Welcome to GOP austerity. Domestic violence now legal in Kansas.

[TheBigotBasher]

he Topeka City Council on Tuesday voted to repeal the city’s law against misdemeanor domestic battery, the latest in a budget battle that has freed about 30 abuse suspects from charges.

One of the offenders was even arrested and released twice since the brouhaha broke out Sept. 8.

It started when Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor announced that a 10 percent budget cut would force him to end his office’s prosecution of misdemeanor cases, almost half of which last year were domestic battery cases.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/10/12/126973/domestic-violence-law-repealed.html#ixzz1aaq79bP9

As reported on Kos

the Kansas Bureau of Investigation reported the following:

One Domestic Violence Murder Occurred Every 10.4 Days.
One Domestic Violence Incident Occurred Every 22 Minutes, 0 Seconds.
Law Enforcement Made One Domestic Violence Arrest Every 41 Minutes, 48 Seconds.
The numbers don't improve if you look only at the county and city involved. In 2009, there were 1,968 incidents of domestic violence in Shawnee County, 1,733 of them in Topeka. Only 32.7 percent of those incidents resulted in arrests.

Decriminalizing domestic violence won't reduce the number of incidents—just the number of arrests. So those criminals will go free, except they won't be criminals because the violence they perpetrate is no longer a crime.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/12/1023620/-Topeka,-Kansas,-legalizes-domestic-violence-to-save-money?via=blog_1

[Scuba]

1. Did they spell out how many times one spouse must hit the other before it's a felony?

[slackmaster]

2. Per the article "the cases... ...would remain a crime under state law"

Misleading subject line is misleading. If you want to present this as the city of Topeka cutting back on enforcement, that would be accurate.

Casting asparagus on the state of Kansas as a response to this story makes no sense.

[TheBigotBasher]

4. From the article

The Topeka City Council on Tuesday voted to repeal the city’s law against misdemeanor domestic battery, the latest in a budget battle that has freed about 30 abuse suspects from charges.
One of the offenders was even arrested and released twice since the brouhaha broke out Sept. 8.

[slackmaster]

5. That does not support your claim "Domestic violence now legal in Kansas."

HTH

[TheBigotBasher]

6. Really?

How else does this read?

"The Topeka City Council on Tuesday voted to repeal the city’s law against misdemeanor domestic battery?"

[slackmaster]

7. Do you understand the difference between a city and a state?

Did you know that the crimes covered by the repealed city ordinance are covered by a Kansas state law?

Did you know that state laws apply everywhere in a state, including in cities?

Did you know that most of Kansas isn't in Topeka?

[TheBigotBasher]

10. This.

the latest in a budget battle that has freed about 30 abuse suspects from charges.

Defend it all you want.

[slackmaster]

12. Charges being dropped because of a budget battle is not the same thing as making the crime legal

:argh:

The story DOES NOT SAY those individuals can't or won't be charged under the existing state law.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Kansas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLfSDokKJoI

[supernova]

8. Is anyone on the TCC an abuser?

I wonder..

This just makes me boiling mad.

:grr:

[Bake]

9. It was a budget move to force the state/county to prosecute.

The city ordinance was redundant. The D.A.'s office (I heard the D.A. interviewed on NPR today) now has sole jurisdiction and will continue to prosecute, and will review all cases that may not have been prosecuted since the city ordinance was repealed. They're going to ask the legislature for more funding.

This is really nothing to get upset about. Domestic violence is still against the law in Kansas.

Bake

[TheBigotBasher]

11. See above

"the latest in a budget battle that has freed about 30 abuse suspects from charges."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/12/1023620/-Topeka,-Kansas,-legalizes-domestic-violence-to-save-money?via=blog_1

[slackmaster]

13. It's a typical dailykos sensationalistic spin

They do it almost every day.

[Bake]

14. Every suspect gets freed after 48 hours. It's a cooling off period.

The DA's office is reviewing those cases for prosecution.

Kos missed this one.

Bake