Goal: Justice for victims

Seventy percent of the people charged last year with felonies involving domestic violence in Salt Lake County walked away free without punishment, according to county District Attorney Lohra Miller.

On Thursday, Miller promised local mayors to reduce that number by next year.

"I will not be here saying we have seven out of 10 victims that don't receive justice," Miller said. "We are going to change that. But to do that, I need help."

Miller wants to double her domestic-violence staff by next month. She said she plans to ask the Salt Lake County Council to fund five new positions on her domestic-violence team during midyear budget adjustments in two weeks.

Most felony domestic-violence cases are dismissed because the prosecution drags on so long that victims change their minds and don't want to testify, Miller said.

Salt Lake County prosecutors are already swamped with work and often don't have enough time to properly push domestic-violence cases through in a timely manner, she said.

The county attorney's office is actually violating state law by not getting casework done in time for the accused to appear in court within a day of the domestic-violence arrest. Miller said it normally takes a month for the accused to appear in court.

Another problem is that too many victims have too little faith in the criminal-justice system to see their case through to the end, Miller said.

"We have to change the victims' perception of what our office can do for them," Miller said.

The county wants to open a new family-justice center in the south end of the valley. The center would be a sort of one-stop-shop for domestic-violence victims, with housing, law enforcement, prosecution, welfare, counseling and educational programs all under one roof.

The Salt Lake YWCA already runs a family-justice center for victims, but it is only open on Thursdays, said Anne Burkholder, chief executive officer of the Salt Lake YWCA. She said the county cannot "aggressively prosecute offenders without victims feeling safe."

"Victim safety and successful prosecutions go hand in hand," Burkholder said.

County Councilman Jeff Allen said he plans to ask his colleagues to fund a strategic planning position to start work on a possible family-justice center location in the south end of the valley.

Miller also plans on holding a seminar for local police officers, domestic-violence counselors, judges and all other stakeholders in the criminal-justice system this fall in an effort to increase cooperation and expedite the prosecution of domestic-violence offenders.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com