In his annual State of the Judiciary address Tuesday, Chief Justice Daniel Wathen described to the Legislature the long and difficult evolution of attitude his branch of government toward family violence. How the phrase “rule of thumb” comes from an early American court decision on how wide a switch a husband could use to beat his wife. How, not nearly that long ago, judges viewed violence within the home as undesirable but none of the public’s business. How the judges of today “get it,” but how there’s still much to be done.

Less than 24 hours later, tragic punctuation was added to Justice Wathen’s remarks. Outside a grocery store in Patten, a man shot and killed his estranged wife and her sister before he turned his shotgun on himself. The details slowly being filled in are revoltingly familiar – abuse complaints, arrest and quick release, a protection order that could not protect and the knowledge, too late, that Harold Gray had a long history of violence against his former wife and children in another state.

Nothing, of course, can prevent a person intent on taking his own life from taking the lives of others. But most cases of family violence do not end so horrifically. Most just drag on and on, day after day of intimidation, threats and injury. Most could be eliminated, or at least alleviated considerably by the requests Justice Wathen made of lawmakers.

First is funding the Judicial Department’s plan for courthouse security, some of which Gov. King has included in his budget proposal. Security in Maine’s courthouses is now, at best, haphazard and incidents of intimidation against witness and victims are increasingly common. The creation of two regional security coordinator positions and the conversion of 30 contract security officer positions to permanent positions is merely a start, but one that must be made.

Other proposals in the governor’s budget that the Legislature should endorse are increases in the state police budget for rural patrol and to establish a position to coordinate statewide efforts to respond to and investigate family violence offenses. The last Legislature made the first concerted effort in this regard by funding eight additional assistant district attorney positions, but prosecution is only part of the equation.

Justice Wathen also calls for better enforcement of bail and release conditions, which requires drastic improvements in information-sharing across jurisdictions. It is possible that the tragedy in Patten could have been prevented had local police known of Mr. Gray’s record in Virginia – state-to-state information sharing unlikely when county-to-county sharing remain nonexistent.

Finally, Justice Wathen urged the Legislature to “take the bargain out of violence,” that is, to provide enough prosecutors, investigators and courthouse staff so that the perpetrators of violence don’t get a walk merely because staffing is short. All of these suggestions take money and the state is facing a shortfall, but the funding to continue the progress slowly being made can be found if legislators “get it.”