Topeka to Battered Women (and Men): Tough Luck!

TOPEKA, Kan.—Kansas has recently passed laws and taken steps to make it nearly impossible for its state's women to receive abortions, and not much easier for them to find affordable birth control—and now comes the news that the Topeka City Council is considering deep-sixing the part of the city's criminal code that bans "domestic battery." You know, where a husband (or wife, but it's usually the husband) beats his/her partner often within an inch of his/her life. See, Topeka is part of Shawnee County, and in September, the Shawnee County District Attorney's office announced that, due to a 10 percent budget cut, the county would no longer be prosecuting misdemeanors at the county level—and (trigger warning) guess what "domestic violence" is classified as? According to an article on Feministing.com, it seems the city and county are playing a game of "chicken"—with women's lives. Although Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten claimed that everyone on the city council support punishing those who commit domestic battery, "The question is who prosecutes them, the municipal court or the district court, and who pays for it, the city or the county or a combination?" Bunten asked. In other words, they're only too happy to "let the other guy do it" if it takes away from the funds they would otherwise devote to, say, closing Planned Parenthood and other women's clinics on phony pretenses. So it's about to be a standoff regarding who'll take charge and prosecute these domestic violence offenders. Unfortunately, real lives are at stake. As Feministing reports, since Sept. 8, when the county stopped prosecuting domestic violence cases, 30 cases have been summarily dismissed, and of the 16 people arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery, all have been released when the county DA refused to file charges—and according to Becky Dickinson of the Topeka YWCA, that puts women in even more danger. "When an abusive partner is arrested, the victim's danger level increases," Dickinson told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "The abuser will often become more violent in an attempt to regain control. Letting abusive partners out of jail with no consequences puts victims in incredibly dangerous positions." Dickinson called for an "immediate resolution" to the dispute.