WHEN DANGER IS INTIMATE.(PERSPECTIVE)

It took the O.J. Simpson trial to raise the national consciousness about domestic abuse. The photos of a bruised Nicole Simpson, the tape recording of her terrified 911 call to Los Angeles police, and the graphic testimony of her sister, Denise, combined to make Americans more aware of a plague that was once treated as a family matter by outsiders and the courts.

It took a recent ruling in New York state to raise the nation's consciousness again -- this time about the failure of the criminal justice system to adequately protect victims of abuse. The judge at the center of that controversy, Lorin Duckman, has become synonymous with what reform advocates claim is a …