Transforming Aggressive Prosecution Policies: Prioritizing Victims’ Long-Term Safety in the Prosecution of Domestic Violence Cases

Until fairly recently, prosecutors\u27 offices around the country ignored domestic violence cases, failing to press charges in the vast majority of situations and dropping charges prior to conviction in many others. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, the battered women\u27s movement made significant efforts to improve the criminal justice system\u27s response. One way that this effort has met with substantial success is that many prosecutors\u27 offices now have adopted aggressive no-drop policies for domestic violence cases. In these jurisdictions, cases proceed regardless of the victim\u27s preferences about prosecution, even if she recants her original story and testifies for the defense