A community-driven group is looking to make DeKalb County one of the most active voices against domestic violence.

The DeKalb County Domestic CourtWatch Program is an effort to select and train volunteers by January 2003 to observe courtrooms to ensure citizens that the courts are functioning properly in cases involving domestic violence. Members of the program held a press conference yesterday in Legislative Center building in Sycamore.

Dennis Sands, a member of the program and DeKalb County Board Member, said in order to enhance DeKalb County’s notoriety as being a leader in setting the standards necessary to handle domestic violence, the CourtWatch program was essential in further deterring these crimes.

“Violators knew that if they committed a domestic battery in DeKalb County, they would be arrested and prosecuted,” Sands said. “We are now asking the DeKalb County to again be a leader in the prevention of domestic violence.”

James Bishop, Chairman of the CourtWatch program, said he hopes through this program, citizens are able to see above and beyond the assumptions they have about how domestic violence cases are handled.

“We intend to establish a corps of citizen-volunteers who will regularly attend and observe the proceedings in these courtrooms,” Bishop said. “The explicit purpose of these observations will be to witness whether justice is being done and whether these courts are serving us properly,”

Bishop said the effort is a necessity because a misconception lingers that those victims of domestic violence are always able to find justice and solitude from the courts. He said that while this is the case often, many victims and criminals aren’t handed proper justice.

“The reality is that many victims feel that the law and the courts cannot, or will not, protect them,” Bishop said. “Any failure to provide that justice serves to feed and perpetuate the cycle of domestic violence.” Bishop emphasized that conveying to citizens that the courts aren’t always meeting the needs of the numerous domestic violence victims is the primary goal for the volunteer program.

“We’re here today because we believe that the public has not been sufficiently informed about the extent of this problems and its impact,” Bishop said.

Charles Tucker, member of the CourtWatch program, highlighted some of the specific concerns that stimulated the inception of the program.

“The system allows too much time to pass before cases are completed and before those convicted begin their sentences,” Tucker said. “Our second concern is that only 33 of the men arrested this year have been ordered to rehabilitation and that only five of those are actively attending.”

Tucker said he was curious why the 28 other men have been able to slither their way from completing their rehabilitation programs and more so why the courts haven’t taken appropriate action in preventing this.

Joan Rappaport, member of the CourtWatch program and representative of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), said those who are convicted of committing domestic violence aren’t reprimanded properly and therefore may continue their rash of violent acts.

“We know that when the courts do not make batterers experience consequences for their violent behavior, if batterers know they can batter and get away with it, then they are emboldened to continue, and to accelerate the frequency and severity of their violence,” Rappaport said in a written press statement presented at the gathering.

Also attending the meeting were DeKalb County Chief Judge Kurt Kline, DeKalb County State Attorney Ron Matekaitis, and Safe Passage Executive Director Pam Wiseman.

Wiseman spoke during the press conference and noted Matekaitis’ visibility at the meeting speaking volumes to DeKalb County’s sincerity and enthusiasm with fighting domestic violence.

“Ron has spent many hours at many meetings and is working very close with all of us to make this happen,” Wiseman said.

Wiseman cited the sniper case, and how the alleged adult sniper was frequently accused of abusing and kidnapping his children as one reason for this program being necessary to monitor the justice system.

“[This citizen’s coalition] is an indictment of the system that allows violent, abusive people to go free even after committing crime after crime,” Wiseman said. “This is an indictment of the system, which fails repeatedly to protect victims and sometimes fails to treat them with even a modicum of respect.”

Wiseman hoped the county realizes and embraces the CourtWatch program as not that of a group of people but an entire community.

“This is not [Safe Passage’s] program…it belongs to the community,” Wiseman said. “We intend to be a voice, but we hope, just one of many.”

Rappaport said this group effort can help make DeKalb a model community and county for others around to country to follow.

“It is not an everyday occurrence that ICADV comes out to a local community for a press conference,” Rappaport said. “We were very excited at ICADV when we learned about the citizen’s committee in DeKalb County and its plans to launch a court watch project.”