New effort aims to cut domestic violence
Program is first of its kind in N.Y.
A local program that is the first of its kind in New York state aims to reduce domestic violence by working with offenders to keep them from repeating or escalating their behavior, while at the same time offering more support to victims.
The National Network for Safe Communities’ Intimate Partner Violence Intervention (IPVI) program was introduced during a press conference Tuesday afternoon at City Hall. Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright, flanked by cardboard silhouettes representing 11 local women killed by their partners, said the initiative uses statistical analysis and data from different agencies to identify people who might commit intimate partner violence.
“Once we’ve identified a person who we think is going to commit domestic violence again, we have personal contact with them,” Carnright
said. “In addition to the personal contact we have with the offender or potential offender, we have a parallel process where we engage the victims. We do what we’ve been doing for a while. We try to educate the victims, make sure they understand about services that are available to them.”
The program in Ulster County will make use of nearly $285,000 in state funding. With the local initiative, New York becomes only the second state in the nation to implement the Intimate Partner Violence Intervention program with support from the National Network for Safe Communities, which is based at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, according to a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I’d like to point out that this is not a law-enforcement initiative,” Carnright said. “This is a community initiative, and we want the community support in this matter.”
Carnright said he wants the community to establish a moral mandate against intimate partner violence.
The goal of the program, he added, is not to just arrest and incarcerate offenders, but to “deter violence by using early, low-level criminal justice response to create a sustainable behavior change.”
Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti said the initiative could have a tremendously positive affect on the lives of victims and improve public safety.
“Victims of intimate partner violence can lose confidence in the criminal justice system when offenders aren’t held accountable and repeat the abusive behavior,” Tinti said. “The IPVI strategy is designed to intervene at the earliest point possible and put the offenders on notice.”
Kingston Mayor Steve Noble said he was sad such a program was necessary, but was humbled that Kingston was chosen to implement it. He also shared a story about going on a police ride-along after taking office in 2016. During that shift, Noble said, he and the officer were called to a partner dispute in which a man and woman were arguing over ownership of a car. He said the man was told to return the car, and he thought the situation was resolved.
“The next day, he murdered her in Saugerties,” Noble said.
The mayor said he did not know if more could have been done to prevent the murder, “but I do believe this program ... is a step in the right direction.”
Noble was referring to the murder of Amy L. Burger, 21, who was killed the night of May 31, 2016, by her estranged boyfriend, Karon Bowden. Burger’s name was one of the silhouettes on display at City Hall.
Bowden ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 24 years to life in state prison.
Carnright said through the Intimate Partner Violence Intervention program, offenders are rated on a scale of A to D, with D being the lowest.
Carnright said D offenders are people who have not been arrested and who will be met with, given a letter, told their behavior is not acceptable, and be informed about what could happen to them if they continue.
He said A offenders are habitual offenders who have committed serious acts of domestic violence and are being prosecuted.
“The gist of it is to find out who these people might be, then categorize them, and then have personal contact with them and design a plan so that they won’t commit any future acts of domestic violence,” Carnright said. He said the plan could be as simple as having the offender attend anger management programs.