Article here. Excerpt:

'Beacon Hill lawmakers are supposed to approve public-safety laws protecting the state's citizens -- not laws making it easier for suspected criminals to evade exposure.

Yet early Friday morning, in the 11th-hour rush to end the two-year legislative session, lawmakers held their noses and passed a domestic-violence law that shields the identities of accused abusers. Once Gov. Deval Patrick signs the law, the names of suspected abusers won't be made public on police arrest logs as is now the practice.

While most lawmakers said they opposed eliminating the public's right to know, they didn't want to gut a bill toughening penalties against repeat offenders.

Story here. Excerpt:

'TMZ reports that the ex-Da Band singer was arrested on domestic violence charges following a fight with her husband Tony on July 21. The married couple was reportedly brawling outside of the house while she was allegedly drunk around 3:45am and now, she's landed a spot in jail for the next 93 days.

This isn't the first time Stokes ruffled feathers with the law. She stabbed her husband in 2009 and was sentenced to three years probation in a plea deal.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Gastonia man was falsely accused of tying up and raping a woman three times, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Justin Michael Gowan spent nearly a year in jail awaiting trial on charges of rape, kidnapping, assault by strangulation and assault with a deadly weapon.
...
False accusation: Bogle commended Stockwell on researching the case and questioning the allegations. He said Gowan’s accuser had made similar claims about other men in the past.

“She has a history of creating a crisis and utilizing it as a mechanism for change,” he said.

Social workers have since taken the woman’s children, and Gowan’s child is living in Georgia with his mother, Bogle said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, and seven co-sponsors have introduced a truly appalling bill in the Senate. It could have been written, and perhaps basically was, by the most rabidly misandrist feminists. (Misandrist is the little-used antonym of misogynist. It deserves wider circulation.)

It is intended to stop the supposed “epidemic” of sexual assault on American college campuses, requiring colleges to handle accusations of such assaults in certain ways. But it gives away its bias by consistently calling accusers in campus sexual assault cases “victims,” while the accused are just called the accused. That, of course, begs the question as to whether there actually was a sexual assault in the first place.

Any sexual violence of any kind is unacceptable. But when it comes to much of what falls under the purview of this bill, categorizing some conduct is not so easy. Was it a sexual assault or nothing more than a clumsy, unwelcome pass? Was it a morning-after regret? Because many campus sexual assault accusations turn out to be he said/she said cases, false accusations face little downside risk.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'Examiner: Will there be “support services” for the accused?

Will there be someone on campus providing them with information on what they can do to provide for their own defense? Will they be informed of their rights, and will those rights be under the law (due process) or under campus rules?

Gerber: There have been recommendations made to change or codify college disciplinary proceedings in ways that would have implications for due process rights, but this bill does not contain mandates about how colleges should conduct their internal disciplinary proceedings.

In developing the bill, Sen. Grassley and others prevailed in the view that the focus should be on sexual assault as a crime rather than a college disciplinary matter.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'First Lady Michelle Obama shared some thoughts about women versus men during a conversation with former First Lady Laura Bush at the U.S Africa Leaders Summit in Washington D.C.

Obama explained that as First Lady it was important to remember to use the position to highlight their personal interests.

“We can’t waste this spotlight, it is temporary and life is short and change is needed and women are smarter than men. And the men can’t complain because you’re outnumbered today,” she said as the audience laughed. '

The Campus Accountability and Safety Act (CASA) was introduced last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill. See SAVE's Summary and Analysis.

CASA calls on colleges to "advise the victim of both the victim's rights and the institution's responsibilities regarding orders of protection, no contact orders, restraining orders, or similar lawful orders issued by the institution or a criminal, civil, or tribal court."

Ashe Schow of the Washington Examiner asked the bill's sponsors:

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON / August 5, 2014 – Today Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is announcing its opposition to the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. The CASA bill was introduced last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

By limiting the involvement of the criminal justice system, the bill would make it harder for thorough investigations to be completed, fair trials to be conducted, and appropriate sanctions to be imposed. The bill impairs the deployment of criminal justice resources in three ways:

1. The Act would not require campus rapes to be reported to law enforcement, thus thwarting the ability of trained investigators to collect evidence.

2. Campus security programs do not possess the legal authority to search FBI DNA and fingerprint databases. A match can prevent a future rape, and allow a previous crime to be solved, as well.

Article here. Excerpt:

'This is in response to Rabbi Tirzah Firestone and Rabbi Marc Soloway, who wrote a lettter to the editor to support Brit Milah and circumcision on behalf of Haver, Boulder's Rabbinic Fellowship.

Yes, rabbis are the gatekeepers and, as such, feel obliged to defend and promote ritual circumcision. However, many committed and affiliated Jews, who now understand the profound and serious pain inflicted on the newborn, the short and long term effects of foreskin removal, are no longer willing to justify this medical, sexual and ethical assault on our baby boys and are choosing to welcome their male babies with a brit shalom, a covenantal ceremony without cutting.

The real reason for circumcision can be found in Maimonides, the great 12th century Jewish physician, Talmudic scholar, and philosopher who stated:

The addition of the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (Campus SaVE) Act to last year's Violence Against Women Act increased awareness of the campus sexual assault issue, and it brought new regulations from the Department of Education.

Unfortunately, campus radicals have now exploited this effort, claiming that "one in five college women are victims of sexual assault" and insisting that "we live in a rape culture." They want to remove fundamental due process protections!

If that's not bad enough, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is going to introduce a new bill that we believe will further erode due process protections of students accused of sexual assault.

So this week, SAVE is announcing the establishment of the Campus Justice Coalition, which will focus on legislative reforms to restore due process and fairness to the sexual assault adjudicatory process: www.saveservices.org/camp/campus-justice-coalition.

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON / July 30, 2014 – Representatives of sexual assault victims, the accused, and universities have come together to establish the Campus Justice Coalition. The Coalition will seek to achieve legislative change to assure the proper handling of sexual assault cases on college campuses.

Campus sex committees have been criticized for being poorly trained, under-resourced, and lacking the legal authority to impose meaningful sanctions. Rape is a crime, but the campus boards possess legal authority to only expel, not imprison the perpetrator.

The current system was established by a 2011 Department of Education regulation which shifted the resolution process to campus disciplinary panels, and eliminated a number of due process safeguards. Under current policies, neither the identified victim or the accused person are allowed to be represented by an attorney.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The White House stated in a January 2014 report, Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action, that one in five women has been sexually assaulted while in college, an assertion repeated by Gillibrand during the press conference.

But this figure does not match data from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics , released in October 2013, which show rape/sexual assault rates of 1.3 per 1,000 people in 2012, both reported and unreported rapes. It assumes a crisis where none exists, and interferes in university affairs for no cause.

University of Michigan professor Mark Perry has effectively debunked the CDC number using actual number of reported sexual assaults on college campuses combined with the White House’s underreporting percentage. He concludes that 3% to 5% of women will be sexually assaulted at college —too high, but not 20%.
...
Then, some questions are ambiguous. For example, the survey asks, “When you were drunk, high, drugged, or passed out and unable to consent, how many people have had vaginal sex with you?” To a typical respondent, it is not clear whether the condition of “unable to consent” applies to “drunk, high, drugged,” or if “unable to consent” is a separate condition. Respondents who had consensual sex while drunk but were able to consent (not exactly an uncommon act on campuses these days) may answer affirmatively, leading the surveyor to wrongfully count this as an instance of rape.

Nevertheless, the survey is a catalyst for potentially harmful bipartisan legislation.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A University of Cincinnati student is suing the school after he was kicked out of school after he says he was wrongfully accused of raping two female students.

Ethan Peloe said he was wrongfully accused of raping two girls, and despite never being indicted by a grand jury, he was still kicked out of school.

According to the lawsuit, the student said the university never game him a chance to defend himself during several university held hearings.

On the other hand, several accommodations were given to the women who made the accusations, including class makeups, but no help was offered to Peloe, the suit says.

Peloe said in his suit that evidence, including text messages, was not used during the hearing, and despite requesting UC officers come to the hearings, they did not come.'

Article here. Excerpt:

“Not Alone,” the White House entitled its task force report on campus sexual assaults. “Believe the Victim,” the report might as well have been called. It reflects a presumption of guilt in sexual assault cases that practically obliterates the due process rights of the accused. Students leveling accusations of assault are automatically described as “survivors” or “victims” (not alleged victims or complaining witnesses), implying that their accusations are true.

When you categorically presume the good faith, infallible memories and entirely objective perspectives of self-identified victims, you dispense with the need for cumbersome judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings and an adversary model of justice. Thus the task force effectively prohibits cross-examination of complaining witnesses: “The parties should not be allowed to cross-examine each other,” the report advises, denying the fundamental right to confront your accuser.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'However, the bills still contain plenty that would trouble civil libertarians. KC Johnson of Minding the Campus raises some questions about the CASA's presumption that accusers are truthful: