Spread the Word: Domestic Violence Laws Violate Civil Liberties

Spread the Word: Domestic Violence Laws Violate Civil Liberties

At her recent keynote address at the annual conference of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Amanda McCormick, an employee of Praxis International, showed overt disdain for male victims of domestic violence. As reported by Trudy Schuett, McCormick announced, I think I know a lot of men who deserve to be beaten."1

Praxis International, according to their website, "is a nonprofit research and training organization that works toward the elimination of violence in the lives of women and children.... Since 1996, [they] have worked with advocacy organizations, intervention agencies, and inter-agency collaborations to create a clear and cooperative agenda for social change in their communities."2

Over the last fifteen years, in the name of combating domestic violence, an entire area of law has been carved out in which those rights and liberties guaranteed under the Bill of Rights no longer apply. Discrimination against male victims is just one of the many ways domestic violence laws violate civil liberties.

RADAR has identified that the laws:

1. Fund education and training programs that stereotype all men as abusers;
2. Expand the definition of "domestic violence" to include minor verbal disagreements, thus inviting heavy-handed state intervention into private family matters;
3. Short-circuit due process protections and remove the presumption of innocence;
4. Provide incentives to file false allegations;
5. Encourage the issuance of restraining orders, even in the absence of physical violence;
6. Promote mandatory arrest policies, even for minor violations of civil restraining orders;
7. Fund "predominant aggressor" policies that profile men as abusers;
8. Support mandatory prosecution policies;
9. Refuse legal assistance to persons falsely accused of domestic violence; and
10. Discriminate against male victims.

RADAR has prepared a flyer for distribution to help you inform the public. See http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARflyer-DVAM2009-issues.pdf

Commenting on the flyer, vlogger Bernard Chapin points out that the mainstream media will not cover this story.3 It's up to all of us who know the truth to spread the word as best we can. Let's get to it!

1 http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-12866-Domestic-Violence-Examiner~y2009m9d24-Praxis-International-encourages-domestic-violence-when-properly-applied

2 http://www.praxisinternational.org/default.aspx

3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQemC-_1qEY

Date of RADAR Release: October 13, 2009

R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://www.mediaradar.org