Carey Roberts
Abusegate: mother of all scandals?
By Carey Roberts
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what's the most colossal scandal of them all? Watergate? Climategate? Tigergate? If you said 'yes' to any of these, you're not even close!
Folks, we're not talking about a media-adled tempest in a teapot. No, this is an old-fashioned head-banging, sit-down-and-cry-your-eyes-out affair.
Abusegate refers to our nation's flawed crusade to curb domestic violence (DV). Originally a high-minded and well-intentioned effort, the end-abuse campaign has now fallen prey to an invidious anti-family agenda. In the name of making homes safe, the domestic violence industry curtails fundamental civil rights and often betrays those in greatest need.
Let me count the ways our domestic violence effort has failed to deliver on its promises, all the while undermining our most cherished values and societal institutions:
1. Takes advantage of vulnerable women. Our abuse shelters are filled with women who are just as violent as the men they left. When abused women come for help, they need a safe place where they can get counseling, housing assistance, and treatment for substance abuse problems. But instead they get a hefty dose of gender ideology proffered in the name of promoting "female empowerment:" http://www.radarsvcs.org/docs/RADARreport-Are-Abuse-Shelters-Helping-True-Victims.pdf
2. Stereotypes men as abusers. Amanda McCormick of Praxis International recently shocked abuse conference attendees with this calumny: "I know a lot of men who deserve to be beaten." Less than two months later the Department of Justice awarded a $3.5 million grant to her organization, prompting Examiner.com columnist Trudy Schuett to wonder why the federal government is using taxpayer money to subsidize anti-male hate-speech.
3. Misrepresents the truth. The domestic violence industry often pretends women are never violence-prone, ignoring the hundreds of studies that show females are equally likely to slap, shove, and punch their spouses and boyfriends: http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm Remember former NFL star Steven McNair?
4. Featherbeds ineffective programs. Each year the domestic violence industry takes in over a billion dollars of federal support. And what good are those programs doing? "NOT PERFORMING: Results Not Demonstrated," the federal Office of Management and Budget declares on its website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/summary/10002150.2004.html
5. Spends millions on programs that place victims at risk. Thanks to the Violence Against Women Act, the federal government spends millions of dollars each year to promote "mandatory arrest" laws. But according to research by Harvard economist Radha Iyengar, such policies actually increase partner homicides by nearly 60%.
6. Subscribes to a radical ideology. In their effort to undermine the family, abuse industry representatives often recite claims like "a marriage license is a hitting license." Turns out the opposite is true — persons in stable married relationships are the least likely to be abused, compared to persons in dating or co-habiting relationships.
7. Breaks up families and harms children. Legal scholar Jeannie Suk has authored a chilling analysis that details how domestic violence laws allow a man to be vacated from his home without a shred of hard evidence. Marital break-up ensues and children wind up in a single parent household: http://www.yalelawjournal.org/images/pdfs/439.pdf
8. Abhors accountability. Pay a visit to the website of the DoJ Office of Violence Against Women: www.usdoj.gov/ovw . Attempt in vain to ferret out even basic information about the millions of taxpayer dollars the agency awards for domestic violence services every year.
9. Promotes false allegations. The DV industry tries to convince women to summon the police for every tiff and squabble — and rewards them handsomely for doing so. (One analysis of restraining orders in West Virginia found 70% of restraining orders are unnecessary or false.) Before long the legal system becomes bogged down with trivial and false cases of partner abuse — making it harder for the real victims to get the help they so desperately need.
10. Flouts the Constitution. Our Constitution was designed to protect innocent citizens from the arbitrary use of government power. Maybe that's why the VAWA Mafia has worked to circumvent constitutional guarantees of due process, probable cause, and equal protection under the law.
Ms. Erin Pizzey was the founder of the first abuse shelter in the world. In her essay, "The Planned Destruction of the Family," Pizzey reveals how her movement was hijacked by a group of schemers whose true agenda had little to do with curbing domestic violence. "Destroy the family and you destroy the country," Pizzey laments.
Yes, our country needs laws such as the Violence Against Women Act to thwart partner aggression. But our current approach is in desperate need of an overhaul.
© Carey Roberts
January 19, 2010
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what's the most colossal scandal of them all? Watergate? Climategate? Tigergate? If you said 'yes' to any of these, you're not even close!
Folks, we're not talking about a media-adled tempest in a teapot. No, this is an old-fashioned head-banging, sit-down-and-cry-your-eyes-out affair.
Abusegate refers to our nation's flawed crusade to curb domestic violence (DV). Originally a high-minded and well-intentioned effort, the end-abuse campaign has now fallen prey to an invidious anti-family agenda. In the name of making homes safe, the domestic violence industry curtails fundamental civil rights and often betrays those in greatest need.
Let me count the ways our domestic violence effort has failed to deliver on its promises, all the while undermining our most cherished values and societal institutions:
1. Takes advantage of vulnerable women. Our abuse shelters are filled with women who are just as violent as the men they left. When abused women come for help, they need a safe place where they can get counseling, housing assistance, and treatment for substance abuse problems. But instead they get a hefty dose of gender ideology proffered in the name of promoting "female empowerment:" http://www.radarsvcs.org/docs/RADARreport-Are-Abuse-Shelters-Helping-True-Victims.pdf
2. Stereotypes men as abusers. Amanda McCormick of Praxis International recently shocked abuse conference attendees with this calumny: "I know a lot of men who deserve to be beaten." Less than two months later the Department of Justice awarded a $3.5 million grant to her organization, prompting Examiner.com columnist Trudy Schuett to wonder why the federal government is using taxpayer money to subsidize anti-male hate-speech.
3. Misrepresents the truth. The domestic violence industry often pretends women are never violence-prone, ignoring the hundreds of studies that show females are equally likely to slap, shove, and punch their spouses and boyfriends: http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm Remember former NFL star Steven McNair?
4. Featherbeds ineffective programs. Each year the domestic violence industry takes in over a billion dollars of federal support. And what good are those programs doing? "NOT PERFORMING: Results Not Demonstrated," the federal Office of Management and Budget declares on its website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/summary/10002150.2004.html
5. Spends millions on programs that place victims at risk. Thanks to the Violence Against Women Act, the federal government spends millions of dollars each year to promote "mandatory arrest" laws. But according to research by Harvard economist Radha Iyengar, such policies actually increase partner homicides by nearly 60%.
6. Subscribes to a radical ideology. In their effort to undermine the family, abuse industry representatives often recite claims like "a marriage license is a hitting license." Turns out the opposite is true — persons in stable married relationships are the least likely to be abused, compared to persons in dating or co-habiting relationships.
7. Breaks up families and harms children. Legal scholar Jeannie Suk has authored a chilling analysis that details how domestic violence laws allow a man to be vacated from his home without a shred of hard evidence. Marital break-up ensues and children wind up in a single parent household: http://www.yalelawjournal.org/images/pdfs/439.pdf
8. Abhors accountability. Pay a visit to the website of the DoJ Office of Violence Against Women: www.usdoj.gov/ovw . Attempt in vain to ferret out even basic information about the millions of taxpayer dollars the agency awards for domestic violence services every year.
9. Promotes false allegations. The DV industry tries to convince women to summon the police for every tiff and squabble — and rewards them handsomely for doing so. (One analysis of restraining orders in West Virginia found 70% of restraining orders are unnecessary or false.) Before long the legal system becomes bogged down with trivial and false cases of partner abuse — making it harder for the real victims to get the help they so desperately need.
10. Flouts the Constitution. Our Constitution was designed to protect innocent citizens from the arbitrary use of government power. Maybe that's why the VAWA Mafia has worked to circumvent constitutional guarantees of due process, probable cause, and equal protection under the law.
Ms. Erin Pizzey was the founder of the first abuse shelter in the world. In her essay, "The Planned Destruction of the Family," Pizzey reveals how her movement was hijacked by a group of schemers whose true agenda had little to do with curbing domestic violence. "Destroy the family and you destroy the country," Pizzey laments.
Yes, our country needs laws such as the Violence Against Women Act to thwart partner aggression. But our current approach is in desperate need of an overhaul.
© Carey Roberts
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