Domestic Violence Laws
Domestic violence is not what we thought we would be carrying as a societal problem into the new Millennium. In fact, it is an ancient problem that mere mention of it today as an ongoing crisis should really make our society embarrassed and oppressive. Only with the past decade is our society beginning to realize that we have overlooked the stringency of domestic violence. All along we have been viewing domestic violence as a 'private family matter' and not a public matter. So, while we were looking the other way, here is what has developed. Domestic violence is now one of the leading causes of death among women and this has fueled drastic changes in local and state laws. Under these revised laws, in the state of Florida, a woman may qualify for an injunction if she believes that she is in danger of becoming the victim of an assault. Should the state of Florida change the domestic violence laws? A woman does not have to certify under oath that the person has ever committed a crime against her resulting in physical injury. The woman does not even have to pay the filing fees. One might ask why would a woman want an injunction if she were not abused. The injunction can remove the man from the home,
According to Jon Hernandez, more and more women are obtaining unjustified injunctions. He states that the number has increased dramatically in the past few years. He further states that due to the volume of domestic situations, that when he receives a call on domestic violence, he responds reluctantly. When questioned on the fairness to the real victims of abuse, Hernandez said, " No, it is not fair. They need to change it so that they have to prove something really happened." The Violence Against Women Act is a package of laws and programs designed to prevent domestic violence and provide protection to battered women and sexual assault victims. VAWA infuses big money into a vast network of female specific government programs that filters down into the states, which funds enforcement procedures and women's shelters. Unfortunately, due to vindictive women abusing our laws, the battered victims only see a fraction of the help they need. Stratus and Gelles report that about 1.8 million wives are assaulted severely every year (Zepezauer). They are the ones who are desperate for help and they are the ones that we as a society should be helping. Why then are we helping the vindictive women who are out to just get more alimony out of their husbands? Pennsylvania's Protection from Abuse Act is said to be a well-intentioned and useful weapon in the fight against domestic violence, but all too often a weapon of opportunity in the hands of vengeful spouses and opportunistic lawyers seeking to gain the upper hand in divorce and custody cases. There are so many women out there who need help, who have been beaten so severely that they will never be the same again, who need a step up in the right direction, who need the protection against their abusive husbands but don't get it, because so many women are crying wolf. Our Law Enforcement could help the real victims so much better if they were not bogged down with unjustified domestic violence calls. University of Rhode Island sociologist Richard Gelles, a leading authority on domestic violence, also cautions that the more the legal system is bogged down in trivial pursuits, the less likely it is to single out the serious cases that do require urgent intervention.(Zepezauer). It is also unfair to group the real victims with wives who have not been victims. Domestic and Sexual Violence Data Collection, A Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act by the Justice Research and Statistics Association NCJ 161405 McCue, Margi Laird. Domestic Violence : a reference handbook.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1974
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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