Domestic violence has a significant impact on a community’s legal system, affecting police, courts, prisons, and legal departments. The state spends an estimated $49.9 million on processing domestic violence court cases annually. This figure includes $26 million for probation oversight of offenders, $14.7 million for prison costs of domestic violence murderers, $4.4 million in pre-trial jail costs for arrested offenders, $3.2 million for divorce costs due to domestic violence, $920,000 in domestic violence custody filing fees and $708,000 in protection order processing fees.

A significant portion of crimes committed in Tennessee stems from domestic violence. Statistics for the years 2000 through 2002 show that 52% of all aggravated assaults and 65% of all simple assaults were related to domestic violence. Nearly 100% of protection orders involve domestic violence as well. In Memphis , domestic violence court cases represent 39% of all general sessions court cases. The District Attorney for Memphis receives 400 felony and misdemeanor domestic violence cases each month. The correlation between domestic violence and other crimes demonstrates the far reaching direct and indirect economic effects of domestic violence on the legal system.

The high percentage of domestic violence related crimes necessitates costly staff expenditures for prosecution, investigation, processing, and advocacy. Taxpayers pay $1.3 million per year in Shelby County to support the costs of running the Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit and to pay for bond setting, probation supervision, and court advocacy for the 4,700 to 4,800 offenders arrested there each year. The Chattanooga Police Department allocates $160,000 per year solely for domestic violence investigators. Due in part to these high costs the Chattanooga task force on domestic violence was abolished, leaving a void in domestic violence investigation and prosecution.

Although the cost of domestic violence greatly impacts the legal system, Tennessee spends less than half of the national average on domestic violence and sexual assault services and prevention. The state must increase funding to early prevention programs in order to stop domestic violence before it escalates to violent crime that exacts a greater toll on women and families and on the legal system. Furthermore, funding for the reinstallation or creation of domestic violence task forces and the maintenance of detailed records on domestic violence cases will help to prevent domestic violence. The benefits of prevention, which include decreased costs to the legal system, far outweigh the cost of domestic violence.