Two days after Darrell Brooks drove an SUV through the Waukesha Christmas parade, L>h had our bimonthly board meeting. We tossed our planned agenda and did a spontaneous deep dive into this tragedy and all its background facts. We learned a lot from each other.
We learned that Darrell Brooks had fifteen prior arrests in Wisconsin alone. One was for strangulation. We learned that strangulation predicts future homicide more than any other act of domestic violence. We learned that most acts of DV are misdemeanors, but strangulation is a felony. We learned that strangulation leaves no or minimal external marks, and therefore it is hard to prove, so it is often the first charge dropped in a plea deal. We learned that Darrell Brooks pleaded out in 2012 and his strangulation charge was “rolled into” lesser charges.
We learned that the mass violence in Waukesha and Kenosha both started with incidents of domestic violence. As well as his 2012 strangulation charge, Darrell Brooks was fleeing a DV incident the day of the parade, and he punched and ran over the mother of his child last month. He had a long history of violence and bail jumping. What happened in Waukesha was entirely predictable. More and more we see unchecked domestic violence eventuate to mass violence.
On our board sits Courtney. The Executive Director of The Rainbow House, Marinette County’s shelter and service organization for sexual assault and DV victims, Courtney is our expert. She came to our board meeting with seven action items to bring system changes to Wisconsin’s legal and law enforcement systems.
One of her items was this: SDFI, Secure Digital Forensics Imaging. Long story short, it is a new technology that takes a victim’s picture, like a camera, but it reveals and documents internal injuries not visible in regular photos. If SDFI had been available in Darrell Brooks strangulation case, he would likely have been in prison two weeks ago, not in Waukesha. This technology is resulting in increased arrests and convictions of violent offenders. I know in my daughter Jessie’s case the initial markings on her neck were minimal. What appeared two days later was dramatic, and the medical examiner at the trial described severe neck muscle injuries all the way to the spine.
In December, Courtney and Buck presented this technology at the monthly Washington County Police Chiefs meeting. L>h believes this will save lives in our county. We want to purchase it for all our law enforcement agencies. $20K. Then we want to collect data on its effectiveness and spread its use throughout the state and country, if in fact it does save lives. They are considering it.
A second actionable item: bail reform. We were stunned to learn that bail is currently set according to flight risk and not with regard to public safety. This issue of reforming bail is already before the state legislature, so L>h may have no role in making it happen, other than adding our voice to call for it. We are watching and ready if there is more for us to do. Hopefully our legislators will finally hear our Advocates in this field and legislate bail reform and lethality assessment (not just jack bail higher across the board, which favors people with more money and disfavors people with less, but shift bail determination to base it on danger to the public as well as flight risk).
“…In the case of [Darrell] Brooks, the victim in [a prior] incident had provided answers to a police officer filling out a lethality assessment that clearly indicated Brooks remained a serious risk.”
“…the Lethality Assessment Program has spread across Wisconsin, but its use is rare because it is not required to be considered under state law.”
“…the Legislature needs to get to work by introducing and adopting a law that requires prosecutors and court officials to consider lethality assessments when setting bail in domestic abuse cases.”
The purpose of this post: just letting you, our supporters, know that we at L>h are not having the typical post-tragedy conversations of drama and condemnation and cynicism that go nowhere and accomplish nothing. Thanks to Courtney, we are beginning action on up to seven items, from SDFI to bail reform to offender help lines, to a statewide homicide task force. Not sure what, if, or how big our role may be for each initiative, but we are trying.
END violence. Inspire LOVE.
Do something! Change systems, change culture. Start where you are and do what you can with what you have.
Thank you all once more for supporting Jessie’s project and making her life and death count for something good.
