OKAZ A COUPLE in Taif were killed at the hands of their 30-year-old son, not as a result of disobedience, but because he has a criminal record and was not in jail or because he was mentally ill but on the loose harming others. Our problem is always in the system that fails to isolate harmful individuals from society, and the inability of its mechanisms to address the protection of others from being abused by criminals, drug addicts and people with psychiatric conditions who enjoy the full freedom of living within society without any effective supervisory restrictions on their commitment to good behavior. Many cases of domestic violence end up in police stations on the desk of an officer who persuade the abused to give up and leave with their abuser. Not until someone is murdered is their procedures and the intervention of other parties such as specialists and social workers. But the commitment to the standards of accurate procedures in dealing with cases of domestic violence has not always been followed and victims have had the misfortune to experience such violence. Although we often receive prior warnings, we did not stop to listen to the signals and make the changes to follow up, observe and monitor criminals and drug addicts with records. Families always bear the brunt and the burden is sometimes fatal.
