Victimless Prosecution of Domestic Violence in the Wake of Crawford V. Washington (Report‪)‬

Introduction Domestic violence is unquestionably a massive social problem in American society. The United States Department of Justice has described domestic violence as the most common but least reported crime in America. (1) Because of the complex interpersonal relationships between victims and offenders, domestic violence cases include the unique phenomenon of victims who are unwilling to cooperate in the prosecution of offenders. In the past, when a victim refused to cooperate the prosecution would either no bring charges or request that pending charges be dismissed. Prosecuting attorneys then began pursuing criminal charges even if the victims were unwilling to testify. This paper will discuss the practice of "victimless prosecution" and the impact of Crawford v. Washington (2004) where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the admission of certain statements by victims into evidence violates the 6th Amendment Confrontation Clause unless the defendant has the opportunity to cross-examine the victim.