That's right. In Topeka, Kansas, city law no longer forbids domestic violence. If a man or a woman beats his or her child or spouse, it is not a crime. This legal move of course begs the question: why?
I'll tell you why: the city government is using the legalization of domestic violence as a budgetary bargaining chip. Essentially, the county in which Topeka is located, Shawnee County, could no longer afford to prosecute all of the domestic abuse cases. This inability forced the city of Topeka's government to take on the extra case load. In protest, the city legalized domestic violence, therefore shirking their responsibility for the cases, and placing the domestic violence case load back on Shawnee County.
Well, you may be thinking, at least the cases are still being handled by the county. Unfortunately, though, the Shawnee County legal system's cup has runneth over, which means that while domestic violence suspects are being arrested, they are not being charged, and are therefore being released. Since September 8, 2011, 21 suspects have been sent back home because Shawnee County couldn't squeeze in a court date. And Topeka city police won't even bother arresting anyone for domestic abuse, because in their city, punching your wife in the face isn't a crime anymore.
Which means that children who saw a parent dragged away in a police car--children who are finally starting to forget what it feels like to have a fat lip or a black eye or an arm with a bruise in the shape of a handprint-- are watching that same abusive parent walk right back in the front door, having been freed from their jail cell because the local government just didn't have the time or the money to prosecute a violent offender.
And it's all because of money. Domestic abuse victims are suffering at the hands of a greedy government, a government who sees its citizens not as human beings with feelings of fear and anxiety and despondence, but as pawns in an ongoing game to see which local government will be the first to throw in the towel.
And so we find ourselves faced with a question that, as a nation, we are asking more often than we should: Is this really the world that we live in?
If a local government in the Midwest is willing to legalize something as serious as domestic violence merely to make a point, what's next? Legalizing murder in New York City? Rape in Los Angeles? Kidnapping in DC?
If those speculations seem like an exaggeration, think again. Think about what it would be like to see your father throw your mother into the wall. Think about how it would feel to realize that as you crawl into the closet with the portable phone, preparing to dial 911, that even if you call the police, there would be nothing they could do but politely decline your call.
Sorry, sweetie. What you're describing isn't actually a crime. Good night.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/domestic-violence-topeka-kansas-.html
