Relationships are complex enough as it is.  Now, add abuse to that relationship; physical, mental, economic, emotional, and/or sexual, and you’ve taken the level of complexity to a whole new level---a level some of us don’t understand because we’ve been fortunate enough not to be in abusive relationships. Sadly though, on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner.  The abuse is often cyclical, meaning it continues to happen in what we call a “cycle of violence.”

This year alone our office has prosecuted 18 adults for domestic violence related crimes. We’ve also helped more than 80 citizens file civil protection orders. In order to be prosecuted in our office for a felony domestic violence or related crime, the suspect must have a prior conviction, the victim is pregnant, or the victim suffered serious physical harm like strangulation, a broken bone, or maybe even abduction or kidnapping for being unable to escape the suspect. Scary Stuff! But there is always hope, and there is help and safety right here in our back yard at Turning Point—our local domestic violence shelter.

On October 1^st, we hosted the second annual Volley Against Violence to help support Turning Point. Volley Against Violence (VAV) is a sand volleyball tournament, and all the proceeds raised go to Turning Point, which has operated in Central Ohio for 40+ years. This year at VAV we had 129 players, 16 sponsors, 45 businesses who donated items for raffles, and we raised more than $12,000 for Turning Point!
 

Prosecutor Schiffel and Turning Point President Amber Scott (far right) with this year's tournament champs, The B-Team

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Sentenced
Here are just a few individuals sentenced
in the last few months.