Pinellas County Domestic Violence Task Force

Domestic violence is a pattern of controlling behaviors that an intimate partner uses to gain power over the other and includes stalking, assault, strangulation, kidnapping, sexual battery, and even homicide.  Domestic violence occurs in all economic and social backgrounds which is why it is critical that three criminal justice principles be applied to reduce it, since even a victim’s leaving the abuser may not stop the abuse.  The first principle is for law enforcement to properly investigate cases of domestic violence and to make an arrest when probable cause is found.  Secondly, the State Attorney’s Office should conduct a thorough review of the case and prosecute those with sufficient evidence regardless of the victim’s level of cooperation.  Thirdly, the judiciary must order the defendants into court approved Batterers Intervention Programs (BIP) which hold offenders accountable for their violence, as well as order swift and severe sanctions when a defendant fails to abide by judicial court orders.  These actions combined will reduce recidivism and save lives.

 

In order to evaluate these three areas within the Pinellas County criminal justice system, statistics from Odyssey (the local case management software) were analyzed by Pinellas Domestic Violence Task Force.

 

State Attorney’s Office

Domestic violence prosecutions rates in Pinellas County have undergone a decline over the past two decades.  To understand these trends, we obtained and compared all statistics available between 1991 and 2015.

 

Prosecution Rates for Misdemeanor Arrested Domestic Violence

When the State Attorney formed the Misdemeanor Domestic Violence unit in 1996, prosecutions achieved their highest rate of 75%.

 

In 2015, the rate had fallen to 31%.

 

History: For four years between 1991 and 1994, the rate varied between 22% and 39%.

In 1995, it was 44%.

 

When the State Attorney formed the Misdemeanor Domestic Violence unit in 1996, the rates rose sharply to 75% that year and they remained high at 64% in 1997.

 

These rates varied between 53% and 59% for 7 years from 1998 until 2004.

 

They were at 48% in 2005 and 54% in 2007, but dropped to 37% for three years in 2006 and 2008-2009.

 

The State Attorney’s Office did not provide DV prosecution rate statistics for four years from 2010 to 2013.

 

In 2014, the rate was 30% and in 2015, it was 31%.

 

Thus, with the statistics we have for the last seventeen years, the prosecution rates for misdemeanor arrested domestic violence cases for 2014 and 2015 are the lowest since 1995.

 

Prosecution Rates for Felony Arrested Domestic Violence

The highest rate of prosecution was 41% in 1991.

 

In 2015, the rate was 28%.

         

History:  The highest rates of prosecution were 41% or 40% for 3 years in 1991, 1998, and 1999.

 

The rate was38% in 1996 and then varied between 30% and 34% for 6 years, 1995, 1997, 2000-2003.

 

Lower rates varied from 21% to 29% for 8 years, 1992-1994 and then later 2004-2009, except for falling to the lowest rate of 19% in 2008.

 

In 2014, the rate was 24.5% and in 2015, it was 28%.

 

The prosecution rate for felony arrested DV cases has been less than 30% since 2003.  It has been less than 40% since 1999.

 

Prosecution Rates for Misdemeanor Non-arrested Domestic Violence

The highest rate was 36% in 2009.

 

In 2015, the rate was 12%.

 

History:  The highest rates were 36% in 2009 and two years of 20% and 23% in 1991 and 2008.

 

The rates varied from 10% to 18% for 11 years from 1996 to 2007 except for 2 years.

 

They dropped to single digits from 5% to 8% for 5 years, 1992-1994, 2001, and 2006.

 

In 2014, the prosecution rate for the misdemeanor non-arrested domestic violence cases was less than one percent.  This was the lowest rate since 1991.

 

In 2015, the rate rose to 12%.

 

Prosecution Rates for Felony Non-arrested Domestic Violence

 

The highest rate was 24% in 1996 and 1998.

 

In 2015, the rate was 10.7%.

 

History:  The prosecution highest rates for felony non-arrested domestic violence were from 21% to 24% for 5 years, 1991, 1996-1998, 2000.

 

They were from 10% to 18% for 12years, 1992-1995, 1999, 2001-2007.

 

The rates fell to single digits of 9% and 7% for 2 years in 2008 and 2009.

 

In 2014, the prosecution rate for felony non-arrested domestic violence cases was 2%.  This was the lowest rate since 1991.

 

In 2015, it rose to 10.7%.

 

Prosecution Rates for Arrested Domestic Violence Strangulation Cases

 

Strangulation cases are especially important to review because strangulation is one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence.

 

Studies by Glass, et al, 2008, have shown that victims of strangulation are 800% more likely to become victims of homicide.

 

Prosecution rates of arrested domestic violence strangulation cases were collected from January 2015 until September 2015.

 

Out of 197 arrests for strangulation:

11.7%  (23 cases) were prosecuted for strangulation.

73.7%  (144 cases) were not prosecuted.

15%  (30 cases) were prosecuted at a lesser charge.

 

NONE of the prosecuted cases resulted in the offenders being sentenced to the maximum penalty: 5 years in prison.

 

Only 5 cases resulted in the defendant being sentenced to prison.

 

None of these 5 sentences included probation once released from prison.

 

This means that NONE of these dangerous defendants WERE REQUIRED to complete the Batterers Intervention Program (BIP).  THUS, THESE MOST DANGEROUS OFFENDERS WERE RETURNED TO THE COMMUNITY WITHOUT EVEN BEING OFFERED THE SKILLS TO PREVENT FUTURE ABUSE.

 

2015 and 2014 Prosecution Rates for Domestic Violence for all law enforcement and the five largest law enforcement agencies

           Law enforcement                   Prosecution rate for:

                                                         misdemeanor arrests           felony arrests

 

                                                            2014        2015                     2014         2015

            Clearwater                               35.9%      39%                     21%          32.6%  

            St Petersburg Police                33%         30%                     29%          36.7%

            Largo                                       34%          30.7%                 34%          32%

            all law enforcement                 30%          28%                     24%         31%  

            Sheriff rate                               29%          25%                     20%         30% 

            Pinellas Park                            30%          20.5%                  27%         22%

 

Law Enforcement Rates of Arrest

Pinellas County has a Preferred Arrest Policy.  Below are the 2014 and 2015 percentage of arrests and total number of cases handled by each law enforcement agency.

 

Law Enforcement    2014 Total     2014 % Arrests     2015 Total      2015 % Arrests

Belleair                                                                              2                    100%

Kenneth City                  46              56%                        48                    100%

Gulfport                          62             85%                         52                      98%

Sheriff’s Office           2460          90.49%                    2657                     94%

Largo                            446         90.58%                       603                     92%

Treasure Island              86             65%                          63                     87%

Tarpon Springs             206             69%                        170                    85%

St Petersburg              1526            79%                      1534                     84%

Clearwater                    689             63%                       713                      80%

Pinellas Park                600              64%                        588                  79.7%

Indian Shores                28              57%                         16                    68.8%

 

Arrests by all law enforcement increased for domestic violence from 63% in 2004

to 76% in 2008, to 82% in 2009, to a high of 89% in 2015.

          

In 2014, the rate of arrests for the five largest law enforcement agencies was 81%.

 

In 2015, it was 88%.

 

Arrests rather than non-arrests make a difference in the prosecution rate.  From 1996 until 2004, when misdemeanor arrest prosecution rates were over 50%, arrested batterers were prosecuted at a rate more than 40% higher than non-arrested cases.

 

 

Criminal Court and Batterers Intervention Program (BIP)

           

Below are the few statistics available on civil and criminal courts ordering BIP.

From 2004 through 2007, on average, 79% of batterers prosecuted for a misdemeanor domestic violence crime and sentenced to probation were also ordered to BIP.  During this same time, on average, only 28% of batterers actually completed both probation and BIP.

 

We have been unable to obtain any current statistics from the Misdemeanor Probation Supervisor for the Sheriff’s Office, despite repeated requests.

 

Civil Court Injunctions and BIP

 

In 2004, of the 1,209 Domestic Violence Final Injunctions for Protection granted, judges ordered 26% of those batterers to BIP.  From 2004 to 2007, this rate steadily declined to 4%.

 

From July 1 to December 31, 2014, of the 583 Domestic Violence Final Injunctions for Protection granted, judges ordered 11% of those batterers to BIP.

 

In 2015, of the 1,014 Domestic Violence Final Injunctions for Protection granted,  judges ordered 14% of those batterers to BIP.

 

Pinellas Fatality Review Report on Civil Injunctions and BIP

For last 15 years, the Pinellas Fatality Review Team reviewed 138 domestic violence homicides and near fatalities.  56 cases were involved in the criminal justice system for DV charges and 17 additional cases received court ordered DV civil injunction cases, making a total of 73 cases involved in the justice system.  Of these 73 cases, the judges ordered BIP in 15 cases which is 21% of them.  That means that judges did NOT order BIP in 79% of the cases when they could have.