Fathers' Advocates Move to Repeal the Massachusetts Domestic Abuse Law

PRESS RELEASE-Aug. 3, 2011

FATHERS' ADVOCATES MOVE TO REPEAL MASSACHUSETTS DOMESTIC ABUSE LAW

Boston - Members of The Fatherhood Coalition submitted an Initiative Petition to the Mass. Attorney General's office to remove the Massachusetts 209A restraining order law and restore due process rights.

According to Joe Ureneck, chairman for the group, the current restraining order system, misused and abused, is destroying families.

There is not one independent scientific study that the current law has met the desired effect of protecting men and women who truly need help, Ureneck said. Petitioners believe the law unjustly throws fathers out of children’s lives and created a more violent society as all studies demonstrate that when children grow up without a father in the home, they grow up to be more violent teens and adults, both men and women.

"We support the use of existing Assault and Battery laws, which allow for due process rights to punish those who commit any act of violence," he said. Under MGL 209A it is usually only a man or a father who is thrown out of his home, loses contact with his children, required to attend demeaning programs, and suffers a loss of employment opportunities.

"This discriminatory restraining order system has created a very one- sided, one size fits all rubber stamp approach where individuals are guilty until proven innocent," he said. In Massachusetts, some 25,000 to 50,000 restraining orders are handed out each and every year even as some judges estimate that up to 95% of these orders lack any merit.

The number of issued restraining orders far exceed the incidents of real violence.

"We agree one criminal act is too many but MGL 209A does not actually protect victims," Ureneck said. "It does however place a high cost on thousands of individuals who have merit less restraining orders issued against them and been victimized by having their rights taken away."

Members of The Fatherhood Coalition believe the price paid for this unjust law is too high - to the children who lose a parent and stable home and to society - and for these reasons put forth this repeal petition.

More information about the abuse of restraining orders under MGL 209A can be found at http://www.fatherhoodcoalition.org/.
The Initiative Petition is available at the Massachusetts Attorney General's office: http://www.mass.gov/Cago/docs/Government/2011-Petitions/11-02.pdf

Contacts to learn about and how you can support this Initiative Petition:

Peter Hill, Media Spokesperson; 1-781-772-2500
Joe Ureneck, Chairman; 1-857-350-0575 or joeureneck-at-comcast.net
Patrick McCabe, One of 18 petitioners; 1-617-512-9460