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RADAR ALERT: Are You at Risk of Becoming a Victim of False Allegations?
Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2006-09-21 02:44
Alan Karmin of New Jersey was accused of domestic violence. But he had never assaulted his wife. What was the basis of the claim? It was alleged that Karmin telephoned his ex-wife 10-15 times a day and was late on his child support payments. But telephone records and cancelled checks easily disproved both allegations.
How could anyone make such a ludicrous accusation? Because in New Jersey, state law includes “harassment” in its definition of domestic violence. And according to a report issued today, New Jersey and six other states fall in the “Extremely High Risk” category of states with laws that actually encourage false allegations.
“An Epidemic of Civil Rights Abuses: Ranking of States’ Domestic Violence Laws” ranks the 50 states and District of Columbia, and identifies which states have laws in greatest need of reform. Those states are Alaska, California, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.
The report uses the following criteria to identify the best and worst states: loose definitions of domestic violence, financial incentives to file allegations, mandatory arrest laws, primary aggressor laws, and how judges weigh domestic violence allegations in child custody determinations.
The report can be viewed at http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/Ranking-of-States-DV-Laws.pdf. The document is the third in a series of RADAR Special Reports that expose the perverse incentives of state-level DV laws.
False allegations of domestic violence allow states’ social welfare agencies to tap into federal funding sources. The winners become the states with the most intrusive laws, and the losers are the real victims of abuse this money was supposed to serve.
Readers are encouraged to share the report with local media representatives, judges, and state lawmakers, to use the report as the basis for reform efforts.
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Date of RADAR Release: September 20, 2006
Sign up today to receive RADAR's Alerts! Go to http://www.mediaradar.org/, enter your e-mail address in the upper right hand box, then hit Subscribe!
R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to assure that the problem of domestic violence is treated in a balanced and effective manner. http://www.mediaradar.org/
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Comments
Do you have or have you ever had a penis?
If you answered yes to the above question consider yourself lucky that you have NOT been the victim of a false accusation.
No matter what you think or how you thinnk you act. No matter what everyone thinks of you.
It only takes one crazy or vendictive female to make you the victim of false accusations that will cost you everything you have in this world.
There is no protection because it does not matter what you do. It's not about you. The system will believe a habitual liar over you any day.
You are already guilty because you were born a habitually violent rape obsessed male.
It is time for a change.
DV Practices Vary by County
While I appreciate RADAR's attention to anti-male bias in comparing state's domestic violence laws, in actuality DV policies and practices have wide variations within every state, based on county-by-county legal and policing systems.
My own state of residence (Illinois) ranked as a fairly "low-risk" environment; however, that really depends on where you live in a state that's arguably three different cultures -- Chicago/metro, central/rural, downstate/neo-appalachia.
Since DV matters are adjudicated at the (county) Circuit Court level, a lot of what happens depends on the amount of VAWA money being used to influence police, attorneys, judges, etc.
The presence of institutionalized feminists is also important, i.e. free women's legal advocates, DV coalitions, local colleges with women's studies professors.
The local police "culture" also counts for a lot, since the cops are the first responders to the 911 DV calls.
In some counties, it's a "must arrest the primary aggressor" policy, in others, it may be "arrest both parties," and in others it might be "give 'em a warning and leave."
So, my point is that it is the locality more than the state level that determines what actually happens in the DV arena.
how about a county database then?
I'll be working on an international database backed project anyway, I wouldn't mind adding information about each region, no matter the country. We could collect information about each single police officer if you wanted, data storage space is unlimited these days.
And the names of people who made false allegations can be collected. I doesn't concern me if it's legal or not over there, and other people can do the same for my country.
False Accusations of Domestic Violence
I find it intriguing that people are relating my story as a result of the report issued. As I have said in my recently published book - The Measure of a Man - which is available on Amazon.com..."And for anyone who has ever been thrown into the family court system...the word "justice" may as well be a four-letter word. For there is no other court in the land where the penalty for perjury just does not exist - you can lie your ass off and not only NOT be punished for it...but actually rewarded for it. There is no other court where you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. And for non-custodial parents...especially fathers...going through a divorce...and the never-ending litany of custody issues and all the rest that goes with it...it can feel like eternal damnation."