There is a need for more mental health services, particularly those accessible to women with physical disabilities.
·          Domestic violence agencies need to develop better screening policies so that batterers in same sex relationships are not able to access services intended for victim/survivors.

III. Public Hearing Participants

Commission on the Status of Women Members Present:
Juanita Miles, President
Carolene Marks, Vice President
Dorka Keehn, Commissioner
Emily Murase, Commissioner
Valerie Tulier, Commissioner

Domestic Violence Review Panel Members Present:
Dorka Keehn, Chair, Domestic Violence Investigation Committee
Rosario Navarrette, Interim Executive Director, Department on the Status of Women
Ricardo Carrillo, Ph.D.
Donna Diamond, Partners Ending Domestic Abuse and San Francisco Domestic Violence Coalition
Terry Person, Community United Against Violence
Ken Theisen, Bay Area Legal Aid

Representatives of City Departments Attending the Hearing:
Linda Alexandra, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office
Armando Cervantes, San Francisco Adult Probation Department
Lieutenant Barbara Davis, San Francisco Police Department
Susan Eto, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office
Captain Hammoth, San Francisco Police Department
Bianka Ramirez, San Francisco Sheriff’s Department

Community Members Providing Testimony:
Clara Tempongko, mother of Claire Joyce Tempongko
Mauryne Lees
Mary T. Ma, Center for Special Problems, San Francisco Department of Public Health
Norma Hotaling, Executive Director, SAGE Project, Inc.
Shawna Virago, Domestic Violence Program Director of Community United Against Violence
Esther Sabinoa, Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Marcela Espino
Tanya Brannan, Director of Purple Berets
Daisy, Sex Workers Organized for Labor, Human, and Civil Rights
Hilary Clark
Sidnie Smart, SAGE Project, Inc.
Maureen Air
Abeer Rafidi, Executive Director, Arab Cultural Center
Tina Shum, Social Worker, Cameron House
Tracy Brown-Gallardo, Mission Neighborhood Girls Center
Beverly Green-Simmons, Safestart, Department of Children, Youth and Families
Theresa Guillen, Physical Abuse In Take Unit, Adult Protective Service
Ana
Augustus Taylor
Nancy Mendieta, Arriba Juntos
Guillermina Arroyo, Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Anne Marie Conroy, Board Member, Partners Ending Domestic Abuse
Mattie Scott, Cease For Peace
Noelle Hanrahan, KPFA Radio
Brian Chen, Director, Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center
Rachel West, Coordinator, U.S. Prostitute Collective
Beckie Masaki, Asian Women’s Shelter
Cheryl Deo Campo, West Bay Philipino Multicultural Service Center
Brandi and Tiffany, Young Asian Women Against Violence, Community Youth Center
Beverly Upton, W.O.M.A.N., Inc.
Leni Marin, Family Violence Prevention Fund
Lori Nairne, Legal Action for Women
Robin S. Nickel, Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender Anti-Domestic Violence Program, W.O.M.A.N., Inc.
Mari Villaluna, San Francisco Youth Commission
Erich Plate, Probation Officer, Alameda County
James Fogarty, The Committee for Justice for Claire Joyce Tempongko
Anagil Hernandez
Lisa Parks, San Francisco Women Against Rape

Meeting Information