....(“Gov declares domestic violence emergency,” June 6). Our leaders can now devise a new strategy for combating domestic violence.

The zero tolerance approach to neighborhood crime employed by former Boston Police Chief William Bratton in the early 1990s was effective because it made street criminals feel they were under observation and subject to immediate consequences. But zero tolerance toward domestic violence has forced law enforcement and the judiciary to divert their attention and resources to every disagreement between men and women with more than a neutral emotional level rather than using the state’s resources to prevent these murders.

NWS has republished this -- originally Boston Herald -- with the Authors permission.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/letters/view/2008_06_12_New_strategy_needed/

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