San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/author/viji-sundaram/)
Viji Sundaram reports for the San Francisco Public Press on domestic violence issues. She formerly worked as health editor of New America Media in San Francisco and as a staff reporter for publications including India-West, a weekly for the South Asian community in the U.S., the Cape Cod Times, Providence Journal and New Bedford Standard Times. She has been awarded several fellowships and won 15 journalism awards, including one for her exposé on McDonald’s use of beef in its so-called vegetarian fries.
With Fremont passing an ordinance that many say is one of the nation’s most stringent on homelessness, advocates for domestic violence survivors say the tough law criminalizes vulnerable community members — and advocates are concerned that they themselves could be punished for helping to those living in cars or encampments.
In a move hailed by legal advocates of low-income litigants, the California Supreme Court last week agreed to hear a case on whether to allow electronic recording in family court hearings.
“We are incredibly grateful the Supreme Court has agreed to consider our case addressing trial courts’ inability to provide a verbatim record of what happens in thousands of court hearings every day, resulting in devastating effects to low-income litigants, including survivors of domestic abuse,” Jennafer Wagner, director of programs at the Family Violence Appellate Project, wrote in an email to the San Francisco Public Press.
Groups that advocate for survivors of domestic violence have sued California trial courts to force them to address the statewide court reporter shortage, which they say is impairing “equal access to justice.”
Advanced computers in modern cars are enabling domestic abusers to track where their partners go, and even control parts of the vehicles remotely.
If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it into law this month, Senate Bill 1394 would establish a legal process for terminating abusers’ access to vehicle computers.
Domestic violence survivors in the Golden State are getting some help in the form of recent regulatory reforms. That includes one policy that prohibits some landlords from rejecting housing applicants based on their credit histories, which often suffer in abusive situations.
But more big fixes are needed, a UCSF report notes, like additional domestic violence shelters and better coordination of shelter and social service intake systems. Many women find today’s homeless shelter settings unsafe, so they opt to sleep on the streets after they leave an abusive partner.
A bill that would have allowed low-income domestic violence survivors to leave family court with recordings of their hearings so they could enforce court orders or appeal decisions died in the California Legislature last week, thanks to fierce pushback from labor groups representing certified court reporters.
The Senate Appropriations Committee did not call Senate Bill 662 for a vote before a procedural deadline last Friday, effectively killing it. Introduced by Sen. Susan Rubio, Democrat of Baldwin Park, the bill would have lifted the state’s ban on electronic recording in civil family, juvenile justice and dependency cases, making it an option when court reporters were unavailable.
Advocates for women’s and children’s rights say providing free or low-cost access to transcripts in hearings is key to equal justice. Unlike many states, California has in recent years repeatedly failed to guarantee adequate documentations of court proceedings, putting victims of domestic violence at a distinct legal disadvantage.
Despite failing for years to make transcripts standard practice, the Legislature may be headed for a breakthrough.
California’s Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday night unanimously endorsed a bill that would require what children’s advocates describe as crucial reforms to ensure children are safe amid contentious custody proceedings.
State Sen. Susan Rubio has introduced a bill that would allow California’s 58 trial courts to digitally record civil and family law cases, a controversial effort to address statewide courtroom staffing shortages that deprive low-income litigants of official court transcripts. Court reporters provide verbatim documentation of proceedings that are critical to filing appeals, reviewing judges’ behavior and reading back proceedings to jurors.
A state senator said she withdrew a proposal to reform the family court system in August after harsh criticism from the California Judicial Council, which called requiring extra training on family violence law burdensome and reflective of an “advocacy agenda.”
