These concerns are affirmed by constitutional law experts such as University of Vermont professor Cheryl Hanna who once wrote, "Evidentiary standards for proving abuse have been so relaxed that any man who stands accused is considered guilty."

Little-to-no evidence required for DV conviction.  Check.

Under VAWA, the definition of domestic violence is so broad that almost any partner dispute or argument can be construed as abuse.

Virtually anything can qualify as DV, including asking your wife to stop spending so much and "angry stares."  Check.

VAWA also funds states to institute so-called “mandatory arrest” laws that violate probable-cause protections. Despite a lack of evidence, the accused is arrested and the presumption of innocence removed.

Degradation of the presumption of innocence.  Check.

Degradation of requirement of probable cause to arrest.  Check.

Diminution of police discretion about arrest.  Check.

"The VAWA law is destroying the African-American family and poses the biggest challenge to civil rights since the Jim Crow era," laments AAVR member Charles Pope. "VAWA was supposed to stop domestic violence, but what it’s really done is create victims of VAWA."

Family destruction.  Check.

False allegations of domestic violence are often made to gain tactical advantage in custody and/or divorce proceedings, according to family lawyers.

Fraudulent allegations used to gain advantage in situations involving no DV.  Check.

Yep, that about covers it.  This article has it all and the organization it's about, the African-Americans for Reform of VAWA looks like one we should reach out to (Hudson Valley Press, 10/9/09).  They obviously know what they're talking about, and anyone who's trying to bring some sense to our laws and public discourse about DV has got to be doing something right.

For decades now, we've been in thrall to a frankly incorrect notion of DV.  The only thing it agrees with is feminist ideology which holds that only men perpetrate DV and only women are its victims.  Not only that, DV is all about men keeping in "their place," according to this dogma.  As virtually any sociologist will tell you, men and women commit DV about equally, with women being slightly more likely to intiate it.

It's not surprising, therefore, that people who have the feminist concept of DV are in no position to correct the behavior of abusers.  The problem is a psychological one, overwhelmingly of those who have themselves been abused, usually as children.  "Treating" it as a political problem is absurd and, needless to say, ineffective.  The truth is, psycholgists know how to deal with most DV perpetrators.  But as long as we turn the job over to people who have no understanding of the problem, we shouldn't be surprised when it doesn't get solved.

In the meantime, the orthodoxy that says that only men perpetrate DV and only women are victims, deprives the female half of the abuser population of services for perpetrators and the male half of the victim population of services for the abused. 

No wonder the problem of DV just goes on and on. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Domestic Violence/DV System, African-American Issues, Racism. You can trackback from your own site.