Advocates for battered women ask for better court security

Advocates for battered women ask for better court security 
Victims of violence have been threatened, intimidated, even assaulted, lawyer says
By SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY Staff Reporter 
Wed. Nov 26 - 5:27 AM

" border="0" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; "> Pam Rubin, co-ordinator of the Women’s Innovative Justice Initiative, says the organization supports calls for better security at the province’s courthouses. (Ingrid Bulmer / Staff)

The threats and intimidation that abusers sometimes inflict upon victims of domestic violence in Nova Scotia’s family courts can be so subtle that judges and court staff may not even pick up on them.

That’s why the Women’s Innovative Justice Initiative, an umbrella group of women’s organizations that works with abused women, has added their voice to that of this province’s prosecutors in calling for better courthouse security.

"The kind of things we would like to see is automatically added security when there’s a criminal or family court proceeding that’s bringing the victim and the perpetrator into contact where there is a no-contact order, where there is a record of violence," Pam Rubin, the initiative’s co-ordinator, said in a recent interview.

"It should be just a part of the information that the sheriff’s office gets for the docket for that day, so that it’s not up to the individual woman, it’s not up to the individual lawyer, . . . it’s not up to the sort of ad hoc arrangement to have the extra security in place."

Assaults in courthouse parking lots is another problem for victims of domestic violence who are entering and exiting courthouses, said Ms. Rubin, a lawyer by profession who also teaches a course called Sex, Gender and Society at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.

Over the years, extra security measures have been put in place when the criminal courts have been alerted of a risk either by a victim, her lawyer or an advocate. And in some of the high-risk cases, victims can ask for a police escort, but this is not always practical for all women.

"It’s a dangerous situation, actually," Ms. Rubin said. "And in terms of what women have faced, luckily we have not had a murder in a Nova Scotia courtroom. But we’ve certainly had threats and we’ve had assaults in the environments around them."

A transition house worker who accompanied a woman to court in a criminal case once told Ms. Rubin that when she went to testify the accused man looked at the worker and imitated shooting a gun with his hands.

"Now that time, the judge caught it and he had the sheriff intervene and escort the guy out," Ms. Rubin said. "We see things that are subtler, that are harder sometimes for the judge to see and then make an intervention."

In another case, Ms. Rubin recalled, there was one woman who had an abuser who would tap his watch before each beating. So once the two got into the courtroom, the man stared at the woman and tapped his watch.

"And with sheriffs not knowing this as a signal, they couldn’t intervene," Ms. Rubin said.

The initiative would also like to see a secure and supervised waiting area in all courthouses that is available for women who have been the victims of violence.

For security reasons, Ken Winch, the Justice Department’s director of court services who sits on the court facility security review committee at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court family division, would not give exact details about security at the Halifax family court.

"We do have deputy sheriffs on duty there during the day and they’re fully prepared to (handle) any circumstances that arise," Mr. Winch said, referring to the Devonshire Avenue building.

"We take the security at Devonshire . . . very seriously. . . . I know the staff and the sheriffs do their best to cope with any situation that can arise and are sensitive to any particular issues that arise because of being in a family environment."

Every day, staff at each justice centre in the province pay "a great deal of attention" to threat assessments based on information from clients, lawyers and other intelligence, Mr. Winch said.

"On a case-by-case basis, we’ll certainly supplement the deputy sheriffs we have on staff there to meet any need," he said.

Members of the Women’s Innovative Justice Initiative include the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia, Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Elizabeth Fry Society, Nova Scotia Association of Women and the Law and Women’s Centres Connect.