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Lisa Scott is a Bellevue, Washington attorney
practicing in the areas of family law, divorce and
domestic violence. She is also a founding member of
TABS, Taking Action against Bias in the System,
www.tabs.org
or lisa@tabs.org
Scream Queens Fuel
Nightmarish VAWA System
Scream Queens Fuel
Nightmarish VAWA System
Picture this: Ordinary citizens arrested in the
middle of the night, thrown in jail on false
charges, never seeing the inside of their homes
again. Show trials with predetermined outcomes.
Dissidents forced into treatment for politically
incorrect thoughts.
Does this describe Stalinist purges?
Totalitarian repression? The USA Patriot Act in
action?
No, this nightmarish scenario is our current
domestic violence system. Introduced in the 1980's
with good intentions, these laws have mutated into
a system of repression, power and control,
manipulated by the domestic violence industry and
exploited by vengeful spouses seeking advantage in
divorce and child custody.
The crowning achievement for the victim industry
was the passage in 1994 of VAWA, the federal
Violence Against Women Act. VAWA codifies
gender-based myths that domestic violence (DV) is
virtually always committed by men against women.
VAWA is up for reauthorization in 2005.
VAWA was based on lies and distortions about the
true extent of intimate partner violence, yet it
continues to be funded at astounding levels.
Feminist groups, led by the domestic violence
"scream queens," tout hysterical claims such as
"the leading cause of emergency room visits by
women is domestic violence," and "95 per cent of
victims of domestic violence are women."
The government's own statistics contradict these
ubiquitous factoids, yet Congress can't help
pandering to the women's vote with a billion-dollar
gravy train. The Justice Department's 1998
"Intimate Partner Violence" report reveals that 1/3
of total domestic violence murder victims are male.
Further, less than one per cent of females (and
males) are victimized each year. Hardly an epidemic
justifying a monstrous government system.
In today's domestic violence police state, it's
expected the woman is the victim. All she has to do
is call 911 and report her husband assaulted her.
In many cases she conveniently fails to mention she
slapped, punched, kicked or pummeled him to the
point that he pushed her away. As a family law
attorney for 17 years, I have experienced the DV
system personally. Every example cited in this
article has happened to one of my clients.
The stereotype that the man is always the abuser
ensures he has no chance of being believed when he
says he is the victim. The police take him to jail,
and in many cases, he never goes home again.
The next scene in his nightmare is getting
served with an order for protection. Originated to
immediately protect victims of severe abuse,
protection orders have become "weapons of mass
destruction" in family courts.
Drive-by protection orders (obtained ex parte,
with the accused not present) almost always
prohibit contact with his children and presence at
the family home, virtually guaranteeing full
custody to the accuser.
After 14 days living in a van down by the river,
the accused gets a hearing, an "opportunity to be
heard." In reality, it is a show trial with a
predetermined outcome. Whenever a woman claims to
be a victim, she is automatically believed. No
proof of abuse is required.
Judges with "do-something disease," afraid of
some real victim being denied relief, hand out
protection orders like candy. In fact, the accused
is sometimes treated more harshly for having the
audacity to object. Meanwhile, real victims must
share crowded courtrooms with DV fakers.
In many cases, the accused is sent to "domestic
violence perpetrator treatment," following an
"assessment" with the foregone conclusion that he
needs treatment. If he admits any abuse, it will
always be used against him. Denial of abuse is
punished more severely than actual abuse. Those who
profess their innocence are often forcibly
"re-educated" for two or even three years.
The only escape is to unconditionally surrender
to the authority of the oppressors (the court and
treatment providers), bow down and capitulate to
the accuser, then you might get some time with your
children. You still don't get to go home.
Ten years of VAWA has resulted in the wholesale
criminalization of being a man. VAWA didn't
originate this nightmarish system, but it
legitimizes and subsidizes it. To some, the
solution is a gender-neutral law, such as "Violence
Against Persons Act." Even without overt gender
bias, federal intrusion into local domestic
violence policies is corrupting. It nourishes a
gargantuan beast and ensures a massive stream of
taxpayer dollars creating endless constituent
groups lining up to feed at the federal trough.
We must de-fund and de-fang VAWA. We must let
police do their jobs without fear of making
politically-incorrect decisions. In the old days
they used their discretion on how to handle
domestic conflict. The parties were often separated
until things cooled down. Without evidence of
serious assault or injury, that was the proper
response.
VAWA turns every argument into a potential
murder case, and what police officer wants to risk
making a wrong decision? The easy way out is to
arrest the man.
It's time to stop systematic violence against
civil rights and recognize that even
well-intentioned laws can be used as a bludgeon.
Like the war on terrorism, the war on domestic
violence can go too far.
The laudable goal of ending domestic violence
cannot justify nullification of the fundamental
rights of an entire gender. We should all be
outraged at what is being done to innocent people
in the name of helping victims.
©2005, Lisa Scott
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