Dear Editor:

Now that we have our first black president, I see that his first priorities are the judicial appointment system, diversity within the Bar and the overworked, underpaid public defenders.

The president’s remarks about the groups that have arisen to attack the non-partisan plan contain some mighty rhetoric about such groups seeking lockstep rulings through advertisements, etc. Not one example of an advertisement which supports such conclusion, except of course for the president’s own bias and prejudices against such groups. But we can rest assured that this system will remain in effect through the good work of our Bar. Where is the meat of such contentions?

His next major project is diversity of the Bar. I thought that diversity was in itself no longer a goal and that what we want are qualified people, qualified lawyers and officials. Did not our courts hold that diversity was no goal in our schools and no goal in our law schools? Why does our new president believe in such false goals? Is he now bringing back affirmative action to achieve a liberal policy of correctness?

His final point was the public defender system, noting that these young lawyers are underpaid and overworked. Let them follow our capitalistic system and find a job that pays more and works him or her less.

Louis Glaser, Esq.
St. Louis

Dear Editor:

The most recent Journal of The Missouri Bar, September-October 2007, Volume 63, Number 5, pp. 222-226, contained an article on domestic violence in Missouri entitled, “Investigating the Justice System Response to Domestic Violence in Missouri.” The underlying prevalent theme of this five-page article is that Missouri’s overworked, understaffed and underfinanced judicial, law enforcement and social welfare agencies should extend an extraordinary blanket of protection only to women adult abuse victims. The authors’ collective gender-centric point of view is based initially on three cases of undated domestic abuse cited as general narratives in the beginning of their article.

• The article goes into a lengthy and convoluted discussion on a statistical methodology for the gathering of domestic abuse complaints that eliminates the nine most populated counties in Missouri where purportedly the greatest number of domestic abuse incidents occur, and where a more accurate assessment as to the number and types of domestic violence cases might be better classified from the areas where the greatest number of Missourians reside.

• The article ignores the fact that numerous crimes of domestic violence in Missouri (e.g., assault, manslaughter, murder) are also perpetrated by women against men, women against children, women against women and men against men. Horrific examples of domestic violence left out of the article include (1) fetus theft where a woman will murder another woman and brutally saw cut a viable fetus out of the victim’s womb; (2) voluntary manslaughter where a woman freely uses drugs and alcohol during her pregnancy with utter disregard to the health and safety of a child who dies in utero or shortly after birth from the consequences thereof; (3) parents and strangers who kidnap and/or physically harm children; [and] (4) those unfortunate elderly men and women who are subject to mental and physical abuse as well as financial wrongdoing at the hand of their families, friends or other caregivers.

Perhaps the authors of this article should take a step back in considering an honest and open discussion of domestic violence predicated on ascertainable facts and unbiased judgment by gathering reliable statistics from the Missouri Department of Corrections over a multi-year period to break down the number and types of domestic violence crimes committed by both men and women, the length of prison sentences imposed, the early release dates for parole and whether the judiciary by its actions in sentencing and its role in the post-conviction process favors one gender over another in the administration of justice. The authors of the article allude to this type of factual analysis by briefly mentioning on the last page of their article that “Missouri reported 39,097 incidents of adult domestic violence and 51 domestic homicides in 2004.” No breakdowns are given as to the respective gender of the assailants although men are also victims of domestic violence at the hands of women whom they know.

The Missouri Bar should not promote the publication of social science editorials in a respected journal whose professional assessment and discussion of the law is better served in a rational analysis of statutes and their interpretation when applied by the trial and appellate courts of Missouri. The administration of justice in Missouri will work best when law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges ensure that the laws relevant to domestic violence situations are applied even-handedly for the protection of all men, women and children regardless of their gender, race or age in order to promote the general welfare.

Alan Jay Koshner, Esq.
St. Louis