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District attorney's office warns staffing strain as domestic-violence caseloads surge
Summary
District Attorney's office representatives told the joint commissions that vertical domestic-violence prosecutors are overburdened: six attorneys handle roughly 270 cases per month, trials rose 92% year over year, and the office seeks additional investigators and advocates to keep victims engaged.
Jean Roland, the managing attorney assigned to domestic violence, stalking and physical elder abuse in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, told the joint hearing that the office's vertical unit is under-resourced while caseloads and trials have risen.
Roland described a unit of six attorneys handling approximately 270 domestic-violence cases per month, a caseload she said has increased dramatically in the last two years. "We have 6 attorneys to handle all of our misdemeanor and felony domestic violence cases," Roland said. She added that trials have increased roughly 92% in the last year.
Roland said the office lacks dedicated support staff, such as victim advocates and investigators, which the unit needs to maintain contact with victims and to gather evidence when victims do not or cannot testify. "One of the huge challenges we face are the delays in bringing cases to trial," Roland said. She described programs that seek to keep victims engaged, including lethality assessments and victim advocates who will meet victims at safer locations.
Commissioners pressed for details about grant applications and a budget supplemental the DA's office said had been prepared to fund investigators and support positions. Roland said the office had secured one grant to assist limited-English-proficient victims, which funded part of an attorney position and an advocate but not investigators.
