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Berkshire County DA Launches New Approach To Reduce Domestic And Sexual Assault

New England Public Media | By Nancy Eve Cohen
Published April 9, 2019 at 3:37 PM EDT
Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington in a 2018 file photo.
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Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington.
Nancy Eve Cohen / NEPM
A courthouse in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
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A courthouse in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Berkshire District Attorney's Office / Facebook

The Berkshire County District Attorney's office is introducing a new approach to domestic and sexual assault cases. 

Usually, an alleged victim files a complaint with the police and the police investigate.

DA Andrea Harrington now says she wants her office to be notified as soon as a complaint has been made so it can offer support to victims and to law enforcement — similar to the way it works with police in a homicide case.

“We provide legal advice in terms of if search warrants are required,” Harrington said. “We give them feedback on what evidence can be used at trial, and how it can be used. And it's a much more cooperative way of developing a case.”

Harrington is also forming a domestic and sexual violence task force to develop a county-wide plan.

Harrington and other officials point to the number of requests for restraining orders in the Berkshire County — more than 1,000 in each of the last three years.
Tags
Regional News GOVERNMENT & POLITICSPUBLIC SAFETYCRIMINAL JUSTICELAWSEXUAL ASSAULTFAMILIESWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Nancy Eve Cohen
Nancy Eve Cohen is a former NEPM senior reporter whose investigative reporting has been recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Regional Award for Hard News, along with awards for features and spot news from the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA), American Women in Radio & Television and the Society of Professional Journalists.

She has reported on repatriation to Native nations, criminal justice for survivors of child sexual abuse, linguistic and digital barriers to employment, fatal police shootings and efforts to address climate change and protect the environment. She has done extensive reporting on the EPA's Superfund cleanup of the Housatonic River.

Previously, she served as an editor at NPR in Washington D.C., as well as the managing editor of the Northeast Environmental Hub, a collaboration of public radio stations in New York and New England.

Before working in radio, she produced environmental public television documentaries. As part of a camera crew, she also recorded sound for network television news with assignments in Russia, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba and in Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia.
See stories by Nancy Eve Cohen
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