On a sweltering July night, Jesse Falcon was so high on cocaine, marijuana and alcohol that he would later say that he barely remembered the explosion of violence that happened. Convinced that his girlfriend was pursuing another man at a social gathering at their apartment complex in San Antonio, he began attacking the man. Cases like Mr. Falcon’s are troublingly familiar to court officials in San Antonio, which has long been plagued with a high rate of domestic violence. “They leave jail angrier and more resentful, and the trauma continues,” said Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, a family violence judge in the city. A court run by Judge Gonzalez is trying a different approach: providing the abusers with a chance to change.

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Persons: Jesse Falcon, Falcon, ”, Falcon’s, Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, Judge Gonzalez Locations: San Antonio