It’s DV Awareness Month. Are you aware? I’m not seeing much in the headlines this year. It’s more than just a label. . . .or an ideology. Here’s part of what it looks like, after reporting.
( ** quotation below….)
In the website “selfrepresentedfool.org” Dr. Natalia A. Sidiakina both organizes & analyzes the non-obvious and expresses the very obvious impact of the family law system as only someone not yet? ground up by it can.
(copied in entirety, after I get through my intro — shorter than usual today….)
While some people are furthering their careers and researching, not suffering through “familycourtmatters,” I still stand amazed at the volume and breadth of information– legal, cognitive, financial, and social, AND philosophical — that some people can not only process, but interrelate, and still come out impassioned, expressive, but coherent and with detailed analysis — that women who have been through this basic tyranny through the courts, can. Perhaps these are survival skills. To sustain violence over many years is a motive driven by emotion, but enabled like any other war with strategy, foresight, diplomacy/deceit at times, and timing, and intimidation. It is a skilled mixture, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if those good at both the abuse and surviving it might make excellent chefs, or businessmen & women. For those who have been targeted, add stamina and a rock-solid motivation keeping “the pilot light lit,” year after year.
People, we are in trouble in this country, and that trouble as in any ages is, FIRST, unjust judges signing these orders, but they do not operate in a power vacuum at all — and ones that aren’t,also can take retaliation, as did Richard Fine, in L.A. County, even as we speak. Even as women reporting abuse take retaliation, sometimes in the form of taking their children, too. For “taken children” to be brave enough to speak up, or want to, is a whole other matter. I do believe that part of the reason their custody gets switched to the batterers/abusers/molesters (speaking, in cases where this has already happened, or after reporting it when it has) is to shut them up. The court just send a message — speak up, or if one parent speaks up, and you live with your abuser. Or strangers.
I have not met this woman, and was unaware of the site, that I recall, until yesterday. But it both summarizes, puts in philosophical framework, AND annotates, many issues — not all of them (child abuse, for example, doesn’t seem to be the primary feature in here), but what happens when a woman tries to report, or leave, abuse. If she is still alive, what kind of life can she have?
Are you are employed (or not), a parent (or not) married (or not), in addition to paying taxes, did you give to your neighbor, at your faith institution or progressive atheist organization, at the office, church, or local homeless shelter (or not)?
If so, still please dedicate one hour of your time to reading this site in its entirety, and thinking about its contents.
(You will notice I didn’t really appeal to people on the boards of organizations supposedly handling these problems in the court. There’s a reason I didn’t…..Nor did I appeal to religious leaders of any faith as a segment. There’s a reason I didn’t there, too. I’m appealing to people of average and relatively moral sensibility to not turn the other cheek to this type of system, because you’re not an expert in it. This is what too many of the experts in the family law system DO. The DOING of that is a drain on the economy, and your taxes (USA, I mean, and especially if California — featured here.)
Legal System in CA Turns Children Into Slaves (Think not? Where have you been living?! See sandiegochildtrafficking.org. See Courageouskids.net. Google “California Protective Parents.” See “The Leadership Council” (a website).
“Legal System in California Promotes Domestic Violence Against Women” (posted below….)
The Courthouse, The House of Torture (details her physical reactions to emotional torture in the courtroom, and how this limits a battered woman’s ability to self-represent after her attorney has quit, when funds ran out. Her story is here too, I believe.)
Need for a Paradigm Shift and Legal Reform in CA
(etc.)
Complete with cites, neurological basis, and coherent explanation of the money issues in a divorce. This is written by a PhD/MBA, so don’t expect just a rant, or even that.
The woman who wrote this is no fool — at all. In addition to JusticeForWomen.org, which talks about the process we go through — this woman’s site hits almost every major facet, and I would add to a “should-read/must-read” status. It’s also current.
Below here represents one page of her site, verbatim, and not (for once) my comments to it:
Self-Represented Fool : “The One Who Represents Himself Has A Fool For A Client” (Lawyer’s Joke)
Natalia A. Sidiakina permits unrestricted not-for-profit use, distribution, and reproduction of this article or any part thereof in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. See original citations in the articles on this web site and examples of citations below in this web page. For more information and permission for for-profit use, distribution, and reproduction please contact info@selfrepresentedfool.org.
”The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.”
– Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)
“Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.”
– Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
**“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.”
– Marcus Aurelius(121-180)
“By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”
– Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
The current legal system in California promotes domestic violence against women.
(main article was written in July of 2008)
Violence is the exercise of power and, as such, is addictive. In family settings, a more powerful spouse can “modify other’s states by providing or withholding resources or administering punishments”[1]. In case of domestic violence against women, the more powerful spouse is a husband, who controls financial resources and, consequently, social status.
Most men’s violent and abusive behavior in family settings, as contrary to supportive and providing behavior, results from the suppression of cognition by stress or other means (alcohol, drugs, etc.)[2]. Suppressed cognition allows anger to erupt at whoever is handy and less powerful, making the wife and children easy targets.
Frequently under stress, the suppressed anger of men, who were abused as children, gets expressed through domestic abuse and violence.[3] Stress is increasing generally in California due to war in Iraq, rising oil and food prices, financial crisis, home equity deterioration, foreclosures, exorbitant health insurance costs, economic stagnation, transferring of high-tech manufacturing and research to Asia, resulting unemployment, etc.
{{Let’s Get Honest inserted comment: Two of these commas should be omitted, making the phrasee “who were abused as children” a limiting phrase (conditional) and a qualifier added, I think: “The suppressed anger of men [omit comma] who were abused as children [omit comma] [add SOMETIMES] gets expressed through domestic abuse and violence.” Obviously not ALL men were abused as children. Or let’s hope they weren’t…}}
{{My personal opinion. I don’t know that every man who commits domestic abuse (i.e., violence against an intimate partner or family member– see legal definitions) was abused as a child. Possibly, but that still excuses it, adn there IS no excuse. What about being egged on by others? What about simple entitlement, as accepted too often in at LEAST the 3 “Abrahamic” religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, in chrono order) and/or because they — as the writer here expresses in another page — get a dopamine rush off it? Another potential source of significant stress for children can be the school situations. Either way, I noticed this statement as an assumption I don’t particularly agree with. There is STILL no excuse! On another page — the Neurological Basis of power, she compares the collective turnoff of the conscience preceding the Holocaust, the genocide — in short, the emotional DISTANCING of one population from another, turns of the morality. I have seen this within my own family, and I most definitely detect it in the “subject/object” pathologizing paradigm (to overuse a term, but it seems to work…) within the family law system, in which a crime is not a crime is not a crime, but is re-cast as a family conflict. }}
Stress from work is also increasing because most employees have bosses and peers who bully them also because of the stress and because bullying is pleasurable and addictive as it increases the dopamine levels in the brain[4]. 37% of the US employees, or the majority of potential non-bullies assuming a 50/50 ratio, are bullied at work[5].
Unlike sexual harassment, bullying has no legal remedy in California and is dismissed as “interpersonal conflict” between employees. Because bullying is addictive and because bullies have no motivation to stop it, the number of bullied at work employees will be increasing. Therefore, the number of stressed employed men (and women) with suppressed cognition in California will be also increasing.
Abusive husbands are unlikely to seek divorce or change their addictive violent behavior as long as things are going their way in the family settings.An abused wife in California is extremely unlikely to report domestic violence because such reporting will necessarily result in her husband’s arrest and, consequently, an inevitable divorce, her financial downfall, and the high likelihood of her becoming homeless and even loosing custody of her children.
After divorce, housewives will struggle to find employment even at low wages of less than $15/hour and will likely be bullied at work. For many women, a bullying husband is less threatening than bullies at work.
Husband’s arrest for domestic violence can result in a criminal case against husband or a dismissal. If the abused wife presses charges, her husband, who controls financial resources, will hire an influential criminal law attorney to defend him. After hearings and a trial, the abusive husband will be either free or in jail. Being in prison will necessarily result in husband’s loss of employment and financial crisis for the family.
The jailed abusive husband will hate his wife, will hire an influential family law attorney, will direct his attorney to transfer all family funds and assets to ensure that wife would not have access to them, and will file for divorce. The family is likely to loose its residence because the main breadwinner and the mortgage payer will be gone. Naturally, no housewife wants that. According to the family law center of Sonoma County, more then 50% of arrests for domestic violence result in dismissals prior to the establishment of a case.
If the arrest results in a dismissal, especially after the case was tried, the arrested husband will have more stress from the arrest and the court hearings and will naturally harbor a lot of hostility and anger against his wife. Moreover, the balance of power in the family will be changed by the arrest, and the arrested husband will no longer be satisfied with his marriage.
Since the abusive husband controls his family’s financial resources, he will hide and transfer the family assets in the secret preparation for divorce. He will hire an influential family law attorney and then will file for divorce requesting custody of the children, no spousal support and no attorney’s fees to his wife.
It will be extremely unlikely for his abused wife to have sufficient separate property assets and separate income to maintain continuous legal representation. Consequently, she will become self-represented shortly after the beginning of the divorce.
During the trial, the abusive husband’s attorney will lie to the judge and will make the wife look like an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a completely unfit parent. The family law trial judge will ignore any evidence and pleadings submitted by the self-represented wife.
After divorce, the abusive husband will remain living in the family residence with the children, and his abused ex-wife will likely receive no or minimal spousal support and no property because the major portion or all of the community property will be used to pay for the abusive husband’s attorney’s fees.
Women are more vulnerable to stress and twice as likely as men to develop anxiety and depression under stress[6]. Any infection, even minor flu or cold, will necessarily exacerbate the stress on the body. If the abused wife was employed during the marriage, she is likely to lose her employment because she will likely develop severe anxiety and major depression as a result of the stress during her divorce litigation. A depressed woman will have an impaired cognition and no energy to look for a new employment.
The current medications for depression take several weeks to have a clinical effect, and only 40%-50% of antidepressants work. Because of the side effects and ineffectiveness, a depressed woman will have to try 2-3 different medications to find the one that works. This will take a few months.
While being depressed with no funds and no legal knowledge, the abused wife will not be able to either hire an appellate attorney or self-represent herself in appeal and prepare in 1-3 months a good quality Appellant’s Opening Brief. As a result, the injustice created by the trial judge will become permanent.
In conclusion,the abused wife will report domestic violence ONLY when she fears for her own or her children’s lives.
In wealthy Marin County, for instance, domestic violence against women was growing quietly in the past years and is currently a primary type of violent crime accounting for 30% of violent crime cases (over 60% of violent crime arrests)[7].
Thus, the current legal system with its unrealistic deadlines and exorbitant legal fees implicitly promotes domestic violence against women.
Natalia A. Sidiakina permits unrestricted not-for-profit use, distribution, and reproduction of this article or any part thereof in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. See original citations in the articles on this web site and examples of citations below in this web page. For more information and permission for for-profit use, distribution, and reproduction please contact info@selfrepresentedfool.org.
(END OF QUOTATION FROM THIS WEBSITE PAGE)…..
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LINKS OR INACTIVE LINKS, AND HAVE PASTED & COPIED THIS SITE FROM BEGINNING OF TEXT TO BOTTOM OF FOOTNOTES…
The Legislature hereby finds that spousal abusers present a clear and present danger to the mental and physical well-being of the citizens of the State of California. The Legislature further finds that the concept of vertical prosecution, in which a specially trained deputy district attorney, deputy city attorney, or prosecution unit is assigned to a case after arraignment and continuing to its completion, is a proven way of demonstrably increasing the likelihood of convicting spousal abusers and ensuring appropriate sentences for those offenders. In enacting this chapter, the Legislature intends to support increased efforts by district attorneys’ and city attorneys’ offices to prosecute spousal abusers through organizational and operational techniques that have already proven their effectiveness in selected cities and counties in this and other states.
I am going to bite my tongue about that training.
There’s more – read the fine print, and wonder.:
(a)There is hereby established in the Department of Justice (DOJ) a program of financial and technical assistance for district attorneys’ or city attorneys’ offices, designated the Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program. All funds appropriated to the Department of Justice for the purposes of this chapter shall be administered and disbursed by the Attorney General, and shall to the greatest extent feasible, be coordinated or consolidated with any federal or local funds that may be made available for these purposes.
The Department of Justice shall establish guidelines for the provision of grant awards to proposed and existing programs prior to the allocation of funds under this chapter. These guidelines shall contain the criteria for the selection of agencies to receive funding and the terms and conditions upon which the Department of Justice is prepared to offer grants pursuant to statutory authority. The guidelines shall not constitute rules, regulations, orders, or standards of general application. {{Then what DO they represent?}}
(b)The Attorney General may allocate and award funds to cities or counties, or both, in which spousal abuser prosecution units are established or are proposed to be established in substantial compliance with the policies and criteria set forth in this chapter.
(c)The allocation and award of funds shall be made upon application executed by the county’s district attorney or by the city’s attorney and approved by the county board of supervisors or by the city council. Funds disbursed under this chapter shall not supplant local funds that would, in the absence of the California Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program, be made available to support the prosecution of spousal abuser cases. Local grant awards made under this program shall not be subject to review as specified in Section 10295 of the Public Contract Code. {{gee. . . . . }}
(d)Local government recipients shall provide 20 percent matching funds for every grant awarded under this program.
In the next post, I am going to put the “
Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Respondent in People v. Giles”
This is a 25 -page brief (Dec. 2005) on behalf of several organizations, responding to< I THINK, an accused spousal murderer’s right to confront his accuser. (again, speculation from memory of this), part of his defense was, his right to confront his accuser was being compromised. Well, she was dead, dude! Unbelievably, this brief addresses that issue. However, I include it because it came up when I searched on “Clear and present Danger.” IF you can go to the subject sentences of each paragraph, it also will provide more insight on domestic violence as an issue. Also, given that it’s written by Nancy K.D. Lemon, Esq. — prominent in this field, and at UC Berkeley Boalt School of Law, I think it’s worth posting. . . . . On the NEXT post.
Here, though is the ending of this document, FYI. Again, consider what the woman above (one among how many?) went through. . . . .
<><><><><>
An Intent-Based Application Of The Rule Will Significantly Diminish The Number Of Domestic Violence Prosecutions, Undermining Prosecution Efforts And Exacerbating The California Domestic Violence Crisis
The California Legislature has established that prosecutions are necessary to reduce domestic violence incidents and has made great efforts to assist these prosecutions. An Assembly Committee Report stated, “[C]riminal prosecution is one of the few factors that may interrupt the escalating pattern of domestic violence.” SeeAssem. Comm. Rep. at 5 TA \s “Assem. Comm. Rep. on Public Safety S.B. 1876, atpp 3-4 (June 25, 1996)” . Further, the Legislature has declared, “[Since] spousal abusers present a clear and present danger to the mental and physical well-being of the citizens of the State of California,…[we will] support increased efforts by district attorneys’ and city attorneys’ offices to prosecute spousal abusers through organizational and operational techniques.” Cal. Pen. Code § 273.8 (West 2005){{{I JUST CITED, ABOVE}}}
{{DO readers YET? understand why the family law venue, as populated by the noble “AFCC” with enablements by also the “OCSE” (search my blog on this) “MUST” exist if batterers are to get away with this, when there are children? Why there MUST be, despite these D.A. legislated efforts in the 2005s to STOp domestic violence, and stop it by characterizing and prosecuting it as the crime(it is indeed criminal in intent and effect, seeking to undermine the basis of principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence: Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. There is no happiness possible in abuse, because there is no liberty, and sometimes it stops life, too. Ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump..) – – there MUST be a contrary movement, a groundswell of indignant (primarily fathers) to RE-Characterize and DE-Criminalize the language and, with that, prosecution, of criminal behavior towards individuals, including children, and re-cast it as “parental rights” and “family conflict.” ??? These motions are essentially in DIRECT opposition to each other. . . . . . .
{{ NOW, friends, begin to understand – I feel I most certainly have experienced this, along with others — how the CRIMINAL PROSECUTION side, this law enforcement, indeed plays too often (they do!) “good cop/bad cop” with the family law venue, withholding prosecution sometimes, and purusing it other times — same law, same county, same personnel. I am in the middle of this struggle presently, where I have a total and clearly identified — but who can enforce? and at what risk to the parties involved, not just me? — legal right?}} However this document is dealing with the criminal prosecution side — not the family / custody issues side – apparently segmented in too many brains, but overlapped in experiences of families going through this, with kids.}}
[Not new Para. in original] TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 273.8 (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 273.8 (West 2005)” \c 2 ; see also Cal. Pen. Code § 273.81 (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 273.81 (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 273.81 (West 2005)” \c 2 (establishing Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program within the Department of Justice that provides financial and technical assistance for district attorneys’ and city attorneys’ offices and promotes vertical prosecution in order to convict spousal abusers).
In order to address the domestic violence epidemic, the California Legislature has passed a host of laws intended to increase domestic violence arrests, prosecutions, and convictions.See, e.g., Cal. Pen. Code § 13700 (West 2005) TA \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 13700 (West 2005)” TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 13700 (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 13700 (West 2005)” \c 1 . For example, these laws require arrests of persons who violate restraining orders [[NOT DONE IN MY CASE]] (Cal. Pen. Code § 836(c) (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 836(c) (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 836(c) (West 2005)” \c 2 ); encourage arrests where there is probable cause that a person committed a domestic violence offense (Cal. Pen. Code § 13701(b) (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 13701(b) (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 13701(b) (West 2005)” \c 2 ); require that suspects arrested for certain domestic violence offenses appear before a magistrate rather than be cited and released (Cal. Pen. Code § 853.6(a) (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 853.6(a) (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 853.6(a) (West 2005)” \c 2 ); and encourage prosecutors to seek the most severe authorized sentence for a person convicted of a domestic violence offense (Cal. Pen. Code § 273.84(b) (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Pen. Code § 273.84(b) (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Pen. Code § 273.84(b) (West 2005)” \c 2 ).
Additionally, the Legislature has enacted several evidentiary rules specifically designed to facilitate domestic violence prosecutions, including laws allowing experts to testify when relevant, such as when a domestic violence victim recants or refuses to testify (Cal. Evid. Code § 1107 (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Evid. Code § 1107 (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Evid. Code § 1107 (West 2005)” \c 2 ); permitting evidence of previous acts of abuse in a criminal action in which the defendant is accused of an offense involving domestic abuse of an elder or dependent person (Cal. Evid. Code § 1109 (West 2005) TA \s “Cal. Evid. Code § 1109 (West 2005)” mentioned supra); and permitting introduction of some forms of hearsay evidence when the domestic violence victim is unavailable to testify (Cal. Evid. Code § 1370 (West 2005) TA \l “Cal. Evid. Code § 1370 (West 2005)” \s “Cal. Evid. Code § 1370 (West 2005)” \c 2 ).
{{You will notice “Cal. Evid. Code is being cited here. However, the family law SEPARATED the Evid. code from itself years ago, I heard (early 1990s?) per a CA NOW Family Law website description of the history of this system (the 2002 report). . . . . So it seems to me that this separation was intentional. THEN, a certain father got caught out with his representation, in essence “caught” by those local rules, and now we have — locally — an “Elkins Family Law Task Force” pulled together to rescue this Dad (whose name also happens to be Elkins, DNK if coincidence or related to the original Meyer Elkins. There are lots of Elkinses areound, so maybe not…) because and specifically because, family law is so different from civil procedure. Well, that was a built-in, intentional system bias! (From what I can read). Back to the text….}}
Despite the Legislature’s efforts to improve domestic violence prosecution efforts, however, there has been a substantial drop in domestic violence prosecutions since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford. In the first year after Crawford, California prosecutors reported that they were dismissing a higher number of domestic violence cases than in the preceding years. Lininger, Prosecuting Batterers After Crawford TA \s “Tom Lininger, Prosecuting Batterers After Crawford, 91 Va. L. Rev. 747, 769 (2005)” , supra, at 749-50. Sixty-one percent of responding prosecutors reported that Crawford had significantly impeded domestic violence prosecutions. Id., at 772, 820.
{{Apparently this relates to where the victim(s) are basically terrorized out of testifying, based on a very real belief that they (or loved ones) will be significantly hurt if they do, and that the system isn’t going to particularly protect them. ALthough I doubt readers are up to the reasoning yet, I feel this feeds significantly into the PAS debate (Parental Alienation Syndrome) which, while I know where it came from, I feel could be sprung in reverse on mothers who have lost their kids (possibly DUE to the use of this legal tactic) and those kids are smart enough to keep their mouths shut. In short, treating people who have been exposed to abuse, long-term and significant, whether by WITNESSING it to a parent, or sibling, or EXPERIENCING IT DIRECTLY (or both) — they have a right to self-protection, which may very well, their point of view, entail joining in on the abuse of the left-behind parent (or else), or simply clamming up. For more insight into this, read the journal (true story, written after he got out and became an adult), “The Boy Called It” and a secondary brother who became “it” after the original boy was rescued from the family. In this case, it was the mother abusing, horribly so. The name escapes me presently, but is searchable…. I had a hard time reading it, as it cut close to home..in the dynamics of being targeted, as a child, for the denigrating behavior, while siblings were not…OK, back to the GILES amicus….}}
Before Crawford, prosecutors often conducted “victimless prosecutions,” where they relied on hearsay statements made by victims to police, medical personnel, clergy, social workers, and others because the victim would not testify at trial. Melissa Moody, A Blow to Domestic Violence Victims: Applying the “Testimonial Statements” Test in Crawford v. Washington, 11 Wm. & Mary J. of Women & L. 387, 387 (2005) TA \l “Melissa Moody, A Blow to Domestic Violence Victims: Applying the \“Testimonial Statements\” Test in Crawford v. Washington, 11 Wm. & Mary J. of Women & L. 3873(2005)” \s “Melissa Moody, A Blow to Domestic Violence Victims: Applying the \”Testimonial Statements\” Test in Crawford v. Washington, 11 Wm. & Mary J. of Women & L. 387, 387 (2005)” \c 3 ; Andrew King-Ries, Crawford v. Washington: The End of Victimless Prosecution?, 28 Seattle U. L. Rev. 301, 301 (2005) TA \l “Andrew King-Ries, Crawford v. Washington: The End of Victimless Prosecution? 28 Seattle U. L. Rev. 301, 301 (2005)” \s “Andrew King-Ries, Crawford v. Washington: The End of Victimless Prosecution? 28 Seattle Univ. L. Rev. 301, 301 (2005)” \c 3 . Further, these prosecutions often proved successful in combating domestic violence. See, e.g., Casey G. Gwinn & Anne O’Dell, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse: Stopping the Violence: The Role of the Police Officer and the Prosecutor, 20 W. St. U.L. Rev. 297, 303-04 (1993) TA \l “Casey G. Gwinn & Anne O’Dell, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse: Stopping the Violence: The Role of the Police Officer and the Prosecutor, 20 W. St. U.L. Rev. 297, 303-04 (1993)” \s “Casey G. Gwinn, J.D. & Sgt. Anne O’’Dell, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse: Stopping the Violence: The Role of the Police Officer and the Prosecutor, 20 W. St. U.L. Rev. 297, 303-04 (Spring 1993)” \c 3 (“Nearly 60% of our filed cases involve uncooperative or absent victims and yet we obtain convictions in 88% of our cases…Our strategies are working to reduce violence in intimate relationships in San Diego”); Linda A. McGuire, Criminal Prosecution of Domestic Violence TA \l “Linda A. McGuire, Criminal Prosecution of Domestic Violence” \s “Linda A. McGuire, , Esq., Criminal Prosecution of Domestic Violence” \c 3 , available athttp://www.bwjp.org/documents/prosecuteV.htm (reporting that San Diego prosecutors’ and law enforcement officials’ strategies , including conducting victimless prosecutions, decreased San Diego’s domestic violence homicide rate by 59% from 1991 to 1993) (last visited Dec. 7, 2005).
{{COMMENT: search Case G. Gwinn on this blog, I believe I posted the article about his attempts to coverup DV of one of his employees, and a lawsuit by another one he assigned to the cover-up, step in the gap procedure. When threats came to the secondary employee (lawsuit said?) his response was to make sure she wasn’t on HIS floor, where he also might be targeted. Another “problem” I have with Casey J. Gwinn is the establishment of the replicating Family Justice Center Alliance, made possible by a $1 million grant from Verizon. This was happening at a time I myself was desperately seeking (yet did not get) help to obtain a cell phone for my own safety, from Verizon, or anyone else for that matter, being stalked and so forth. While they had their high-profile websites, we women were on our own, here, on the street level….I cannot tell you what I went through in the past 2 years alone just to keep a damn PHONE on! How’d you like to deal with that?}}
The post-Crawford drop in domestic violence prosecutions indicates that some prosecutors and judges have failed to recognize the Rule of Forfeiture as an applicable exception to the Sixth Amendment right of confrontation in many domestic violence cases. See Robert P. Mosteller, Crawford v. Washington:Encouraging and Ensuring the Confrontation of Witnesses, 39 U. Rich. L. Rev. 511, 607 (2005) TA \l “Robert P. Mosteller, Crawford v. Washington: Encouraging and Ensuring the Confrontation of Witnesses, 39 U. Rich. L. Rev. 511, 60(2005)” \s “Robert P. Mosteller, Crawford v. Washington: Encouraging and Ensuring the Confrontation of Witnesses, 39 U. Rich. L. Rev. 511, 607 (2005)” \c 3 (stating that Crawford “has caused great disruption and massive uncertainty” in the prosecution of domestic violence cases). Specifically, this trend indicates that prosecutors seek to admit an unavailable victim’s statements under the Rule only when a defendant intends to procure the victim’s unavailability at trial instead of when, as often occurs in domestic violence cases, the defendant causes the witness’s unavailability by killing the victim or by instilling fear of reprisals. As a result, the legal system appears to reward batterers by dropping some charges, dismissing entire cases, or acquitting the batterer of domestic violence charges when the victim’s statements are the only evidence to establish a battering relationship.
Furthermore, if batterers know that prosecutors will move to dismiss charges or lose domestic violence cases whenever batterers successfully terrorize and sequester their victims, they will intimidate and threaten their victims in order to derail prosecution. See Lininger, Prosecuting Batterers After Crawford TA \s “Tom Lininger, Prosecuting Batterers After Crawford, 91 Va. L. Rev. 747, 769 (2005)” , supra, at 808 (raising concern that if courts require a victim witness’s live testimony in order to admit any of the victim’s statements, it is more likely that an abuser will threaten the victim before trial in the hope of preventing prosecution). Conversely, if the judicial system holds batterers accountable for causing a victim’s unavailability, batterers will have less incentive to intimidate their victims into silence. )
{{Violations of Sixth Amendment right to confront is flagrant and essential to the family law process, far’s I can tell. This is done when the accuser is no longer the individual himself alone, but a mediator’s or evaluator’s report obtained by separate meetings (if requested for DV) from the victim (no longer considered a victim in family law either — she is a person who has a “problem” called “conflict” within the family, and as such it is as much HER duty as HIS to make it stop — which is virtually impossible, many times, without prosecution or protection of some sort.. . . But notice how much more detailed and specific the conversation is when it is in the CRIMINAL side of prosecution here..}}
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, amici respectfully request that the Court affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal.
Respectfully submitted,
_________________________
Nancy K. D. Lemon
Calif. State Bar No. 95627
Boalt Hall School of Law
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
(510) 525-3164
Attorney for Amici Curiae
Dated: December 11, 2005
On behalf of
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV)
Asian Law Alliance of San Jose
California National Organization for Women (CA NOW)
California Women’s Law Center
City of Santa Cruz’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women
Glendale YWCA
Los Angeles County Bar Association Domestic Violence Project
Marjaree Mason Center
Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence
Sojourn Services for Battered Women and Their Children
South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center
Walnut Avenue Women’s Center
Women Escaping A Violent Environment (WEAVE)
WomanHaven, Inc., d/b/a Center for Family Solutions
Women’s Crisis Support – Defensa de Mujeres
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
I certify that this brief complies with the type-volume limitation of the California Rules of Court Rule 14(c)(1).
Exclusive of the exempted portions in California Rules of Court Rule 14(c)(3), the brief contains 7638 words.
_________________________
Nancy K. D. Lemon
Boalt Hall School of Law
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720
Telephone: 510-525-3164
Attorney for Amici Curiae
Dated: December 11, 2005
PROOF OF SERVICE (NOT relevant to the discussion)….
I simply consider the family law arena, and/or its collaboration with other arms of the system that SHOULD enable a citizen to live a normal life after separating from abuse / domestic violence — and WITH the children being PROTECTED from further, dangerous, or threatening, undermining interactions with the othe rparent. In short, when can we just take a stand and say NO! and mean it to this vice, abuse?
Only when it ceases to produce benefits for others.
[April, 2022] DONATE! To show appreciation and help me Justify Continuing this INVESTIGATIVE BLOGGING Begun March, 2009,** (Not Tax-Exempt: Yet). WHY ELSE? See Apr. 2022 Narrative in 5 text boxes.
**Below Several "Sticky" (pinned) posts, including Tables of Contents. {{separated by year}}. Generally, and to skip the "Sticky Posts" at top, for the most recent posts (access individually) scroll down on this sidebar to 'The Ten Most Recent 'Let's Get Honest' Posts' widget .
(The above link is to the blog's static 'Current Posts' Page where all posts (Sticky ones on top) display. As a Page (not "Post") its case-sensitive short-link ends 'PsBXH-8v2'). Home page (Static Front page, see next box) explains the shortlink protocols I also incorporate into posts (with 868 posts, you might too!) for internal cross-referencing AND if you wish to link to a specific post or page, pls. also always include its date posted. The "Archives " (Calendar widget) function also helpful for browsing by month back to 2009 or if you know which month.
This blog's default, static Front Page, LGH Top Picks, Themes ... and Why My Gravatar is a Blue Jay taking Flight. (short-link ends "PsBXH-8o0" or just type in 'FamilyCourtMatters.org') is long, detailed, with visuals on current topics and orgs. It identifies ongoing "Thought-Leadership," "Stakeholders" (sic) and holds many internal links to other pages or posts explaining certain topics, or even entities. It holds also the link to Current Posts near the top. Current posts are NOT posted below the Front Page but separately from it.
Page was partitioned, generating off-ramped, updated posts (Sept. 2019ff), and further shortened (by adding a subsidiary page) Dec. 26, 2019) but still displays the level of drill-downs and explains the WHY of my diff''t approach as an investigative blogger.
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________________ ("DONATE" 4/2022 Narration):
(This Narrative across 5 text boxes below, here for a few weeks only). More Navigation widgets below//LGH:
(Section #1 of 5) ~
WHY MORE DONATE BUTTONS NOW? For one, because I have to focus on moving (again), but also because see rapid changes in Family Court Reform / VAWA which need to be addressed and hope after the move to get right back on it...
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**(Cont'd from Widget Title, "I blog since 2009,...) ..having (just barely) survived a decade of battering (DV) + a Calif. SF BayArea Family Court Gauntlet + Aftermath..
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Donations are not tax-deductible because (so far) I've resisted forming a tax-exempt entity or selling books and consulting: instead I blog the tax-exempt sector. Also in my situation, privacy increases safety (re: adult family members), publicity decreases it. Without a certain confidence in safety, I don't function well.
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My blog features public/private money trails, especially from the USA federal faucet and related to key legislation passed in the 1990s, NEGATIVELY impacting domestic violence advocacy and the country's family courts. I do this with How-To's (How I Do This). Show Me ONE other survivor blog that does this... I uncovered trends going back, some, a hundred years, designed to break down USA internal (domestic) and external (international) jurisdiction barriers with the most power going to whoever endorses this policy (it's a type of colonization), in a system rigged against those who simply don't.
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I discovered and talk about built-in "black holes of unaccountability" system-wide.
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...but, I am a senior facing yet another imminent housing move and all associated costs, mid-May, 2022... as before, without credit and without job stability. I still do not have a destination (new housing) or even know whether to stay in the same city (unlikely), or state. But certain FamilyCourt / abuse prevention policy issues don't wait for individuals' convenience: See hashtags #FamilyCourtReformists #NFVLCgwu and #NSPC (NationalSafeParents.org, website released only Feb. 4, 2022) on my Twitter.
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(#2 of 5) ~ The "VAWA Reauthorization with' Kayden's Law' triumph" is a false victory and seeks to co-opt control of how DV is handled and deliver it into the hands of those who condone flaw-riddled logic and into places where money is simply not trackable: more "technical assistance and training."
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Those FamilyCourtReformists (my term) who helped this happen (so they say), it's obvious (and I blogged as it came up) have all along sought to obtain a piece of the "technical assistance and training" pie --taxpayer funded --maintain a reputation for being "the good guys" in this mix. In that paradigm, the T&TA infrastructure and massive conflicts of interests with the public interest, in sectors these didn't yet reign supreme, of course couldn't be "outed." Lone investigative bloggers and reporters (I wasn't the only one; maybe one of the more persistent ones, but not the only one) who were also survivors (knew what this system does personally), had to be and have been discredited through dismissal or silence (shunning, social media-wise). We don't get referrals and we do get blocked -- a lot. The treatment is much like the abuse (we) lived with earlier... but coming from those who claim to be concerned about our kind.
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All this is far beyond just routine betrayal of those for whom concern is claimed. It is not the product of being innocently ignorant or mistaken (I've documented that extensively, see my last post of 2014, for one example). It's self-aggrandizement and callous indifference to factors reasonably known which would (in a flash) dismantle the primary premises of VAWA reauthorized with "Kayden's Law."
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From what I can see, Canada's "Keira" law is similar, and promoters of one promote the other. At least two of Keira's professionals that her mother cited, were AFCC, and US Family Courts are saturated with its members, including judges yet this is rarely mentioned. I mention it anyway... as an archetype of how practices lead to "Promising practices" then "Pilots" then, the goal is, legislation: more forced consumption of trainings without analyzing (openly...) the existing trainings in any critical fashion and certainly not from the economic/accounting lens -- no matter how much public money is involved.
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Legislators whose states receive both fathers' rights (under Welfare Reform) and "prevent violence against women" (VAWA/ FVSPA funds) aren't going to call this out: it's political credibility with half their voters. Individuals knowledgeable about the system and its characteristics must. UNINFORMED on any agenda = cannot consent to an agenda = social engineering, not representative government. NB: While I live USA I do not only follow or blog these issues in USA. It's being taken global from the start.
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I identified called out this trend and these tactics vigorously in 2014. I personally several of the trends promoters and promoting orgs., and where these were nonprofits, the same nonprofits' filing habits -- several from Northern California area, an I literally had to flee in Summer 2018. I still have to move again while for safety (involving certain family members/a trust is involved) maintain privacy. After this next move, which intends to at least halve living expenses (and get to where I can raise a few vegetables at least!) publish at least from this blog, and form a nonprofit, finally. But, I will NOT be peddling curricula or "train-the-trainer" trade-marked certifications or trade associations.
(#3 of 5) ~ Women in my situation are geographically widespread and often under prolonged legal and financial attack; it's hard to maintain prolonged collaborations on individual projects, let alone more substantial ones -- but our being under such pressures is no excuse for #familycourtreformist fake advocacy that encourages us to sabotage ourselves according to an agenda by those who've not been through what we have, or for nearly so long. I'm referring to work/housing/social support - engagement life disruptions. For more details, read more of the blog!
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Once you basically understand (understand the basics I've been presenting all along), to publicize the blog would also help (always include a shortlink).
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My perspective hasn't been debated or dismantled by any court-connected professionals, lawyers, or DV advocacy groups, but many of these are well aware of both it and similar (and linking) material on Twitter. Some have recently blocked me on Twitter, probably because my straightforward questions, or pointing out the missing or noncompliant (corporate) filing habits interfere with (their) propaganda and agenda -- So what? Does this make truth disappear?
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(#4 of 5) ~ ...I haven't given up the belief that this level of truth-telling has had some impact to date, and could have even more substantial impact, but then again, I have a core center of faith and sense of right and wrong. Chronic lying, avoidance and censorship of known, relevant information to the targeted market is wrong!
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So is promoting and persuading (recruiting to persuade) traumatized or vulnerable individuals and the public to promote marketing phrases which, per se, are ludicrous -- like "keeping children safe IN family courts" or "Coercive Control" (what, then, is "non-coercive control" -- is it still control? Why not just call it coercion? Why that phrase and not a more accurate one? Sure, the experience of being inappropriately controlled to the point of enslavement could be called "coercive" like trying to prevent one's children from being kidnapped or abused might make one, in a stretch of the meaning of language, be somewhat "protective" -- but these same phrases have different significance to those marketing them.)
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Why should we rally for justice, due process, or equal rights as human beings (and citizens of each respective country) under our laws, under such fuzzy and elastic terms? Before these, there were other, equally ridiculous ones, and only late-stage fools (speaking of those who've been around long enough to know better) wouldn't recognize which private, tax-exempt associations (respectively) are promoting them, and making money/selling product off it, both coming, and going...
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I have a core center of faith -- not gullibility, not religiosity, and not circumstance-based -- which in some ways, defines "faith." So do many mothers I know, whether or not they lead with the religious wording: we aren't fighting just for ourselves. We are the real stakeholders, along with the taxpaying public who ought to understand just exactly in what manners their credibility (and pre-occupation with other things) has been taken advantage of, and exploited to continue the roadkill, bloodshed of innocents, and yes, trafficking of vulnerable human beings, male, female, young, and old. We will not shut up while still alive, and we are not going away from this debate, but we could use a little moral, and often some financial support.
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(#5 of 5) ~ This five-segment explanation + "Pls. Donate" may not be up here long, I hope it's understood while it is.//LGH
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I'm not asking for the thousand-dollar donations or all your personal information but for expressions of support: $10-25-$50 is magnificent, especially from people who may be aware of my contributions over time or aware of the situation but unable to devote as much time to what investigation and blogging what we find, teaching and re-teaching basic principles and vocabulary as I do. I have acknowledged and over time expressed thanks to those who pointed me in this direction, but this is my own work.
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I do not work with people who historically withhold information (and how and where they found it)with intent to publish and become THE "go-to" authority on the family court gauntlets and systems yet (several I'm aware of, also knowing long-term of this blog) refuse to do enough homework to be able to show HOW they came to their conclusions and overview, yet won't link to blogs and people (and yes, I am one) who have.
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Storytelling with a focus on the storyteller (and his/her "friends") deliberately withholds the tools and terminology leading to concepts to get people "up to speed" i.e., up to speed efficiently getting to more solid ground of non-hearsay evidence, logically solid ground, and able to prove or disprove the storyteller's conclusions. Those who want expert (storytelling) status should be able to handle criticism and argue their points openly, in public. It takes time, practice, effort, and dedication to understanding what one sees, to get there . . . but not decades or even a half decade.
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Meanwhile, I have another post in the pipeline, nearly read to go, and to get out today... Thank you for reading this far and for anything you may contribute to me (and, it does go to me) for this cause, even knowing in advance it's likely not tax-deductible.// LGH-FCM, 26 April 2027.
Blog Navigation: Current Posts occur BELOW Sticky Posts. Tables Of Contents by Year and Others are Sticky). (One Widget, Many Boxes with Links). Rev. Dec. 2019; Split Apr. 2022
**Below Twelve (12) "Sticky" (pinned) posts, several of which are Tables of Contents. {{TOCs 2019 So Far, 2018 and Sept. 2012 - Dec. 2017, also listed separately, below on this Widget}}. Generally, for the most recent posts (access individually) scroll down on this sidebar to 'The Ten Most Recent 'Let's Get Honest' Posts' widget, updated automatically.
(Above link is to the blog's standing, static 'Current Posts' Page where all posts are shown. As a Page (not "Post") its case-sensitive short-link ends 'PsBXH-8v2'). Home page (Just type FamilyCourtmatters.org explains the shortlink protocols I also incorporate into posts (with 868 posts, you might too!) for internal cross-referencing
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FamilyCourtMatters.org default Front Page, LGH Top Picks, Themes ... and Why My Gravatar is a Blue Jay taking Flight. ((short-link ends "PsBXH-8o0" or just type in 'FamilyCourtMatters.org')(Long, Detailed, with Visuals on Current Topics, Orgs, ID's ongoing Thought-Leadership, Stakeholders (sic))<divPage was partitioned, generating off-ramped, updated posts (Sept. 2019ff), and further shortened (by adding a subsidiary page) Dec. 26, 2019) but still displays the level of drill-downs and explains the WHY of my diff''t approach as an investigative blogger.
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Consolidated Control of Domestic Violence Advocacy by Feminist Leadership REFUSING TO IDENTIFY, BY NAME and FINANCING, The Opposition Entities. **((It's a PAGE so short-link ends "/PsBXH-8rg")) [USA funding both sides of a gender war -- unequally should be questioned. We MUST understand the federally legislated funding which stacks the deck for ongoing conflict and ongoing fees for psych- and behavioral-health professionals and entrepreneurs, as opposed to in the public interest.] (Orig. from LGH 2018 Front page. May partition this page (onto another page or posts)! //LGH Oct. 2, 2019)
(This post finishes off-ramping four previously-shortened-version text widgets (with some July, 2019, updates), the title names them. Former versions of them were previously saved by posting in full on one or the other of the first two links above (with the word "Sidebar" in their titles) (links to full versions also stored on this post). THIS POST ALSO holds my narrative lead-in and footnotes around 'BMTP' (Battered Mothers Testimony Project){{=pdf of its Final Rept 2002}} at Wellesley Centers For Women, leading to my strongly-worded disclaimer/commentary on how, while misogyny (overall) is real and systemic, I disagree w standard feminist (so-called) domestic violence advocacy's protocol response to handling of Violence Against Women and Child Abuse 'IN the Family Courts'). My drill-down led me to better understanding of 1985ff (now, as 2 merged centers) Wellesley Center for Women's (WC4W's) historic psychoanalysis/ psychology focus and how funders of this influential, well-endowed, private, Boston-area, all-woman college's influential reporting (2002, example shown) are still effectively driving DV and VAWA policy. Still investigating... (see also Kathleen Stone Kaufmann, Wellesley '67(?) + her parents' "Stone Endowmt Fund")
____ (TOC 2017 (+ earlier) link above also accessible as internal link on (short) page "New to Blog?...," below.
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This post started as a foreword, took on a life of its own for something which was on my mind, I beg readers to consider deeply as significant in what direction domestic violence advocacy is going, who’s running, and whether or not we really should allow Commonwealth country practices to be brought in the back […]
This is an opportunistic post. I exploited the opportunity to leverage another’s single, recent Tweet to make a few points and share some relevant information others that Tweet withheld. “You” in post title references who sent that quoted (and embed, with my responses) below. I’ll repeat the title link and surrounding text below the “Foreword” added […] […]
ABOUT THIS LONG and LONG-DELAYED POST (You may want to read first!): “WTF?” “What’s going on here?“ This is what’s going on: I’m in housing transition: I’ll be out of this place within the next 24 hours, literally, and still not exactly sure how to reach the next (safe place) destination about one state away. […]
(While published May 14, 2022, this post came from a related one, published May 12 but drafted Fall, 2021). THEME #1: The BELEAGUERED v. the UNBELEAGUERED. (THEME #2 is: UNFREEZE – CHANGE – REFREEZE) This dynamic, The BELEAGUERED (first by in-home abuse and violence, then in the Family Courts, as people attempt to […]
Before you read this post perhaps read the lead-in, at The Widening Credibility Gap between the Long-Term, Chronic Family-Court-Beleagured and the UNbeleagured FamilyCourtReform/ist + DV Advocacy Experts Reporting on (Us) [May 4, 2022] (short-link ends “-eus” which seems appropriate to the topic here). …. if I’ve published it by then. If not, read it soon a […]
In this post, “NSPC” represents the website National Safe Parents Coalition which became active shortly before February 9, 2022 — it seems to be February 4 — obviously timed as something to refer to and publicize an VAWA reauthorization testimony featuring Angela Jolie and others, and (yet another) law named after a needlessly murdered child. This time, […] […]
I was curious whether “NOW” is no longer a force to be reckoned with for women’s rights, despite some high-profile individuals involved with NOW criticizing others who aren’t doing what they haven’t, yet, either. (See previous post, link below). What I found at apps.IRS.gov/app/eos/: (“EOS” for “Exempt Organizations Search”): many scattered and (for the mos […]
Note to Readers: I’ve published without having fully filled out a table at the bottom identifying the categories of every member of this task force’s listed affiliation. Several not filled out are entities or individuals on whom I’ve already researched and/or posted. On the blog’s right sidebar, I just added a long explanation under a DONATE […]
As previously threatened (?) or promised (see Twitter image, below next quotes), I re-allocated about one-third of my previous post (published April 19, 2022), the extended preview section, then, on reconsidering, the whole section on the main topic it discussed: why I believe that topic relates to USA’s domestic violence advocacy Infrastructure. The topic […]
This post began as a section called “My Basic Summary, Impromptu, By Recall (from the years of looking this up…)” but a more specific description was needed outside of its original context, like in the title: How USA Has Standardized, Professionalized and Privatized the Basic Response to Domestic Violence, with Built-in Biases and Strategically […] […]
More Blog Navigation: Doorways to Key Posts & Pages (Apr. 2022, formerly with Dec. 2019 Widget). These Contents May Change.
(This is the blog's standing, Static 'Current Posts' Page where all posts are shown, so its case-sensitive short-link (being a 'Page') ends 'PsBXH-8v2')
_(TOC 2017 (+ earlier) link above also accessible as internal link on (short) page "New to Blog?...," below.
This PAGE (shortlink ends “PsBXH-8iP”) holds detailed drill-downs and supplements the next two POSTS('Chasing Down Corp + Charitable Registratn's'...Pt. 1, Pt. 2) shown next (below) on this text widget)This Page: is still relevant, a good read; deals w/ AFCC-member (Judge-Lawyer-Court Services Administrator) founded Kids'Turn, Internat'l Parental Kidnapping as regards the Hague Convention; and shows HOW specific non-profit coalitions organize to trademark programs + obtain federal grants, while using mis-leading language, (several) name-changing rapidly (SFCAPC became ' Safe+Sound,' etc.) and more..)
(This post finishes off-ramping four previously-shortened-version text widgets (with some July, 2019, updates), the title names them. Former versions of them were previously saved by posting in full on one or the other of the first two links above (with the word "Sidebar" in their titles) (links to full versions also stored on this post). THIS POST ALSO holds my narrative lead-in and footnotes around 'BMTP' (Battered Mothers Testimony Project){{=pdf of its Final Rept 2002}} at Wellesley Centers For Women, leading to my strongly-worded disclaimer/commentary on how, while misogyny (overall) is real and systemic, I disagree w standard feminist (so-called) domestic violence advocacy's protocol response to handling of Violence Against Women and Child Abuse 'IN the Family Courts'). Drill-down started led to better understanding of 1985ff (now, as 2 merged centers) WC4W's historic psychoanalysis/ psychology focus and funders of this influential, well-endowed, private, Boston-area, all-woman college's influential reporting (2002, example shown), effectively driving DV and VAWA policy. Still investigating... (see also Kathleen Stone Kaufmann, Wellesley '67(?) + her parents' "Stone Endowmt Fund")
This Absolutely Uncommon Analysis shouldn’t be! **
**Summer, 2019, Update/s: This widget formerly called "Contributions Welcome & Needed/Thanks." Its full contents are now on a separate post (linked above and below) and I'm deciding how much, if any, of this one to keep in place here..//LGH.
This Absolutely Uncommon Analysis shouldn't be!
What I do here: I expose the Systems Design, and the Designers, so Y.O.U. can Show Others, and to notify those playing certain games, "you've been flagged."
Heard of "disruptive technologies?" Disruptive innovations?
Well, this is a disruptive blog. I give people who've already been strung out and stripped down BY the system another place to stand and look at it, and a clear, fairly diagnostic language (vs. pretty logos and moving pictures) to describe it to others. AND, which many don't do, I tell how I found the information; links databases and all.
Despite the blog's appearance, I know what I'm doing! You're looking at long-term leverage, in the hands of the "non-experts," in the public interest, not public funded propaganda to drive business to private pockets. Hence, I'm not afraid to ask:
The formula for this public/private business model isn't really that complex, but the concept itself was just so devious, insidious, parasitic, grandiose, and by now, so baked into the economic, institutional infrastructure, people either don't notice, or, in a common, cowardly, but all too human response they see, and just start denying, or looking for nicer explanations of an ugly truth -- where it's heading. For lack of nicer, but still honest terms, it's heading towards yet more slavery (and tolerating it) and genocide (and tolerating it). [[2019 comments: and the ability to drive the U.S., in particular, into even more, bigger, and more costly/dangerous wars, discrediting us (further) internationally. But I wrote this sidebar many years ago..]]
As a woman, mother, a family court and domestic violence survivor [yes, he was a hitter, and more], who has already 'faced the music' in more ways than I can count, to the best of my ability, I do not do "denial." I also ask the public, what's left of it, to just not go down that Denial Road, and with it lose more of their innate humanity, perception, and ethics. There is another way out, one with a conscience:
Really want system change? Make up your mind to understand government financing -- change yourself first. Find and read your local "CAFR" (government's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports), a wonderful source of information, with flow chart, descriptions of component or blended government units it's reporting on, and reporting the balances in each fund -- ever heard of a "Balance Sheet"? Looking for this also reveals just how many governmental business entities ARE there? Find them. Read. Think about what you see. What does it mean?
Governments tend to pool their investments, for example, "CALPERS" (essentially created ca. 1931) is the largest "public pension" investing platform around, or at least in the country. Getting started earlier sure helped, then adding players (subscribers) over time ALSO did. In 1985, add "CII" Council on Institutional Investors (members: in 31states and D.C.) (LA Times 1985 article on Calif. Politician (state treasurer, assembly speaker) Unruh whose idea it was for the Council so institutional funds could "flex their muscle"; and push for corporate governance reform. CII members now control $3 trillion of assets)-- my point being, government holdings are invested and when pooled like this, are major clout, but the average person never reads even a single government entity's annual financial reports to take a look. (I wasn't aware of them til 2012!)
Governments not only invest their funds in business, they also by legislation, patenting, and protections, set them up to win, or lose. So, "know thy government" is a great place to start. (See blog/see links in the blog).
[This Dialogue continued below under the sidebar widget "Really Want Systems Change?".]
2019 updates: This widget's (text box) full contents, along with others', now can be viewed (better -- full-page-width) at: Many of My Sidebar Widgets Now Live Here...[Published July 9, 2019]Published short (url short-link ends "-abt") (and may eventually replace current sidebar contents, or most of them). I also published a second, similar post with other sidebar widget contents(url short-link ends '-ahh') on July 19, 2019. Thanks for your patience (and any NOT-tax-exempt donations) meanwhile.//LGH
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Who's THE biggest nonprofit in Washington D.C.?
We always have to look at the larger context, and keep in mind… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…. . . 2 days ago
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In that blog I also reference some of the history of food production witnessed "in process" 9i.e., mergers/buy… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…. . . 2 days ago
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To get serious about WTF my own government/s (federal, state, county) have been doing with all those wage-withh… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…. . . 2 days ago
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But by being curious about just ONE thing, I learned much more, things I dn notice & wasn't encouraged toi look… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…. . . 2 days ago
Copyright “fair use” doctrine cited USC Title 17 Ch 1 SEC. 107
The "fair use" doctrine allows limited reproduction of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The relevant portion of the copyright statue provides that the "fair use" of a copyrighted work, including reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of copyright. U.S.C. Title 17, Chapter 1, Sec. 107.
Doorways to Key Parts of This Blog (I split the long Dec. 2019 Widgets. Added 27 Apr. 2022).
““The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.” **
leave a comment »
It’s DV Awareness Month. Are you aware? I’m not seeing much in the headlines this year. It’s more than just a label. . . .or an ideology. Here’s part of what it looks like, after reporting.
( ** quotation below….)
In the website “selfrepresentedfool.org” Dr. Natalia A. Sidiakina both organizes & analyzes the non-obvious and expresses the very obvious impact of the family law system as only someone not yet? ground up by it can.
“Legal System in California Promotes Domestic Violence Against Women”
(copied in entirety, after I get through my intro — shorter than usual today….)
While some people are furthering their careers and researching, not suffering through “familycourtmatters,” I still stand amazed at the volume and breadth of information– legal, cognitive, financial, and social, AND philosophical — that some people can not only process, but interrelate, and still come out impassioned, expressive, but coherent and with detailed analysis — that women who have been through this basic tyranny through the courts, can. Perhaps these are survival skills. To sustain violence over many years is a motive driven by emotion, but enabled like any other war with strategy, foresight, diplomacy/deceit at times, and timing, and intimidation. It is a skilled mixture, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if those good at both the abuse and surviving it might make excellent chefs, or businessmen & women. For those who have been targeted, add stamina and a rock-solid motivation keeping “the pilot light lit,” year after year.
People, we are in trouble in this country, and that trouble as in any ages is, FIRST, unjust judges signing these orders, but they do not operate in a power vacuum at all — and ones that aren’t,also can take retaliation, as did Richard Fine, in L.A. County, even as we speak. Even as women reporting abuse take retaliation, sometimes in the form of taking their children, too. For “taken children” to be brave enough to speak up, or want to, is a whole other matter. I do believe that part of the reason their custody gets switched to the batterers/abusers/molesters (speaking, in cases where this has already happened, or after reporting it when it has) is to shut them up. The court just send a message — speak up, or if one parent speaks up, and you live with your abuser. Or strangers.
I have not met this woman, and was unaware of the site, that I recall, until yesterday. But it both summarizes, puts in philosophical framework, AND annotates, many issues — not all of them (child abuse, for example, doesn’t seem to be the primary feature in here), but what happens when a woman tries to report, or leave, abuse. If she is still alive, what kind of life can she have?
Are you are employed (or not), a parent (or not) married (or not), in addition to paying taxes, did you give to your neighbor, at your faith institution or progressive atheist organization, at the office, church, or local homeless shelter (or not)?
If so, still please dedicate one hour of your time to reading this site in its entirety, and thinking about its contents.
(You will notice I didn’t really appeal to people on the boards of organizations supposedly handling these problems in the court. There’s a reason I didn’t…..Nor did I appeal to religious leaders of any faith as a segment. There’s a reason I didn’t there, too. I’m appealing to people of average and relatively moral sensibility to not turn the other cheek to this type of system, because you’re not an expert in it. This is what too many of the experts in the family law system DO. The DOING of that is a drain on the economy, and your taxes (USA, I mean, and especially if California — featured here.)
http://selfrepresentedfool.org/
Pages include:
(etc.)
Complete with cites, neurological basis, and coherent explanation of the money issues in a divorce. This is written by a PhD/MBA, so don’t expect just a rant, or even that.
The woman who wrote this is no fool — at all. In addition to JusticeForWomen.org, which talks about the process we go through — this woman’s site hits almost every major facet, and I would add to a “should-read/must-read” status. It’s also current.
“Legal System in California Promotes Domestic Violence Against Women”
Copyright© 2008-2009 by Natalia A. Sidiakina for Self-Represented Fool®
All rights reserved.
Natalia A. Sidiakina permits unrestricted not-for-profit use, distribution, and reproduction of this article or any part thereof in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. See original citations in the articles on this web site and examples of citations below in this web page. For more information and permission for for-profit use, distribution, and reproduction please contact info@selfrepresentedfool.org.
”The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.”
– Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)
“Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.”
– Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
**“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.”
– Marcus Aurelius (121-180)
“By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”
– Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
The current legal system in California promotes domestic violence against women.
(main article was written in July of 2008)
{{Let’s Get Honest inserted comment: Two of these commas should be omitted, making the phrasee “who were abused as children” a limiting phrase (conditional) and a qualifier added, I think: “The suppressed anger of men [omit comma] who were abused as children [omit comma] [add SOMETIMES] gets expressed through domestic abuse and violence.” Obviously not ALL men were abused as children. Or let’s hope they weren’t…}}
{{My personal opinion. I don’t know that every man who commits domestic abuse (i.e., violence against an intimate partner or family member– see legal definitions) was abused as a child. Possibly, but that still excuses it, adn there IS no excuse. What about being egged on by others? What about simple entitlement, as accepted too often in at LEAST the 3 “Abrahamic” religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, in chrono order) and/or because they — as the writer here expresses in another page — get a dopamine rush off it? Another potential source of significant stress for children can be the school situations. Either way, I noticed this statement as an assumption I don’t particularly agree with. There is STILL no excuse! On another page — the Neurological Basis of power, she compares the collective turnoff of the conscience preceding the Holocaust, the genocide — in short, the emotional DISTANCING of one population from another, turns of the morality. I have seen this within my own family, and I most definitely detect it in the “subject/object” pathologizing paradigm (to overuse a term, but it seems to work…) within the family law system, in which a crime is not a crime is not a crime, but is re-cast as a family conflict. }}
[1] Keltner, D., Gruenfeld, D.H., Anderson, C. (2003) Power, Approach and Inhibition. Psychological Review, Vol. 110, No. 2, 265-284 at p. 265, on the web athttp://socrates.berkeley.edu/~keltner/publications/keltner.power.psychreview.2003.pdf
[2] Dr. Forward, S. (1990) Toxic Parents. Bantam Books, p.3, 120, 124, 137
[3] Dr. Forward, S. (1990) Toxic Parents. Bantam Books, p.3, 120, 124, 137.
[4] Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008, p.14.
[5] Kim, J.N. (2008) The Cubicle Bully. Scientific American Mind, July/July 2008, p.13.
[6] National Institute of Mental Health official web site; Andreasen, N.C., MD, PhD, (2004) Brave New Brain. Oxford University Press, at p. 237-238.
[7] Cal. Courts Rev., Spring 2008, p.8. At dismissal rate of 50%, DV arrests represent 60% of violent crimes.
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CAL. PEN. CODE § 273.8 : California Code – Section 273.8
The Legislature hereby finds that spousal abusers present a clear and present danger to the mental and physical well-being of the citizens of the State of California. The Legislature further finds that the concept of vertical prosecution, in which a specially trained deputy district attorney, deputy city attorney, or prosecution unit is assigned to a case after arraignment and continuing to its completion, is a proven way of demonstrably increasing the likelihood of convicting spousal abusers and ensuring appropriate sentences for those offenders. In enacting this chapter, the Legislature intends to support increased efforts by district attorneys’ and city attorneys’ offices to prosecute spousal abusers through organizational and operational techniques that have already proven their effectiveness in selected cities and counties in this and other states.
I am going to bite my tongue about that training.
There’s more – read the fine print, and wonder.:
(a)There is hereby established in the Department of Justice (DOJ) a program of financial and technical assistance for district attorneys’ or city attorneys’ offices, designated the Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program. All funds appropriated to the Department of Justice for the purposes of this chapter shall be administered and disbursed by the Attorney General, and shall to the greatest extent feasible, be coordinated or consolidated with any federal or local funds that may be made available for these purposes.
The Department of Justice shall establish guidelines for the provision of grant awards to proposed and existing programs prior to the allocation of funds under this chapter. These guidelines shall contain the criteria for the selection of agencies to receive funding and the terms and conditions upon which the Department of Justice is prepared to offer grants pursuant to statutory authority. The guidelines shall not constitute rules, regulations, orders, or standards of general application. {{Then what DO they represent?}}
(b)The Attorney General may allocate and award funds to cities or counties, or both, in which spousal abuser prosecution units are established or are proposed to be established in substantial compliance with the policies and criteria set forth in this chapter.
(c)The allocation and award of funds shall be made upon application executed by the county’s district attorney or by the city’s attorney and approved by the county board of supervisors or by the city council. Funds disbursed under this chapter shall not supplant local funds that would, in the absence of the California Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program, be made available to support the prosecution of spousal abuser cases. Local grant awards made under this program shall not be subject to review as specified in Section 10295 of the Public Contract Code. {{gee. . . . . }}
(d)Local government recipients shall provide 20 percent matching funds for every grant awarded under this program.
In the next post, I am going to put the “
Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Respondent in People v. Giles”
This is a 25 -page brief (Dec. 2005) on behalf of several organizations, responding to< I THINK, an accused spousal murderer’s right to confront his accuser. (again, speculation from memory of this), part of his defense was, his right to confront his accuser was being compromised. Well, she was dead, dude! Unbelievably, this brief addresses that issue. However, I include it because it came up when I searched on “Clear and present Danger.” IF you can go to the subject sentences of each paragraph, it also will provide more insight on domestic violence as an issue. Also, given that it’s written by Nancy K.D. Lemon, Esq. — prominent in this field, and at UC Berkeley Boalt School of Law, I think it’s worth posting. . . . . On the NEXT post.
Here, though is the ending of this document, FYI. Again, consider what the woman above (one among how many?) went through. . . . .
<><><><><>
{{DO readers YET? understand why the family law venue, as populated by the noble “AFCC” with enablements by also the “OCSE” (search my blog on this) “MUST” exist if batterers are to get away with this, when there are children? Why there MUST be, despite these D.A. legislated efforts in the 2005s to STOp domestic violence, and stop it by characterizing and prosecuting it as the crime (it is indeed criminal in intent and effect, seeking to undermine the basis of principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence: Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. There is no happiness possible in abuse, because there is no liberty, and sometimes it stops life, too. Ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump..) – – there MUST be a contrary movement, a groundswell of indignant (primarily fathers) to RE-Characterize and DE-Criminalize the language and, with that, prosecution, of criminal behavior towards individuals, including children, and re-cast it as “parental rights” and “family conflict.” ??? These motions are essentially in DIRECT opposition to each other. . . . . . .
{{ NOW, friends, begin to understand – I feel I most certainly have experienced this, along with others — how the CRIMINAL PROSECUTION side, this law enforcement, indeed plays too often (they do!) “good cop/bad cop” with the family law venue, withholding prosecution sometimes, and purusing it other times — same law, same county, same personnel. I am in the middle of this struggle presently, where I have a total and clearly identified — but who can enforce? and at what risk to the parties involved, not just me? — legal right?}} However this document is dealing with the criminal prosecution side — not the family / custody issues side – apparently segmented in too many brains, but overlapped in experiences of families going through this, with kids.}}
{{You will notice “Cal. Evid. Code is being cited here. However, the family law SEPARATED the Evid. code from itself years ago, I heard (early 1990s?) per a CA NOW Family Law website description of the history of this system (the 2002 report). . . . . So it seems to me that this separation was intentional. THEN, a certain father got caught out with his representation, in essence “caught” by those local rules, and now we have — locally — an “Elkins Family Law Task Force” pulled together to rescue this Dad (whose name also happens to be Elkins, DNK if coincidence or related to the original Meyer Elkins. There are lots of Elkinses areound, so maybe not…) because and specifically because, family law is so different from civil procedure. Well, that was a built-in, intentional system bias! (From what I can read). Back to the text….}}
{{Apparently this relates to where the victim(s) are basically terrorized out of testifying, based on a very real belief that they (or loved ones) will be significantly hurt if they do, and that the system isn’t going to particularly protect them. ALthough I doubt readers are up to the reasoning yet, I feel this feeds significantly into the PAS debate (Parental Alienation Syndrome) which, while I know where it came from, I feel could be sprung in reverse on mothers who have lost their kids (possibly DUE to the use of this legal tactic) and those kids are smart enough to keep their mouths shut. In short, treating people who have been exposed to abuse, long-term and significant, whether by WITNESSING it to a parent, or sibling, or EXPERIENCING IT DIRECTLY (or both) — they have a right to self-protection, which may very well, their point of view, entail joining in on the abuse of the left-behind parent (or else), or simply clamming up. For more insight into this, read the journal (true story, written after he got out and became an adult), “The Boy Called It” and a secondary brother who became “it” after the original boy was rescued from the family. In this case, it was the mother abusing, horribly so. The name escapes me presently, but is searchable…. I had a hard time reading it, as it cut close to home..in the dynamics of being targeted, as a child, for the denigrating behavior, while siblings were not…OK, back to the GILES amicus….}}
{{COMMENT: search Case G. Gwinn on this blog, I believe I posted the article about his attempts to coverup DV of one of his employees, and a lawsuit by another one he assigned to the cover-up, step in the gap procedure. When threats came to the secondary employee (lawsuit said?) his response was to make sure she wasn’t on HIS floor, where he also might be targeted. Another “problem” I have with Casey J. Gwinn is the establishment of the replicating Family Justice Center Alliance, made possible by a $1 million grant from Verizon. This was happening at a time I myself was desperately seeking (yet did not get) help to obtain a cell phone for my own safety, from Verizon, or anyone else for that matter, being stalked and so forth. While they had their high-profile websites, we women were on our own, here, on the street level….I cannot tell you what I went through in the past 2 years alone just to keep a damn PHONE on! How’d you like to deal with that?}}
{{Violations of Sixth Amendment right to confront is flagrant and essential to the family law process, far’s I can tell. This is done when the accuser is no longer the individual himself alone, but a mediator’s or evaluator’s report obtained by separate meetings (if requested for DV) from the victim (no longer considered a victim in family law either — she is a person who has a “problem” called “conflict” within the family, and as such it is as much HER duty as HIS to make it stop — which is virtually impossible, many times, without prosecution or protection of some sort.. . . But notice how much more detailed and specific the conversation is when it is in the CRIMINAL side of prosecution here..}}
I simply consider the family law arena, and/or its collaboration with other arms of the system that SHOULD enable a citizen to live a normal life after separating from abuse / domestic violence — and WITH the children being PROTECTED from further, dangerous, or threatening, undermining interactions with the othe rparent. In short, when can we just take a stand and say NO! and mean it to this vice, abuse?
Only when it ceases to produce benefits for others.
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Written by Let's Get Honest|She Looks It Up
October 15, 2009 at 11:28 am
Posted in After She Speaks Up - Reporting Domestic Violence and/or Suicide Threats, Cast, Script, Characters, Scenery, Stage Directions, Domestic Violence vs Family Law
Tagged with Conflicts of interest, Courtroom-triggered PTSD, custody, domestic violence, Due process, family law, Intimate partner violence, Legal abuse after wife abuse, Natalia A. Sidiakina, obfuscation, Ph.D., Recusal refusals -- when a judge refuses to recuse for conflict of interest or no jurisdiction, retaliation for reporting, social commentary, U.S. Govt $$ hard @ work.., women's rights