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A Conversation with Lisa Bloch Rodwin, Candidate for Judge of
Family Court
Reprinted
from PoliticsNY.net
By Judy
Einach
When a
person saves lives that person is a hero. Lisa Bloch Rodwin
saves lives. She’s developed cutting edge systems to protect and
assist families suffering from domestic violence. Since May 2006
the domestic violence murder rate in Erie County has dropped to
zero. “The year before,” she said, “there were 15. This is a
team effort. It’s working. It’s not like its costing the
taxpayers money. Its using the resources we have to help the
people who need it most.”
Why
would Rodwin want to move away from what she’s doing so well and
into Family Count? She answered, “Almost every family I work
with started out in Family Court. I think that given my
knowledge, experience, work ethic, and willingness to try new
approaches we can do a better job in Family Court so that these
families don’t end up in Criminal Court.” She continued, “You
have to respect the individual because if you don’t treat
victims with respect, how can you expect them to take the steps
to protect themselves and their children. You have to give
options, support services, and that’s what Family Court is
about. If we don’t provide support services these children will
find themselves at risk or in court. We have a responsibility to
those children and I think we can do better.”
Rodwin
has a terrific resume. “I helped start the Domestic Violence
Bureau in 1995. We did a radical realignment of how the criminal
justice system would respond to what had been seen as a social
problem; a problem that police, the DA, judges should never be
involved with. First we started by hiring a social worker for
the DA’s Office. But I’d seen that you can’t treat domestic
violence as you treat another kind of case. When you work with
someone who’s been hurt by someone who was supposed to love and
respect them, you have to start from a different position than
you would from any other kind of case.” She understands that
when fundamental trust is broken it’s hard to know who to trust
or if trust is possible at all. Talking about the perpetrator
she said, “If you’re open and receptive to looking at someone
assaulting someone in your home you have to treat them equally
and give them more attention not less.”
Neither
Rodwin nor then District Attorney Kevin Dillon knew how valuable
the Domestic Violence Bureau would be. Rodwin said Dillon
thought there would be “maybe 50 to75 cases. The first year we
had 500. Last year over 4000.”
Rodwin
is focused on prevention; on not allowing family dynamics to
“escalate into someone getting brutally hurt.” She explained,
“I’ve always been willing to be creative and aggressive in
protecting people within the family unit. I’m always looking at
new ways and working with wonderful people. We set up a
dedicated Domestic Violence Court in Buffalo that handled 2500
cases last year. It’s an integrated Domestic Violence Court with
one judge. If you’re a person going through a divorce or custody
fight you have one court where one judge litigates all the
issues at once. You’re making it easier for a person who’s hurt
to get safety and justice.
Rodwin
is a fun and upbeat person who carries a heavy burden. She said,
“Many people have no clue as to the widespread violence that
occurs behind closed doors. When I ask people who may sit on a
jury almost 25% raise their hands that they know someone who has
experienced domestic violence. This isn’t a problem of just
low-income people who are drug addicts. The number one
occupation [of victims] is nurses because nurses think they can
heal everybody. They [victims] come from every part of our
community; from the nicest houses in the finest communities. If
you listen, without making a judgment, you can give people
options to keep themselves and their children safe. Then you can
make a difference.”
She made
a difference when she appeared on Oprah. Talking about the first
of four times she appeared on the TV program she said, “That
show received the highest rating of any season. Almost 4000
women wrote into her chat room. [Oprah] brought us back two
weeks later and we broadened the show to the discuss the affects
on a child who witnesses domestic violence and what friends and
family members can do to help victims of family violence.”
Ironically, the day Lisa Bloch Rodwin and I had our conversation
Oprah rebroadcast the first program in this series. It is that
valuable.
“A lot
of people didn’t think anything would change with domestic
violence when I started this. A lot of people said those victims
will always go back. That’s disrespectful of woman and other
trapped adults. If you’re going to give up on the problems
society faces then you don’t deserve to be in public service.
You have to try new ways. You have to take a step back and take
a look at the people you’ve got to work with, let down the turf
issues a little, and you can achieve tremendous success.
There’s
no question that if I’m lucky enough to have the Governor
appoint me and the citizens of Erie County elect me, that given
my energy and passion, I will dedicate everything I have to make
things better for the families in crisis.”
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