Story here. Excerpt:

'A 'dangerous fantasist' who wasted more than £300,000 and 7,000 hours of police time, was today jailed for four years.

Mother-of-one Michaela Britton, 40, was found guilty of perverting justice after six months of bizarre false allegations, which included tying herself up, slashing herself with a blade and arranging her car to be shot at.

A court today heard how the case wasted more than 7,000 hours and cost taxpayers a massive £316,000.

Among her 'whopping lies', she told police she was being blackmailed over an explicit pornographic video with an anti-terrorist Metropolitan Police officer.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'ADDIS, LA (WAFB) - Police are investigating the case of a mother killing her seven-year-old son and then took her own life Thursday.

Addis police now say the woman was upset about an alleged affair her husband had with another woman.

West Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies say 34-year-old Lavinia Banks was upset with her husband and fed up with her marriage. She allegedly shot her seven-year old son, Darieyonne, dragged the little boy to the bathroom, and shot him again.

Investigators say she put the little boy's body in a tub full of water and then shot herself in the head. Paramedics were called to the home on Bradley Court in Addis at 5:30pm after the father arrived at the home and saw blood in the hallway.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'KING COUNTY, Wash. -- Two women have been charged for allegedly kidnapped a vulnerable 78-year-old man and taking him to the courthouse, where one of them married him and then tried to withdraw thousands of dollars from his bank account.

Sujinda Yachatta, 56, and Kulany Roeksbutr, 29, have been charged with kidnapping on Tuesday.

Issaquah detectives started an investigation of the Nov. 22 incident after receiving a report from Adult Protective Services concerning the 78-year-old man, who suffers from dementia and lives at an adult family home in Issaquah, court papers said.

The investigation found that the two took the 78-year-old victim from his home without permission, then drove him to Bellevue District Court. A marriage was performed there between the man and Yahatta, who was the man's massage therapist.

Afterward, the two women took the victim to his bank and unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw money from his accounts, which totaled about $28,000, according to court documents.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to Italian national statistic agency ISTAT, over seven million women in Italy have suffered from physical or sexual violence at least once, amounting to nearly a quarter of the female population. Sexual violence by itself counts more than five million victims and 961,000 women have experienced some form of physical abuse. A report by Italian women’s advocacy association Casa Internazionale delle Donne claims that every three days in Italy a woman is murdered.'

Article here. Excerpt:

"When women get married they are not signing up for life-threatening careers," Cross said, who likened women who are killed as a result of domestic violence to those who die in battle.

"It is no exaggeration that many women live in a war zone where every day survival becomes a battle, women who spend every day of their lives trying to outwit the enemy, stay alive one more day, protect the children, these women are heroes."

Cross commented on how easily stories in the media about women who are abused or murdered are quickly forgotten and how the media manages to paint a forgiving picture of the abuser.

"They all treat each incident as a singular event, rather than a pattern of violence against women. The abuser is a happy friendly man, a man who walks the dog." She said "this kind of reporting" makes it appear the victims "are somehow responsible for the incident that led to their death."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Working class white boys are limited by "low horizons" according to a Cabinet Office report.

The report suggested that living in working class areas, especially in former industrial towns and cities, could stop young people, especially white boys, from reaching their potential.

And, poor white boys had the lowest aspirations of all ethnic groups.
...
The Cabinet Office report analysed 14,000 young people in England and found that youngsters in certain neighbourhoods were less likely to stay on in full time education after the age of 16.'

----

Relatedly: White boys on free meals fall further behind in GCSEs

Article here. Exceprt:

'THIS is the shocking poster that West Midlands Police believe will help to combat domestic violence over the festive season.

The photograph of a woman’s battered face with a man’s bruised hand covering her mouth is part of an advertising campaign by cops to tackle the growing problem.

The Christmas campaign comes amid figures which reveal December is the lowest month for reporting incidents of domestic violence, with women suffering in silence because they want to “hold it together” for the sake of the family.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Postcards feature images aimed at making offenders think about the consequences of their actions and the negative impact it has on children.

One postcard features a young boy sitting next to a Christmas tree. The slogan reads – “All I want for Christmas is for daddy to stop hurting mummy.”

Another card features two young boys huddled together on the stairs listening to their mother being abused by their father. The message on the front reads: “Domestic abuse, you can’t hide it from them.”
...
The postcards will be distributed in supermarkets, social centres, snooker halls, golf clubs, pubs, leisure centres and will be made available to probation officers and domestic abuse offenders with bail conditions.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Remember Debra Lafave, the 25-year-old Florida teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old in the back seat of a car being driven by a 15-year-old? She is the blonde whose lawyer told the court she was too beautiful to go to a prison full of women. So she was sentenced to house arrest.

“People tend to think women can’t really sexually assault because they don’t have the proper anatomy, or they don’t have aggressive tendencies — sexual aggression,” said Susan Strickland, Ph.D., a certified sex offender treatment provider.
...
And female sex offenders use more intrusive levels of sexual behaviors than men. They are more likely than men to abuse strangers. And they are less likely than men to acknowledge guilt or to feel sorry or guilty, Strickland said.

Still in our culture most men grow up viewing molestation by an older woman as a conquest: It feels good and sounds good when it’s told to the other guys.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Earlier this year, the Reno/Tahoe chapter of the American Marketing Association contacted Strauss for help with the local White Ribbon Campaign, an international effort raising awareness of domestic violence issues by encouraging people, particularly men, to wear white ribbons during a designated week to show that they condemn domestic violence. In conjunction with the campaign, the chapter also decided to hold a fund-raiser for a local charity, Crisis Call Center, which assists domestic violence victims.

Strauss, along with the University’s American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapter, decided to get involved. The students in the Collegiate Chapter volunteered to make 5,000 ribbons for the campaign. Strauss designed the selling challenge in her class this semester to allow students to earn points for convincing people to wear ribbons, make class presentations, and secure raffle prize donations for the fund-raiser.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'PONTIAC -- A new project that hopes to save women from domestic violence plans to use a nontraditional venue to deliver its message: bathrooms.

The Women's Commission for Oakland County, a volunteer group, hopes to launch a pilot project in 2009 in Southfield that would post information in women's public and private restrooms on how to seek help in domestic violence situations.

"We picked Southfield because it's so diverse with its residential, commercial, retail and industrial sectors," said Wanda Lohmeier, commission chairwoman. "Bathrooms are a private place, and this is a very private crime we are dealing with. This would give them numbers and groups to help."

Article here. Excerpt:

'The number of suicides committed by married men is 57,593 whereas that by married women is 30,064. It seams that almost double the number of married men have committed suicide as compared to married women. Also, if one goes by the analysis of the year 2006, 30 per cent of suicides are due to domestic disputes. So in 2006, close to 16,500 married men committed suicide only because of domestic abuse.

Also there is a 33 per cent rise in suicides in the last decade (1996-2006). Hence in 1996, around 11500 married men must have committed suicide because of domestic violence, which gives us an average of 14000 suicide cases per year.

For 2007, the figure works out close to 16000. Hence in 11 years, 156,000 married men have committed suicide due to domestic violence.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Two metropolitan dailies, the Baltimore Sun and the Detroit Free Press ran articles here and here this week on the increase in domestic violence the economic downturn seems to have produced. And guess what? All the victims are women. Why are we not surprised?

OK, I know, not all of them are women, just "almost all" according to the Sun. The Free Press calls it a "prevalent pattern" to which there are only "a few exceptions." And as usual, all of the personal examples of DV cited in the articles have male perpetrators and female victims. Nary a male victim is interviewed, only women. According to these articles, women don't abuse men, women don't abuse children and women don't abuse other women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Economic stress is a very, very important factor in domestic violence," says Shoshana Ringel, an associate professor of social work at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and an expert on domestic abuse. Ringel says that for many couples, financial problems can "definitely push things over the line."

More than half a million Americans, almost all of them women, are abused by their partners every year, according the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Experts say the current economic crisis is so recent that there is little hard data on an increase in abuse. But the National Domestic Violence Hotline, a leading national organization located in Austin, Texas, says that in September, it saw a 21 percent increase in the number of calls it received, compared with last year. In October, the last month for which there are statistics, the rise was 18 percent.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Family violence is expected to peak over the Christmas holiday season, with shocking new statistics showing New Year's Day is the worst day for the incidence of abuse.
...
"It's important people understand that violence at any time is unacceptable, particularly violence directed at women and children," Mr Overland said.
...
"The Christmas holiday period can be a nightmare for women and children who live with abusive men. When all you wish for at Christmas is not to be hurt, it's a very sorry state of affairs.'