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Stalking: Implications for Forensic Nurses
By Mary E. Muscari, PhD, CPNP, APRN-BC, FCNS

Nurses Who Kill: Serial Murder in Healthcare Institutions
By Maurice Godwin, PhD

Editor's Letter
New Yet Increasingly Common Territory for Forensic Nurses

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Aiming for Zero and Making it Personal
By Casey Gwinn

I did not know the woman who died in San Diego on Jan. 9, . She was 23 years old. The brief news article about her death said nothing about her life. In the days after her death, there was no obituary. It was hard to take her death personally. It was not the death of an innocent child. Her killer did not become a celebrity. I knew no one that was related to her. I knew nothing of her hopes and dreams. Initially, I did not even know her name. The police withheld her name pending notification of relatives of her death, but she did have one distinguishing identity. She was the first woman to die in San Diego in in a domestic violence-related homicide. She was stabbed 230 times with an ice pick.

Three weeks after her death in January , we embarked on a mission in San Diego that seeks to ensure she did not die in vain: To be the first major metropolitan city in America to have zero domestic violence homicides in a calendar year. Since , we have made much progress with our aggressive misdemeanor prosecution strategy and our passion for early intervention and prevention of family violence. We have seen a 75 percent drop in domestic violence murders during the past 15 years, but we are not done yet and neither is the rest of America. In January , one woman died in the city of San Diego from domestic violence, but during the same month, 140 women and men were murdered by an intimate partner in other parts of the country.

Our vision in San Diego is to develop the San Diego Family Justice Center, the most comprehensive one-stop shop for services to family violence victims that has ever been built. Instead of expecting victims of domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse and sexual assault to go from place to place to receive all necessary services, we will bring all service providers to one place, the San Diego Family Justice Center.

It is the next logical step for us in aiming for zero domestic violence-related murders in the city of San Diego. For the last 20 years, led by feminist advocates, we have created initiative after initiative to save families from the tragedy of domestic violence and child abuse. We now have specialized family violence prosecutors, judges, detectives, and probation officers in our community. We have a cadre of specialized victim and legal advocates. We have specially trained forensic medical specialists. We have committed policy makers and supportive political leaders. But bringing everyone under one roof promises to be our most ambitious effort yet. Last year, our Domestic Violence Council identified 32 places where victims currently must go to tell their story and seek help. Now, there will be just one place.

From now on, every time a victim dies we are going to take it personally. Domestic violence is a preventable crime. Zero domestic murders is a realistic number. I am cheering for forensic nurse magazine because we have yet another ally in our effort to bring together forensic professionals, medical professionals, social service workers, prosecutors, detectives, educators and so many others as we aim for zero. One day, one-stop shops will be the norm for breaking the cycle of family violence. One day, zero domestic violence murders will be the reality in many jurisdictions across the country. And one day, we will take every family violence homicide personally because it will be such an affront to our shared vision of zero.

As for San Diego, in October when Phase I of our Family Justice Center opens, a woman's obituary and a memorial to her life will hang prominently in the lobby. Petty Officer Lori Norris was 23 when she was found strangled and stabbed to death at the hands of her husband Petty Officer Brandon Norris. Lori and each of the other five women killed this year in San Diego will be personally remembered on Oct. 10, as we open the San Diego Family Justice Center and aim for zero.

Casey Gwinn is San Diego city attorney.

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