DICKSON, Tenn. -- Two local women's groups said it's time to rein in judicial magistrates after dozens of domestic violence cases were found to have been thrown out minutes after the arrest.

Video: Women's Groups Want Magistrates Reined In

Judicial magistrate Milton Genella throws out more than half the domestic violence arrests he oversees, according to the Dickson County sheriff and Dickson police chief.

They have folders containing arrests they said that should have been upheld, such as the woman who tried to burn down her house with her husband still in it.

Another case involved a woman who was beaten, dragged and knocked down by her husband, who was arrested and then released by Genella. The same man was arrested later in a different county for shattering her nose.

In both cases, Genella said the police officers were wrong to even make an arrest.

Judicial magistrates cannot be fired for their decisions. They can be removed if they drink on the job, gamble, do favors for friends or don't show up. They operate for four-year terms without a boss.

"Once they're appointed, they're there for their term," said General Sessions Judge Durwood Moore.

But the Tennessee Women's Political Caucus, a group that has been helping pass new laws for 25 years, said that's unacceptable.

"We're not buying that, because every day that somebody is not the boss, somebody's dying. Somebody's getting their nose broken," said Holly Spann. "When you are making a claim right then and there on the spot and you send a perpetrator back home to the victim, that's a prescription for disaster."

The caucus, along with the Tennessee Coalition for Domestic Violence, vows reform.

"We're putting some teeth into the law," said Kathy England Walsh.

Moore recommended hiring Genella in 1998, 2002 and again in 2006.

"They can think what they want to, but that's up to him to make the decisions, as long as he's there doing his job," Moore said in response to being told police officers have been collected domestic violence warrants for years that Genella has thrown out.

The caucus is looking at more education, shorter terms, easier removal and enforcing annual public hearings.