BEFORE DEATH, WE MUST PART:

Domestic violence trends and case law reporters across the country suggest the time is right for a new alternative in the struggle to provide refuge for victims of domestic violence. As the American justice system stands right now, there is no significant mechanism in the United States with the financial, legislative, and legal backing to help victims of domestic violence escape. A model for relocation based upon the Federal Witness Protection Program can provide such a mechanism. The first part of this note presents a New Jersey case where a divorce proceeding resulted in the relocation and change of identity of a battered woman and her children, and suggests this remedy as a model for an interstate or federal relocation program for domestic violence victims. The next part provides a discussion of the merits and rationale behind such a program. The third part discusses the types of batterers this program would seem to protect against, a legal standard to ascertain whether someone is eligible, and certain logistical issues of a theoretical program. The next two parts discuss items troublesome to the implementation of both state and federal programs. The sixth part discusses potential issues such programs might face once implemented on both levels. Finally, the last part provides an overall assessment of the feasibility of such programs, followed by the conclusion. While the costs that would be incurred by such a program on the interstate or federal level may be quite high, it is quite clear that relocation and protection could save countless lives each year and provide a new beginning for the innocent victims that toil in a world of domestic violence.