Monthly Archives: January 2011

Alternatives to domestic aggression

I haven’t checked out all these resources, but they look interesting in regard to being a resource for batterer programs, anger management and other interventions, and reasons for battering. It looks like most of their resources for anger management actually oppose this method. I had an article about anger management that I found interesting and it’s posted on this site. I’ll share part of it here (this particular article is the last link on the page).

Alternatives to Domestic Aggression

Calling it Anger Adds to the Danger:  Anger Management Policy Statement

Excerpt:

The following example clarifies this point: A therapy client explained that his abuse of his wife was a result of her getting him very angry. The therapist asked if she, herself, was in any danger from him – as she might say something to anger him, too. The man was absolutely stunned that the therapist asked that question. He was clear and able to offer complete assurance that under no circumstances would he ‘lose control’ or do anything abusive in that setting.

An assault against the therapist, or anyone other than his partner, would be unacceptable and, importantly, would have very serious consequences. He knows that. And he, therefore, controls himself well enough to stay out of trouble. Generally, the only person with whom he does not control himself is his intimate female partner.

When it is evident from a person’s total profile that he is “out of control” with only his intimate partner, and in control with all others in his life, we believe it is crucial for courts to reject anger management programs as a remedy. Anger management, as a concept, minimizes the seriousness of abuse. Instead, we strongly urge courts to hold domestic violence offenders accountable for their acts by imposing the most serious sanctions allowable in relation to the domestic violence acts committed.

Abusive and violent behavior against female partners has been condoned for centuries and has only recently been deemed unacceptable. Although such behavior is now considered a crime, sanctions imposed on offenders remain erratically and arbitrarily applied. It is this failure to hold domestic violence offenders accountable for their actions that most needs to be “managed”.

Domestic violence resources

I was without power for three days last week on account of the snow storm, so I started cleaning out some papers. I found a few that I’d like to post, even though they might be a few years old.

WATCH  This group does court monitoring in Minnesota. I had a WATCH brief called WATCH Report II:  The Impact of Minnesota’s Felony Strangulation Law May, 2009. The link I provide has several of their briefs. In the brief I have, it’s startling to read that Minnesota was only the sixth state to make strangulation of a family member a felony-level crime. Prio to this law, strangulation was a misdemeanor that could be reduced to disorderly conduct. It says 23-68% of female victims of domestic violence have experienced at least one strangulation and that strangulation is an indicator of escalating violence and potential lethality.

Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Custody – This Web site has many resources, including a database that has domestic and family violence legislation.

This is a link to a study looking at Men’s Rights and domestic violence: Men’s Rights and Feminist Advocacy in Canadian Domestic Violence Policy Arenas 

Men’s Rights and Feminist Advocacy in Canadian Domestic Violence Policy Arenas Contexts, Dynamics, and Outcomes of Antifeminist Backlash

Ruth M. Mann
This article examines government and advocacy group texts on three recent Canadian domestic violence policy moments. Drawing on governance, feminist poststructuralist, and social movement perspectives, it examines men’s rights advocates’ and feminists’ discursive actions and their influence on officials. The research aim is to explore the provisional, intrinsically incomplete, and indeed questionable success, to date, of Canadian anti-domestic violence advocates’ strategies and tactics of resisting men’s advocates’ efforts to delegitimize gendered constructions of domestic violence. At the level of political action, the article contributes to efforts by feminists internationally to safeguard protections and supports for abused women and children in a political context marked by the increasingly prominent influence of men’s rights and associated antiprogressive backlash.

NOTE: This link also has Michael Kimmel’s substantive look at “gender symmetry”

This is a link to Bala’s study on false allegations, noting men make more than women (but you’d never know that from the myths and stereotypes) –

 Results: Consistent with other national studies of reported child maltreatment, CIS-98 data indicate that more than one-third of maltreatment investigations are unsubstantiated, but only 4% of all cases are considered to be intentionally fabricated. Within the subsample of cases wherein a custody or access dispute has occurred, the rate of intentionally false allegations is higher: 12%. Results of this analysis show that neglect is the most common form of intentionally fabricated maltreatment, while anonymous reporters and noncustodial parents (usually fathers) most frequently make intentionally false reports. Of the intentionally false allegations of maltreatment tracked by the CIS-98, custodial parents (usually mothers) and children were least likely to fabricate reports of abuse or neglect. Conclusions: While the CIS-98 documents that the rate of intentionally false allegations is relatively low, these results raise important clinical and legal issues, which require further consideration.

Media’s role in marital rape

This is an excellent piece by Arthur Okwemba about marital rape in Kenya. He talks about the silence from the media when it comes to reporting on gender-based violence. While written about Kenya, it could pertain to any country.

Media’s role in marital rape by Arthur Okwemba

You can find the Gender and Media Progress Study that he references here.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

This may be one of the reasons why the 2010 Gender and Media Progress Study found that stories about gender-based violence are rarely covered by media, accounting for just four percent of all stories in southern Africa, despite countless other studies which note it is a widespread problem.

When rare stories are produced about young or middle-aged women being raped, journalists usually shift their reporting, suggesting that somehow the women “asked for it”.

Questions arise. What was she wearing? Was she drunk? Where did it happen? Should she have been there? What time of night was it?

Similarly, when a woman is killed or battered by her husband, the story is framed as a love triangle gone wrong.

Rarely do reporters dig deeper to investigate causes or patterns of violence, linking them to poverty levels, lack of human rights protections (or knowledge of them), or legal systems that take forever to hear and pass verdict on cases of gender-based violence.

Rarely do media report on the massive cost of gender-based violence in terms of treatment of injuries and sexually-transmitted disease, not to mention missed work hours.

What about the invisible but extensive cost to our society when this cycle of violence is passed down from absent abusive fathers to their children. Why don’t journalists write about this?

In the mindset of many in the media, gender-based violence  is not an issue worthy of paper and ink.

Gender Justice Uncovered

Wow! I loved hearing about this award. It uncovers sexism in courtrooms, a supposed area of objectivity in most societies, that Mothers Rights folks, among other groups, will recognize as a blatant misconception. Moreover, it offers a trip to Madrid for those nominating the top 3 most heinious abuses.

Women’s Link Worldwide

In every country, regardless of its political system, culture or religion, what judges and courts say has a tremendous influence on people’s day-to-day lives. With your participation we continue to uncover the most sexist and discriminatory court decisions or statements and highlight those that advance gender equality.

Nominate your decision today!

Human Rights Watch Report: Whose News?

This section of Human Rights Watch report deals with (in a nut shell) news outlets doing away with foreign correspondents, technology’s impact, and the relationship between NGOs and the media. The full report is also available on this link.

Whose News? The Changing Media Landscape and NGOs by Carroll Bogert

National Conference for Media Reform

The 2011 National Conference for Media Reform will take place in Boston April 8-10. Check it out here.

The National Conference for Media Reform is the biggest and best conference devoted to media, technology and democracy. Thousands of activists, media makers, educators, journalists, policymakers and people from across the country are coming to Boston for the fifth NCMR on April 8-10, 2011.

Together we will explore the future of journalism and public media, consider how technology is changing the world, look at the policies and politics shaping our media, and discuss strategies to build the movement for better media.

Get ready for three days of strategizing, networking, sharing skills, swapping information and inspiring one another in workshops, panels, caucuses, keynote speeches, meetings and parties. You won’t want to miss this one-of-a-kind event dedicated to better media, technology and democracy.

Press release: Teen videos show human toll of scathing CA audit report

 

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:

January 24, 2011 Scott Alonso- 415.747.4199 cell

Steve Burdo- 415.261.4784 cell

Teen Videos Show Human Toll of Scathing CA Audit Report

Thursday’s Report Slams Family Courts for Unqualified, Untrained Professionals

SACRAMENTO – Compelling video and written testimony from California teenagers about uncaring family court professionals ruining their lives and forcing them into contact with abusive parents shows the tragic human impacts of an official report released Thursday by the California Bureau of State Audits.

“These video clips show the tragic impacts of a broken family court system, said Kathleen Russell, Executive

Director for the Marin County-based Center for Judicial Excellence. “The American people will be stunned that this is going on. These untrained court staff and appointees yield tremendous power over the physical and sexual safety of children of divorcing parents, and their mistakes result in thousands of kids being held hostage and kept away from loving family members,” she said. The teen videos detail family court problems in California counties that were not audited, as well as one of the two counties that was.

The long awaited California state audit report slams the Marin and Sacramento Family Courts for failing to ensure that the court professionals who routinely make recommendations that determine the outcomes of contested custody disputes possess the minimum qualifications and training to perform their duties. The report also criticized the courts’ handling of litigant complaints, potential conflicts of interest and payments to minor’s counsel, among other issues.The audit was stalled for eight months until the courts were threatened with subpoenas because they refused to grant access to the records and personnel needed to conduct the audit. It was later discovered that the Marin Family Court shredded important mediator working files for more than two weeks during the standoff with the State Auditor, and the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts admitted to granting prior permission to theMarin Court to destroy family court documents during the audit. The California audit is the first government review of a family court system in many years, and its results have national relevance since the family court crisis extends far beyond California’s borders.

The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence estimates that 58,000 children per year in

America are being court-ordered into full custody or unsupervised visits with parents that the children claim are physically and sexually abusing them. The California report indicates that numerous mediators working in the audited counties lacked proof that they had completed even the basic required training in domestic violence.

The report validates ongoing complaints that have been filed for years by attorneys, litigants, child advocates and domestic violence groups that the family court culture is marked by a severe lack of accountability and even lawlessness. These claims have been repeatedly raised – and routinely ignored by courts nationwide– for more than a decade. Courts have routinely dismissed legitimate reports of due process violations as the handiwork of“a few disgruntled litigants.”“These are things we have been talking about for years, and we’ve been ignored,” says Connie Valentine of the California Protective Parents Association.

Contact Scott Alonso at 415-747-4199 or scott@kathleenrussell.com for access to the teens’ sensitive testimony & videos. Visit http://www.bsa.ca.gov/ to download the audit report; and www.centerforjudicialexcellence.org 

http://ca3cacaca.blogspot.com/ , and http://www.protectiveparents.com/cases.html for more information on the national family court crisis that is placing thousands of kids in harm’s way.

 

Huh?! I don’t understand Hasan Mansoor’s logic regarding killings of newborns in Pakistan

I really don’t get this. The article is about infanticide in Pakistan. Although this article states, 3/4s the way down, that 9/10 of the babies killed/left to die (as reported by the charity) are female, they believe (said twice, before saying daughters are thought of as an “economic burden”) it’s parents leaving illegitimate babies to die. Are they saying parents actually keep illegitimate male babies? Because that’s the way it sounds. It seems to me these parents kill female babies and it probably doesn’t matter whether the mother cheated on her husband or not. 

Killings of newborn babies on the rise in Pakistan  

1st mention:

In the conservative Muslim nation, where the birth of children outside of marriage is condemned and adultery is a crime punishable by death under strict interpretations of Islamic law, infanticide is a crime on the rise.

2nd mention:

“People leave these children mostly because they think they are illegitimate, but they are as innocent and loveable as all human beings,” says the charity’s founder, well-known humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Finally:

The death toll is far worse among girls, says manager Kazmi, with nine out of ten dead babies the charity finds being female.

“The number of infanticides of girls has substantially increased,” Kazmi says, a rise attributed to increased poverty across the country.

Girls are seen by many Pakistanis as a greater economic burden as most women are not permitted to work and are considered to be the financial responsibilty of their fathers, and later their husbands.

A Pakistani family can be forced to raise more than one million rupees (11,700 dollars) to marry their daughter off.

The problem is not with infidelity or with women themselves, the problem is with society refusing half the population opportunities to pursue happiness and a livelihood – something that is denied to females in many parts of the world – whether it starts at a young age or middle age (Korea or Thailand, for example). If the article spent more time discussing this and not women’s infidelity, it would have made more sense and been more helpful.

I wonder, too, what happens when moms are killed for adultery? What happens to their children? How are they impacted? What are they told? The article wouldn’t have been able to cover this, I’m aware. But I am interested in learning this.

“Give the People What They Want: A Quantitative Analysis of News

“Give the People What They Want: A Quantitative Analysis of News
Satisfaction Levels Among African Americans”

Howard University
Washington, DC 20059

This is an investigation in the department of Mass Communications and Media Studies. This study is being conducted by Dr. Carolyn M. Byerly (Principal Investigator) and Jayne Cubbage a doctoral candidate (Student Investigator). You will be asked to complete an online questionnaire, the News Satisfaction Survey, which requires about 5 minutes to complete. This questionnaire will be administered online via Surveymonkey.com.

The study is seeking respondents who reside in the following metropolitan areas: NY/NJ/CT, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta only. If you do not reside in any of these cities or surrounding areas, please do not complete the study.

The benefit to you for participating in this study is that you will help determine news usage patterns among African Americans and assist in the development of a news network targeted to that community. We anticipate minimal psychological risks, and personal time inconvenience.

The results of this research will be useful to other communications industry researchers and media executives. Procedures for maintaining confidentiality are as follows. Your name will not be used on any documents about the survey. We will not attempt to make further contact with you once the survey has been completed. We will not ask you for any other identifying information about yourself or your family. You may withdraw from this study at any time without jeopardizing your relationship with Howard University.

The participants should be 18 years or older and in good health. If you are younger than 18, please do not complete the questionnaire.

If you would like any further information about this study, please contact Dr. Carolyn M. Byerly at cbyerly@earthlink.net or Jayne Cubbage at jcubbage@comcast.net. You may also call the Howard University Institutional Review Board at (202) 806-4759, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, if you would like to discuss this study with someone other than the investigators.

Source: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VD8756Y