Art. 5.08 MEDIATION IN FAMILY VIOLENCE CASES

If a criminal case involves family violence, the court cannot send the victim or the defendant to mediation, arbitration, or any similar process to work things out. This applies no matter what other rules might normally allow for these kinds of alternatives.

The idea behind this rule is to protect victims of family violence. Mediation and similar processes usually work by having both sides sit down and negotiate a solution together. But in family violence cases, there's often a serious power imbalance between the victim and the person accused of hurting them. Forcing them into a room to "work it out" could put the victim in danger or pressure them into an unfair outcome.

So even if a judge might normally have the option to order mediation in other types of cases, this rule takes that option off the table when family violence is involved. The case has to move forward through the regular court process instead.