Reporter Volume 26, No.8 October 27, 1994

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
Although the name never came up, Buffalo's fallen football hero O.J.
Simpson was likely on the minds of the 200 area attorneys, law faculty
and students who gathered to study New York's new domestic violence
laws at UB on Saturday, Oct. 22.
	The 19th Annual Convocation of the UB Law School Alumni
Association featured a morning-long panel discussion on the coming
changes in the laws governing persons charged with domestic violence
offenses in New York, as well as the rights of their victims. The
event took place in the atrium of the Center for the Arts.
	State Sen. Stephen M. Saland, (R, Poughkeepsie), who authored
the new law, detailed its legal provisions, including a law that
mandates that police arrest virtually any suspected perpetrator of
domestic abuse.
	Saland, a graduate of UB who now represents Columbia County
and part of Dutchess County, has served in the State Senate since
1990. Before that, he served for 10 years in the State Assembly.
However, he explained that his interest in the issue of domestic
violence goes back even further, to his days as an attorney with the
Dutchess County Department of Social Services. "As soon as I realized
that the first case of spousal abuse I dealt with would not be the
last, I became very interested in the cause," said Saland.
	Other panelists included State Supreme Court Justices M.
Dolores Denman and Vincent E. Doyle, Erie County District Attorney
Kevin Dillon, Buffalo City Court Judge Hugh B. Scott, UB Law Professor
Charles P. Ewing, Buffalo News Editorial Page Editor Barbara Ireland
and matrimonial attorney David G. Stiller. 
	As chairman of the Senate Committee on Children and Families,
Saland expanded the jurisdiction of his committee to include domestic
violence because no other Senate committee was dealing with the issue
at the time. And, it was sheer fate that the O.J. Simpson arrest,
which made domestic violence a household word, coincided with the
state's new legislation.
	"My committee held seven hearings on the proposed domestic
violence bill across the state in 1993," explained Saland. "I believe
the bill drafting commission finished their work on the bill on a
Thursday and the O.J. story broke the next day."
	The new domestic violence law, most of which goes into effect
on Jan. 1, is among the toughest in the country. Rather than forcing
victims to choose between criminal prosecution or family court action,
both now have concurrent jurisdiction over domestic violence cases.
And, the bill sets aside $500,000 so that police officers statewide
will receive training in how to deal with perpetrators and victims of
domestic violence, according to Saland.
	The State Police will, for the first time, construct a
statewide, computerized registry of orders of protection, court orders
that prohibit an alleged abuser from further contact with his
estranged spouse, making it easier to identify order violators
quickly.
	The state's new mandatory arrest law, also sponsored by
Saland, goes into effect on July 1, 1995. It is significant in that it
removes a great degree of officer discretion in domestic violence
incidents, by mandating that police officers immediately arrest
alleged offenders and inform victims of their rights, including the
right to relocation to safe haven and the right to have the offender
immediately removed from the home, according to Saland's legislation.
	Though supportive of the new legislation, Dillon, citing one
of Saland's legislative memoranda, said it was folly for the
legislature to say this new law has no fiscal implications. "I am
asking the County Legislature for an additional $200,000," he said,
"for two new attorneys, a social worker and support staffing for a new
domestic violence unit in the District Attorney's office."
	Many of the cases created by the law will land in already
overburdened city and town courts, Dillon said. "We have 11 assistant
district attorneys handling 31,000 cases a year in Buffalo City Court.
Without additional funding, it would be impossible to meaningfully
effectuate the intent of the statute."
	Ewing, nationally known for his research and writings on the
"battered woman syndrome," felt it was not clear what the overall
benefit of a mandatory arrest policy would be. Although it would
certainly reduce the number of calls to homes of repeat perpetrators
who are arrested, he explained that the same psychological factors
that keep some victims of domestic abuse from leaving the abusive
situation could serve to chill the number of reported cases of
domestic violence for fear of the mandatory arrest policy.
	"Psychologically, it is known as 'learned helplessness," Ewing
explained, and it means repeat victims of domestic violence, through
fear or depression, can become unable to exercise control over their
situation