Two deaths at Christmas time this year have planted themselves in my heart.  Two deaths that I hope will awaken me and others from our complacency about the work yet to be done in San Diego County to stop family violence.

Christina Jones should have celebrated Christmas with her kids last Friday in the City of San Diego.  She should have talked to her sisters and her Mom and Dad and visited with friends.  But she didn’t enjoy Christmas Day with her family.  She was dead.  She was strangled to death in front of her two small children.

Christina shouldn’t be dead.  She should be looking forward to the New Year and planning her future.  It is such a senseless tragedy but what bothers me the most…is that no one is asking questions publicly about her death.  No one is calling for an investigation.  No one is challenging anybody to review what happened.  Where are the advocates?  Where are the change agents?  Where is the investigative reporting?  Where are those who will not accept the status quo?  Where are those who will not be lulled by the deceptive brag that San Diego is a ‘national model’ in our response to domestic violence?  I am not calling for finger pointing.  I am calling for committed, caring people to ask their questions publicly, not privately, and in a coordinated way that ensures that we are all looking at what could have been done better.

Today, I learned of another recent death, the death of Esther Chavez.  Esther died of cancer on Christmas Day at age 73.  I never knew Esther.  She was buried this week in Ciudad Juarez where she devoted two decades to advocating for change and awareness in response to the strangulation deaths of more than 100 women over the past 20 years.  She tirelessly denounced the killings and demanded investigations.  Most of the victims were maquiladoras; others were victims of domestic violence.  Authorities in Chihuahua downplayed the problem but she continued to ask questions and demand answers.  She went on to found Casa Amiga, a shelter for women who were victims of violence and abuse.  Until the end of her life, Esther Chavez remained highly critical of the government and community response and continued to demand accountability and change.

This week, in San Diego (and around the country), we need more people like Esther Chavez.  We need more people speaking the name of Christina Jones.  We need advocates who are willing to ruffle feathers in order to keep us moving forward in the human rights struggle to stop violence against women, men, and children.  We need more courageous change agents who do not remain silent in the face of oppression and will not accept our community’s corresponding complacency.  Christina Jones deserves to have women, men, and young people stand up and speak out like Esther Chavez did in Ciudad Juarez.

San Diego has done much good in the last 25 years in the effort to stop family violence.  We have made profound changes in our responses to violence in the home.  We have created policies, protocols, and procedures.  We have created specialized prevention and intervention programs.  We have built relationships that have produced better collaboration and coordination.  We launched the international Family Justice Center movement by opening the San Diego Family Justice Center in 2002.  We have been recognized nationally and internationally for the work of many individuals and agencies.  But we are not finished.  We cannot be finished.  Women, men, and children continue to die.  Families continue to be destroyed by violence and abuse.  And the need to re-invigorate our community response has never been greater.

Today, thanks to the strong leadership of Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, the San Diego Family Justice Center is revitalizing its services after nearly collapsing under previous City leadership.  But the sharing of information among public and private agencies is still weak and disjointed.  The poor economy and distracted elected officials have led to less focus on domestic violence than in years past even at a time when domestic violence cases are rising and family violence homicides have increased in the City of San Diego for the first time in 20 years.  And San Diego is no longer leading the nation in its coordinated community response to domestic violence.

Communities have surpassed San Diego.  Many cities and counties have continued to devote major public financial support to specialized units and groundbreaking initiatives.  Many communities have refused to cut resources and disband specialized programs.  In contrast, they have chosen to respond to the need for increased co-located services by doing more, not less.  But in San Diego, resources have been reduced and few public officials and community leaders are zealous in their efforts to keep San Diego growing, expanding, improving, and advancing.  The City Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit is filing fewer cases than at any time in its history.  The District Attorney’s Office is one of the brightest lights in our system but still does not have specialized advocates, prosecutors, and investigators assigned to work full-time in the San Diego, North County, or East County Family Justice Centers. The Sheriff’s centralized Domestic Violence Unit is being disbanded.  The countywide Domestic Violence Council is barely even visible to the public except for once a year and receives virtually no public funding.  The San Diego Police Department’s Domestic Violence Unit is committed but smaller than at any time since 1992.  Many local domestic violence non-profit agencies are struggling to survive.  The newspaper has not done an editorial on violence against women issues in years.  The business community rarely focuses on the issue at all.  Where is the activism?  Where are the marches and vigils?  Where is the outrage when a known violent predator is able to get out of jail and go straight to his victim and kill her in front of her children?

In the Christina Jones case, we can and must ask many questions that will shed light on the work we yet have to do.  Melvin Carter had a long history of domestic violence before he killed Christina.  How many times did Melvin abuse Christina before she died?  Who knew about the violence?  Who did they tell?  Who reached out to Christina when she did call the police each time?  Who followed up with her?  When Melvin Carter was arrested on November 24, why were charges not filed against him?  He was on probation already for domestic violence but his bail was low enough that he was able to bail out of jail…so he could go kill her.  Did Christina get notified when he was being released from jail?  Did she even know that there is a victim notification system in San Diego operated by the Sheriff’s Department?  Did anyone tell her?  Did anyone refer her to the San Diego Family Justice Center?  She had the paperwork for a restraining order when she died.  Where did she get it?  Did the agency that gave it to her do any kind of Danger Assessment or Safety Plan?  Surely, such an assessment would have shown the extreme danger she was in at the time and a Safety Plan would have helped her think through the danger and her options.  Were the civil legal providers, the law enforcement officers, the advocates, and the prosecutors all coordinating their outreach to Christina?  If not, why not?  Were they all talking to each other and to her?  If not, why not?

Esther Chavez would have asked questions.  Esther Chavez would not let us pat ourselves on the back about the great work we have done over the last 25 years and then dismiss the death of Christina Jones as inevitable. Where are such voices today?  We need many people to start asking honest, non-accusing questions, and to keep asking until we get honest, straightforward answers…and until the two Christmas deaths drive us to keep improving the way we protect families and stop abusers.

Casey Gwinn is the President of the National Family Justice Center Alliance http://www.familyjusticecenter.org.   He led the effort to open the San Diego Family Justice Center in 2002.  On Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 4:15 PM, the VOICES Committee of the San Diego Family Justice Center (a dedicated group of domestic violence survivors) will hold a vigil for Christina Jones at the beach in Coronado.  Christina so loved the beach.  All interested community members can join Christina’s family and friends in remembering her life and seeking to learn from her death.  Please call the Family Justice Center Alliance at 888-511-3522 for directions.