Jenesse Legal Services Report

Jenesse Center, Inc. is the oldest domestic violence intervention program in South Central Los Angeles.  Jenesse’s founders, all survivors of domestic violence, understood that they were not unique in this experience.  Their healing included embracing the opportunity to take the issue of domestic violence public and becoming the voice of all the nameless, faceless victims who had no one to speak or advocate for them.

Jenesse’s Legal Services Available in the
Inglewood Superior Courthouse

 Jenesse opened a Domestic Violence Clinic in the Inglewood Superior Courthouse.  Before the clinic existed, citizens wishing to file restraining orders often had to travel to Torrance or Downtown Los Angeles for assistance.  This proved to be challenging for those who lived in the area and did not have convenient transportation to travel long distances. Services are available to all citizens.

“The Jenesse Domestic Violence Clinic opened January 2001 and has surpassed Torrance in the number of Domestic Violence filings.”

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Off-Site Legal Services Provided by Month with Number of Citizens Served in 2005 at the Inglewood Superior Court

Jenesse Center Shelter On-Site
Legal Program Formed in 1999

Legal Staff members meet on-site with Jenesse clients during daily programming while maintaining confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege. A legal department in a domestic violence program constitutes an enormous asset.

The potential costs involved in the development and maintenance of such a department can be substantially mitigated by creative collaborative relationships with many law offices, local law schools, law professors and various bar associations in the area.

A centralized service approach results in higher case completion rates.

Services Women/Children Receive at Jenesse’s Shelter On-Site Legal Program

Importance of an On-Site Legal Department in Domestic Violence Programs

The decision to flee a domestic violence environment is an extremely difficult one and involves a complex set of factors.  Knowledge of – and access to – a domestic violence shelter or other safe place may well be the tipping point in this decision.  The ability to permanently extricate oneself from a domestic violence relationship that is dangerous and dysfunctional is even more complicated. 

Rationale for a Legal Services Department in a Domestic Violence Program

Jenesse Center’s 1999 decision to establish a Legal Services Department was anchored in the recognition that a comprehensive services model is enhanced by providing shelter clients with the legal support necessary to help them move permanently into independence once they have made the decision to leave their abusive situation.  A review of the problems presented by Jenesse’s clients during the last 25 years provides convincing evidence that women bring with them a complex series of legal issues in addition to a history of abuse.  

The Bureau of Justice Statistics 2001 National Crime Victimization Study

reveals the following picture of domestic violence:

      Family violence occurs in 1 of 3 families in America

      Nearly 3.3 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 have experienced or witnessed abuse in their families

      More than one-half of women on welfare have been victims of domestic violence

      As many as 50% of domestic violence victims lose their jobs in part to violence and abuse

      Women of all geographic, demographic and ethnic groups are equally vulnerable to intimate partner violence

      Within six months of an episode of domestic violence, 32% of battered women are victimized again

      Nearly one-third of American women (31%) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives

Jenesse Develops Legal Manual to
Share with Collaborators

California is a recognized leader in confronting domestic violence as a major public policy issue through both services to victims and legislation that address the complex and inter-related issues associated with this problem.  California legislators work with policymakers at the local, state and national level, as well as individual shelters and statewide networks to stay in the forefront of this issue.  The result of these collaborations is reflected in the breadth and scope of legislation that has been enacted to provide support for the victims of domestic violence and to assist in the eradication of this social disease. 

We also recognize that Jenesse’s experience in assisting clients to effectively utilize the legal system in empowering themselves could be useful to many of our community-based collaborators.  The Legal Services Manual is an outgrowth of that concept.  This educational tool is a guide to providing legal services to victims of domestic violence and can be used to assist other organizations in developing their own legal program.

Chapter Titles Listed in the Legal Service Manual Revealing the Importance of an On-Site Legal Department in Domestic Violence Shelter Programs include:

      Chapter One: Understanding Domestic Violence: the Dynamics of Power and Control and the Cycle of Violence

      Chapter Two: The Law and Domestic Violence: A Historical Perspective (history, rights of victims, related legislature, changes)

      Chapter Three: Establishing a Legal Component in a Domestic Violence Program

      Chapter Six: Additional Legal Issues (divorce, landlord/tenant, employment issues, previous criminal charges, name change, change of location address)

      Chapter Seven: Case Studies and Their Legal Remedies (client/situation description, potential legal remedies, actual outcome)

The Violence Against Women Act, Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, rewrote several areas of federal criminal law and created a series of federal domestic violence crimes to be prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

A Workplace Violence Restraining Order may be requested under California Code of Civil Procedure, Title 3, Chapter 3, and Sections 527.8 by an employer whose employee has suffered unlawful violence or threat of violence that can be – or may have been – carried out at the victim’s place of employment.  Under California law, an employee cannot request a Workplace Violence Restraining Order.

The presenting legal issues fall into several areas of law including:

• Civil Procedure

Domestic violence issues often involve jurisdictional issues as many women cross stateliness fleeing from domestic abuse.  These issues may involve legal notice, service of subpoenas and restraining orders, serving ex parte protection orders, personal and subject matter jurisdiction and full faith and credit for out-of-state court orders.

• Criminal Law

Domestic violence issues frequently involve criminal law.  Among the relevant issues are state and federal laws relating to criminal prosecution in the violation of protection orders and the nature of the attendant criminal proceedings, including crimes against the victim such as assault, rape, kidnapping, stalking and murder; recent federal and state laws designed to criminalize and combat domestic violence.

• Torts

Many common injuries and problems resulting from a perpetrator’s actions are the subject of tort law.  These include assault, battery, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, various property torts, trespassing, false imprisonment and wrongful death.

Don Stephenson, Legal Supervisor

ruth fonteh, legal coordinator

special thanks to cynthia mclain hill, strategic counsel