Some days Patrice Ball-Reed hears as many as 50 of them. On this particular Friday – a comparatively easy day – she heard 23.Ball-Reed is a judge in Cook County Circuit Court who hears domestic violence cases. She said that domestic violence has always been around. One tool in the fight to stem the violence is an order of protection, most of the time from a woman asking the court to tell a husband or boyfriend or former husband or boyfriend to stay away.
