Topeka Decriminalizes Domestic Violence

Budget battles force the Kansas capital's city council to try a questionable new tactic to get the state to prosecute more cases.

The city council of Topeka, the capital of Kansas, has voted to trash the city's laws against domestic violence in a bid to get the state to devote more funds to prosecuting offenders. Last night, Council voted 7-3 to repeal the law after weeks of disputes between the local district attorney and the city over who should foot the bill for domestic abuse cases. The district attorney had said that because the county had reduced his budget, he didn't have the resources to focus on anything other than felonies. Domestic abuse in Kansas is listed as a misdemeanor. Those cases were then passed off to the city, leading to delays that saw 18 people charged with domestic abuse going free without facing a trial. The council then decided that if they got rid of a local law that made domestic abuse illegal, the state would be required to prosecute those cases. Unless the state decides to decriminalize domestic abuse, too, in which case the saying "we're not in Kansas anymore" will take a turn for the positive.