Hello everyone,
The following is a cross-post of a cross-post (see header included).
I want everyone who sees this to please take any and all appropriate action
whenever and wherever possible.
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BBS: The Nuthouse BBS
Date: 06-28-95 (07:59)             Number: 3309
From: RICHARD DONOVAN              Refer#: NONE 
 To: ALL                           Recvd: NO
Subj: Judicial training camp         Conf: (57) LEGAL_LAW
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Here is a press release from the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
I downloaded the press release from the U.S. Newswire BBS in
Maryland at (410) 363-0834. I do not work for the
Family Violence Prevention Fund.
 
First-Ever Judicial Education Program on CD-ROM Trains Judges to
Protect Victims of Domestic Violence
 
Contact: Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1999 or Marissa Ghez, 415-252-8900, 
         both for the Family Violence Prevention Fund
 
  SAN FRANCISCO, May 25  -- Each year, thousands of
battered women in every state seek protection in the courts,
compelling judges who may lack experience and training in handling
abuse cases to issue rulings that have life-and-death consequences.
 
  But criminal court judges throughout the country will soon have
access to a continuing education program that uses revolutionary
CD-ROM technology to provide information and hands-on experience.
 
  Developed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund through a grant
from the State Justice Institute, Domestic Violence: A Virtual
Conference for Judges in the Criminal Courts, features some of the
nation's most knowledgeable judges and leading experts in abuse.
It was released at a news conference here today which featured
relatives of two domestic homicide victims whose loved ones had
sought protection from the courts.
 
  The two-disc CD-ROM program -- the first ever designed for
judicial education -- allows users to rule in a hypothetical case
and compare their rulings to those of colleagues.  It also provides
tips, information, a quiz, statistics about domestic violence from
every state and goals for judicial intervention.
 
  "The dynamics of domestic violence cases are complex," FUND
Executive Director Esta Soler said.  "As we encourage women to
pursue criminal charges to end abuse, we also must help judges
recognize and treat domestic violence as the serious crime that it
is.  This Virtual Conference is designed to do just that."
 
  "Because domestic violence cases have the potential to result in
serious injury or even homicide, it is hoped that judges will be
extremely receptive to this new program," San Francisco Superior
Court Judge Laurence D. Kay said.  "This exciting new program will
help improve the judicial response to domestic violence."
 
  Two years in development and field-tested in three states, the
Virtual Conference allows judges to attend a virtual seminar, visit
an information kiosk, see photographs taken at the scene of
domestic violence incidents and participate in a highly interactive
virtual case workshop in which they hear arguments of counsel,
discuss the case with judges from different jurisdictions, rule and
consult with other judges on their ruling.  The FUND is
distributing the innovative new CD-ROM program to every state
judicial educator in the nation.  Produced by award-winning firm
Strayer & Co. Inc., the CD-ROM program features judges from
California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Washington state
and Wisconsin, and emphasizes issues surrounding pre-trial release
decisions.
 
  The news conference included relatives of two women who were
murdered by their abusers after they sought help in the courts.
 
  Betsy McCandless, a 42-year-old software systems engineer, was
murdered in 1992 after a Boston judge declined to jail her abusive
ex-husband who had repeatedly violated a restraining order.  The
judge ignored the massive physical evidence of the recent beating
Betsy's ex-husband had inflicted, which shocked even veteran
officers of the court.
 
  "My sister did everything right," Stephen McCandless said at the
news conference.  "She got a restraining order, filed criminal
charges and located him for the police to arrest....Today, Betsy is
at rest.  Her suffering is over.  But across the country every day
women are injured and killed by domestic violence.  I applaud the
training of judges.  I hope this new CD-ROM will save the lives of
other women in circumstances like those my sister faced."
 
  Gayle Nicholson's daughter, Nicole, and three-year-old grandson,
Warren, were murdered in 1992.  Less than three weeks before her
murder, Nicole had sought help from an Alameda court, requesting a
restraining order and offering details of rapes, beatings, spouse
and child abuse, and death threats by her ex-boyfriend.
 
  However, in the presence of her abuser, the judge asked Nicole
whether she wanted "to drop this" and suggested that counseling
would be appropriate.  A frightened Nicole dropped the request for
a restraining order.  Less than three weeks later, she was
murdered.  "The manner in which the courts deal with domestic
violence is in serious need of reassessment," Nicholson said.
"Battered women have to be recognized and handled properly in the
courts.  Their cries for help must be taken seriously and batterers
must not be let off lightly."
 
  "In our new Virtual Conference, there are no right answers --
but judges have the chance to learn from other judges who are
considering the same hypothetical case," FUND Associate Director
Janet Carter said.  "The Virtual Conference creates a framework for
judges to use when ruling in abuse cases.  We expect it to quickly
become part of regular judicial education programs, to be used in
training new judges and by individual judges."
 
  "Research shows that we remember 10 percent of what we read, 20
percent of what we hear, 50 percent of what we see and hear and
90 percent of what we perform or simulate through interactive
media," Strayer said.  "This is an exciting application of a
new form of learning."
 
  The FUND's ongoing legal education program includes several
judicial education programs and a Benchguide that has been
distributed to every judge in California, national curricula on
Domestic Violence in the Criminal Courts (1992), Domestic Violence
in the Civil Courts (1992) and Domestic Violence: A Law Enforcement
Training Manual (1989) which has been used in 26 states and seven
countries. 
  Carter said a curriculum on child custody cases involving abuse
is due out later this year.
 
  Founded in 1980, the FUND works to improve the health, judicial,
law enforcement and public policy responses to domestic violence.
In 1994, the FUND launched the There's No Excuse for Domestic
Violence Campaign -- the first ever national public education
campaign designed to promote prevention.  There's No Excuse
includes television, radio and print public service announcements
that are running nationwide right now. 
  ------ 
  Editors Note: In addition to being distributed to every state
judicial educator in the country, the new Virtual Conference is
available in IBM-compatible format for $65 from the Family Violence
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