Year: 2012

Categories
Bills Civil Rights Domestic Violence Press Release Victims Violence Violence Against Women Act

PR: Violence Against Women Act Poses Threat to Civil Rights, Group Charges

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

Violence Against Women Act Poses Threat to Civil Rights, Group Charges

Washington, DC/March 19, 2012 – A recently issued report highlights a broad range of civil rights abuses that arise from policies endorsed by the federal Violence Against Women Act: http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/SAVE-Assault-Civil-Rights.pdf. The report, from Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), reveals the number of citizens whose rights have been impaired by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reaches about 30 million persons.

Last month, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) proposed a reauthorization of VAWA, which passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Senate floor. But for the first time in VAWA’s history, the bill encountered strong opposition. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), aware of VAWA’s many flaws, offered an alternative bill, but that bill did not pass out of committee.

SAVE’s report documents 10 fundamental rights and protections that are being harmed by the Violence Against Women Act:

  1. Protection against libel and slander
  2. Freedom of speech
  3. Protection against governmental intrusion
  4. Right to due process of law
  5. Freedom to marry and the right to privacy in family matters
  6. Right to parent one’s own children
  7. Right to keep and bear arms
  8. Equal protection of the laws
  9. Right to be secure in one’s person
  10. Right to a fair trial

“Indiscriminate restraining orders, unconstitutional standards of evidence, and arrests without probable cause have been ravaging this country since VAWA’s passage in 1994,” SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook notes. “The civil rights of African-Americans and other minorities have been especially hard-hit by strong-arm domestic violence policies.”

The abridgement of men’s rights has also been allowed to flourish under the VAWA, the report documents. Family law attorney Lisa Scott has warned, “Don’t call 911 unless you are bleeding and she still has a weapon in her hand.”

SAVE, an advocate for all victims of domestic violence, is working to reform federal domestic violence statutes so they both protect victims and affirm the civil rights of the accused.

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner violence: www.saveservices.org

Categories
Accusing U. Campus Press Release Sexual Assault

PR: Accusing U. Campaign Targets Dept. of Education Sex Directive

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

Accusing U. Campaign Targets Dept. of Education Sex Directive

Washington, DC/February 17, 2012 – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is set to launch Accusing U., a national campaign designed to educate college students about the Department of Education’s new Sexual Assault Directive. SAVE says the Directive subverts fundamental due process rights on college campuses.

The Accusing U. campaign will be unveiled at a panel presentation to be held Saturday, February 18 at 10:00am at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington DC. The panel will highlight DED’s alleged anti-civil rights agenda, which affects students and professors alike.

The American Association of University Professors, National Association of Scholars, and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education have all come out against the Directive (1). Over 30 editorials have criticized the mandate on civil rights grounds (2).

The erosion of civil rights of persons accused of sexual assault was highlighted in a recent Yale University case. Yale quarterback Patrick Witt, a promising candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship, saw his application blow up when The New York Times revealed he had been accused on scant evidence of sexual assault.

Because of the DED Directive, which removes the presumption of innocence, Witt was treated like a proven rapist. SAVE believes, as soon as an accusation was made, Yale felt compelled to consider him an offender.

The Education Department’s Directive requires universities to use the 51% preponderance-of-evidence standard in sexual assault claims, instead of the traditional clear-and-convincing basis to establish guilt. In the case of Patrick Witt, a single New York Times article had the effect of convicting him in the court of public opinion, according to a Wall Street Journal critique (3).

The DED has expanded the definition of rape to the point that if a woman drinks a single beer – even at her initiative – and then engages in sex, the Directive classifies the liaison as rape.

“The DED sex mandate is opening the floodgates to a tide wave of false allegations of rape. So what will happen to the credibility of real rape victims? Will they stop coming forward?” … asks SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook.

More information about the Accusing U. campaign can be seen here: www.accusingu.org

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner violence: www.saveservices.org.

1. http://www.saveservices.org/falsely-accused/sex-assault/complaints
2. http://www.saveservices.org/camp/ded-directive/ded-editorials
3. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577195270818190282.html

Categories
Domestic Violence Press Release Victims Violence Violence Against Women Act

PR: NY Times Anti-Violence Editorial Shortchanges Victims, SAVE Says

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard,

Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

NY Times Anti-Violence Editorial Shortchanges Victims, SAVE Says

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — A recent New York Times editorial on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act offers its readers a superficial and misinformed perspective on a bill currently being considered in the Senate (1). The controversy centers on the lack of effectiveness of many of its provisions, according to Stop Abusive and Violent Environments.

Sen. Leahy’s VAWA proposal, S. 1925, recently was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10-8 party line vote.

Domestic violence is caused by a range of emotional and social factors such as substance abuse, depression, and marital instability, according to the Centers for Disease Control (2). It follows that the key to solving partner violence would consist of alcohol treatment, therapy, and partner counseling.

But Sen. Leahy’s VAWA bill ignores the role of these factors. Instead, VAWA funds the use of restraining orders, mandatory arrest, and prosecution of cases. Such law enforcement measures are ineffective, and in the case of mandatory arrest, place victims at greater homicide risk (3).

Angela Moore Parmley, PhD of the Department of Justice has acknowledged, “We have no evidence to date that VAWA has led to a decrease in the overall levels of violence against women.” (4) Concerned Women for America notes that VAWA’s elastic definitions of abuse “actually squander the resources for victims of actual violence by failing to properly prioritize and assess victims.” (5)

To address these shortcomings, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments has developed the Partner Violence Reduction Act, which amends and strengthens the current Violence Against Women Act (6).

“The New York Times editorial calls on Republican lawmakers to ‘explain to voters why they refuse to get behind the federal fight against domestic violence and sexual assaults.’ But victims of domestic violence are demanding that Times editorialists go beyond partisan posturing, and ask why so many VAWA programs aren’t meeting basic expectations of accountability and effectiveness,” according to SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook.

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner abuse: www.saveservices.org

  1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/opinion/republicans-retreat-on-domestic-violence.html
  2. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html
  3. http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/Why-DV-Programs-Fail-to-Stop-Abuse
  4. Violence Against Women, Vol. 10, No. 12, 2004, p. 1424.
  5. http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/CWA-VAWALtr.2.1.2012.pdf
  6. http://www.saveservices.org/pvra
Categories
Press Release Sexual Assault

PR: Centers for Disease Control Should Remove Flawed Rape Survey, Says Washington Post Editorial

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard

Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

Centers for Disease Control Should Remove Flawed Rape Survey,

Says Washington Post Editorial

Washington, DC/January 31, 2012 — A growing number of commentators are questioning the legitimacy of the CDC’s claims about rape and sexual assault. An op/ed published in the Washington Post exposes the scientific flaws in the study and calls outright for its retraction: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/cdc-study-on-sexual-violence-in-the-us-overstates-the-problem/2012/01/25/gIQAHRKPWQ_story.html

Columnist Christina Hoff Sommers concludes that the CDC’s findings are “wildly at odds with official crime statistics.”

Sommers does not exaggerate: The CDC reports 70 times the number of sexual crimes that the FBI’s gold-standard National Crime Victimization Survey does. Sommers makes the case that the political pressure of the domestic violence industry, whose interests are served by exaggerated statistics, is largely responsible for the CDC’s irresponsible sexual violence research.

Writing in December, Robert VerBruggen explained just how the CDC achieves its inflated statistics: “Researchers ask women about their sexual experiences, and then classify some experiences as ‘rape’ that most people, including the women themselves, do not consider to be rape.” http://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/285936/re-sexual-assault-and-college-robert-verbruggen

Analyst Carey Roberts laid out commonplace New Years Eve scenarios in a recent column, and then explained how the CDC would have classified them all as rapes. “Rigging definitions to create bogus victims is old-hat to the abuse industry,” he said. http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/roberts/111229

The CDC’s exaggeration may be well-intended, these experts concede: the agency may believe that it is shedding light on the plight of victims. But as Sommers explains, “survivors of sexual violence would be better served by good research and sober estimates — not inflated statistics and sensationalism.”

In early January, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments sent a 12-page letter to CDC director Thomas Frieden outlining numerous concerns with the survey definitions, methods, and recommendations. Abuse prevention programs based on dubious research findings divert scarce resources away from true victims of violence, SAVE notes.

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner violence: www.saveservices.org

Categories
Dating Violence Press Release Violence

PR: Tell the Truth about Partner Abuse: SAVE’s New Year’s Resolution

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard

Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

Tell the Truth about Partner Abuse: SAVE’s New Year’s Resolution

Washington, DC/January 3, 2012 — As persons start 2012 intending to make good on their New Year’s resolutions, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is encouraging everyone to strike a blow against domestic violence by resolving to TELL THE TRUTH about partner abuse.

Over 280 scholarly studies show men and women are equally likely to slap, hit, or shove their partners: http://csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm. But some persons continue to be abuse deniers, downplaying the problem of female-initiated abuse, SAVE notes.

In September, Vice President Joseph Biden appeared on The View to discuss dating violence. Government studies show teenage girls are more likely than boys to be the aggressors: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf.  But when co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked the vice president to “remind the women that the way to get a man’s attention is not to hit him,” Mr. Biden turned to his usual talking points.

In some cases, male victims of domestic violence have found themselves the butt of public ridicule.

This past July, Catherine Becker of Garden Grove, Calif. drugged her husband, lashed him to a bed, severed his penis, and threw it into a garbage disposal. Sharon Osbourne of ABC’s The Talk described the incident as “hysterical” and boasted to her national audience, “It’s quite fabulous.” “When you cross a woman, all is fair,” remarked TV personality Wendy Williams.

Lesbian and gay victims are often ignored, as well. A LGBT Domestic Violence Fact Sheet issued by the Center for American Progress concludes, “barriers to equal treatment for same-sex couples remain.”

Abuse reduction efforts that are based on untrue assumptions are destined to be biased and ineffective. Said SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook, “Our success in countering abuse misinformation this past year gives us hope for all domestic violence victims in 2012. That’s why we want to encourage persons to keep their New Year’s resolutions to tell the truth about domestic violence.”

Columnist Barbara Kay recently decried the continuing denial of mutual partner aggression: “By now there is no excuse for the failure of governments at all levels to follow through on — or at least acknowledge — the settled science of bilateral violence….Who will have the courage to bell this politically correct cat? When will revenge end and fairness begin?”