Following the 21 domestic violence deaths in 2007, The Frederick News-Post asked some of the county's key stakeholders in combating the crimes to offer their thoughts on how we, as a community and a society, could move forward to reduce domestic violence. (Responses edited for grammar and style).

First and foremost, criminals who seriously abuse their spouses are a plague on our community. Domestic violence seriously erodes the sense of family, and can devastate our children's perspective. I support any responsible effort that would increase reporting, and assist in more effectively prosecuting and jailing serious offenders.

With that said, the first thing we need to do is to abrogate the marital/spousal privilege. This privilege enables a spouse to refuse to testify in a case involving assault and/or child abuse. While they can invoke the privilege only one time, it usually results in my office not being able to prove a major felony case. Unfortunately, victims also becomes aware that they will be forced to testify the next time, leading victims to never report abuse again. Over 37 other states have done away with the privilege and it's time for Maryland to do the same.

I would also like to see a Family Justice Center in Frederick. A Family Justice Center is a centrally located facility composed of a multi-disciplinary team of professionals who work together to provide coordinated services to victims of family violence. The members of the team would include police, prosecutors and community-based advocates. The concept is to provide one place where victims can go to talk to the police, an advocate, the prosecutor, and at the same time receive medical, housing, transportation, and employment assistance. I think this would go a long way to increasing reports of abuse, thereby increasing the number of serious offenders we can put in jail. We have seen this concept work as evidenced by our Frederick County Child Advocacy Center.

Finally, we need to provide better education to prevent domestic violence. Education needs to start in the schools, even in pre-school with campaigns like "hands are not for hitting." Education of our adult population is also important. Potential jurors need to understand that while domestic violence is something that usually goes on behind "closed doors" and is a "personal" situation, it's still a crime. In the educational process, we need to put the emphasis on the abuser's behavior and on holding the defendant accountable. Unfortunately, the focus often shifts to the victim with questions like "Why does she stay?" or "Why didn't she just leave?" The bottom line is that a serious assault still occurred, and we need to hold the criminal responsible for his/her behavior, regardless of the victim's response.

Other programs such as providing quality and affordable housing and day care to the single parents who are victims of serious domestic violence, and focusing on the need to help victims document their abuse would also go a long way toward reducing domestic violence.