Domestic violence law faulted

Critics say statute leads to victims’ arrests, urge change

Sanna Dilawar was punched in the face five times before she fought her husband’s blows and escaped with her 10-week-old daughter.

When she arrived at the police station with a bloodied face and broken glasses, Dilawar, 24, expected to receive protection, but instead she was arrested for defending herself against the man who attacked her.

That was two years ago. On Friday, Dilawar joined lawmakers and policy advocates at the Capitol to push for a change in family violence laws to prevent domestic abuse victims from being arrested with their abusers.

In Connecticut, 20 percent of the time when police are called to the scene of an intimate partner violence incident both the victim and their abuser are arrested, according to the Connecticut

Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The “dual arrest” rate is more than twice the national average of 7 percent.

“There are literally, when you look at the statistics, thousands — thousands — of victims of domestic violence who are dually arrested every single year in the state of Connecticut,” said Karen Jarmoc, CEO of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

The reason for the high rate is Connecticut’s mandatory arrest law, which was put in place to protect victims of domestic or intimate partner violence.

The law says that if police find evidence that a crime occurred at a domestic violence scene, they must arrest based on probable cause.

The result is many victims are arrested on minor charges like disorderly conduct or breach of peace — as Dilawar was — for crimes they committed attempting to protect themselves from their abuser, critics said.

“You can only imagine as a victim of domestic violence, when you call for help

and you find yourself arrested as well, the impact can be chilling,” said Jarmoc.

Jarmoc and a bipartisan group of lawmakers said Thursday that the state’s mandatory arrest law should be replaced with a “dominant aggressor law,” which would require law enforcement to arrest only the most significant aggressor or the person who poses the most serious ongoing threat.

Some 27 other states have dominant aggressor laws including Rhode Island and New York.

The proposal was given support by all three chairs of the Judiciary Committee, the body in which the law will be raised this session.

“Many of us legislators who have heard about this issue are shocked by the fact that Connecticut has a much higher than normal rate of dual arrest,” said state Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, a co-chair of the Judiciary Committee.

State Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, another Judiciary co-chair, called Connecticut’s domestic violence laws “model,” but said “This is one area where we are lagging.”

Policy advocates tried to

pass a dominant aggressor law in Connecticut in 2004 but failed. At the time, representatives of the Judicial Branch, Office of the Chief Public Defender and the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association testified in opposition to the bill because they thought judicial training on domestic violence and police training on self-defense made it unnecessary. Supporters of the bill compromised with a self-defense clause in the existing law, Jarmoc said.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police supports dominant aggressor laws in its intimate partner violence training guidelines. The guidelines state “arrest is the preferred response with the primary aggressor only.”

The CCADV, law enforcement and the Office of the State’s Attorney are collaborating to strengthen domestic violence laws and address the concerns, said Mark Dupuis, a spokesman for the Office.

Av Harris, spokesman for Bridgeport police, said city police would strongly support legislation helping officers “to more accurately depict who the primary aggressor is in a domestic violence situation.

“I would caution that the legislation should include a separate fund for every police department in Connecticut to receive enhanced domestic violence training that would help our officers identify more clearly who is primary aggressor,” he added. “The language of the bill should also include funding for this training.”

For domestic violence survivor Dilawar, whose daughter is now 2, her charge was eventually dropped in court. She said Friday she hopes the law can be changed so more intimate partner violence victims can feel safe going to police for help.

“My purpose today is to be a voice for those who are too afraid to step forward in fear of being arrested, who are afraid to step forward to be free from abuse,” she said.

“We need to resolve the distrust between victims of violence and law enforcement. Not only do many of us need this change for ourselves, but for our children.”

Emilie Munson / Hearst Connecticut Media Sanna Dilawar, a victim of domestic violence who was arrested along with her abuser after reporting the abuse to the police, speaks at the Capitol in Hartford on Friday.