Jail required in severe domestic abuse convictions

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"We have to come up with a plan to deter perpetrators," she said.

According to a September report released by the Violence Policy Center, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., South Carolina ranks No. 1 in the country for the rate of women killed by men. There were 3.15 such homicides in 2001 for every 100,000 people. Of the 64 deaths, 61 were committed by someone the women knew.

In 2000, there were about 36,000 cases of domestic violence, ranging from intimidation to aggravated assault, according to the State Law Enforcement Division's Uniform Crime Report. Similar statistics were not available for 2002, but SLED data did show that of the 26,214 victims of aggravated assault statewide that year, almost 25 percent were in an intimate relationship with the batterer.

A new law that went into effect Thursday makes criminal domestic abuse of a high and aggravated nature a felony. Called the Domestic Violence Protection Act of 2003, it classifies abuse as high and aggravated when the victim suffers serious bodily harm, is attacked with a deadly weapon or feared imminent harm.

Now considered a violent offense, aggravated criminal domestic violence falls in with crimes such as murder and rape. Formerly the charge did not require jail time — convicted offenders could pay a fine. There is now a 90-day minimum.

"I think with the new law, things will change," Gowens said. She speaks every month to an abused women's support group at the Greenville County Law Enforcement Center.

"It's going on in every neighborhood," she said. "It's so dressed up, you just can't see it."

The new law's architect, Spartanburg state Sen. Jim Ritchie, said he pursued it because his home county has the highest rate of domestic violence in the state.

"We did not do a good job of protecting the most vulnerable in their own homes," he said.

In addition to increasing penalties for severe domestic violence, the law calls for mandatory jail time on a batterer's third offense of misdemeanor domestic abuse.

Ritchie said the new law also offers a chance for batterers to break the cycle of violence.

"The judge has the power to reduce the sentence if the batterer, a convicted domestic violence person, completes a certified training class," he said.

He said Lexington County saw a tremendous reduction in repeat offenders with its treatment program.

Victims' advocates such as Greenville Safe Harbor Executive Director Renee Middleton said the jury is still out on such treatment, making this provision one of a couple she questioned in a law that she supports overall.

"We need to do a lot more research on batterers' treatment programs," she said, adding that she could recall only one case where the batterer admitted he had a problem and was turned around by counseling.

She said batterers sometimes end up angrier in the end, blaming victims for having to go to classes.

"It's very difficult for a batterer to change his behavior," she said.

Sometimes if the hitting stops, it is replaced by verbal abuse, she said.

"It's all a game of power and control," she said.

The new law also lets a first-time offender get his or her rec- ord expunged after three years if there are no further domestic-violence convictions. A nonpublic record of the conviction, however, would stay in State Law Enforcement Division files.

"We're not in favor of anyone getting their records expunged," Middleton said.

Jennifer Evans, a lawyer with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office, said South Carolina's new criminal domestic violence law is comparable to those in surrounding states, including the provision for expunging records.

One outcome of the new law, according to 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, is that there will be more cases to try in general sessions. People who once pleaded guilty to criminal domestic violence will likely want to fight it in court if they are facing manda- tory jail time, Gowdy said.

"We're not going to know how it works in practice until we get some of these cases and start trying them," assistant 7th Circuit solicitor Jennifer Wells said.

For Gowens, stopping violence against women remains a decision that lies primarily with the abused.

"The law is there to protect us, but we as women have to take control," she said. "God created us to live in peace."

Anna B. Brutzman can be reached at (864) 298-4394.