The state’s largest domestic violence organization has not been able to replace its legal staff since all of its attorneys quit last year, leaving domestic violence victims in Hawaiʻi with fewer options for low-cost representation.
But domestic violence advocates agree that even before the lawyers left the Domestic Violence Action Center — which offers legal services on a sliding scale along with social services and advocacy — there was a major need for more legal aid for victims in Hawaiʻi.
Thousands of domestic violence cases are filed in court each year while the Domestic Violence Action Center reports opening fewer than 200 cases annually. A report published last year by the Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence listed legal services as one of the top three unmet needs of victims…