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Deadly toll
Published 12/15/2009 in Commentary : Editorial
The slaying deaths of a mother, her two daughters and a grandmother were the latest tragedies in a brutal year in Kansas.
Domestic violence was blamed in the shooting deaths of Karen, Emily and Lauren Kahler, and Dorothy Wight on Thanksgiving weekend near Burlingame.
That brought the number of domestic violence-related deaths this year in Kansas to 32 adults and 13 children — a notable increase over 2008, when 19 adults and 14 children were killed as a result of domestic violence.
Of 118 homicides so far in 2009 in Kansas, 26 percent stemmed from domestic violence.
The Kahler case was the latest example of a problem that can turn into a long pattern of abusive behavior and result in tragedy.
After 23 years of marriage, Karen Kahler cited physical and sexual abuse in filing for divorce in January 2009. Her estranged husband, Kraig, now stands accused in her death, as well as the deaths of their two daughters and his wife's grandmother.
Such a horrifying, high-profile crime naturally fuels support for legislation aimed at keeping such tragedies from happening again.
As much is expected in a proposal that would require a domestic violence tag to be placed on all legal documents associated with a criminal act that is based on an intimate relationship.
Jana's Campaign — launched after the death of Jana Mackey, a University of Kansas law student slain by her ex-boyfriend — proposed the DV tag as a key in preventing offenders from repeating their crimes.
While such legislation would help, more must be done.
Domestic violence too often is considered a private issue, with both victims and abusers reluctant to admit what happened. But it's a public problem that demands public solutions.
To determine whether domestic abuse cases could be handled more effectively, communities should demand top-to-bottom reviews of how the criminal justice system deals with those cases from the time they are reported until sentences are rendered.
Policymakers cannot be satisfied until the troubling trend of domestic violence is reversed.
Indeed, we all owe it to those who lost their lives to place more emphasis on the potentially deadly problem that plagues every community.
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