Category: Domestic Violence

Advocates hoping national debate will prompt overdue reform of family law system – ABC News

  • A parliamentary inquiry has made 29 recommendations to the government
  • Most recommendations were backed by all committee members, across the Coalition, Labor, Greens and crossbench
  • The inquiry came after dozens of reviews into the broken family law system

    The inquiry dismissed concerns “false allegations” of family violence were widespread and used against men in court disputes — a position long advocated by Senator Hanson.

    “The committee accepts that this does happen on occasion but does not agree with the notion that this is prevalent within the family law system,” the report said.

    One of the committee findings was to clarify one of the most controversial elements of the Family Law Act, “to address the current misunderstanding of the provision that equal shared parental responsibility equates to equal time with the children”.

    Mr Perrett introduced a private member’s bill to Parliament to address the issue last year, inspired by the murder of Brisbane woman Hannah Clarke and her three children.

    The bill would remove the presumption of equal shared parenting responsibility from the Family Law Act.

    Mr Perrett argued the law currently puts parents on equal footing in custody arguments, which can incentivise abusive partners to take parenting disputes through the courts.

Source: Advocates hoping national debate will prompt overdue reform of family law system – ABC News

New legal clinic concentrates on cases of women languishing in the system for crimes against alleged abusers – Chicago Tribune

Her caseload includes survivors of abuse who acted in self-defense or in defense of their children, as well as women forced or coerced to assist their abuser in committing a crime. Sometimes they are women diagnosed with postpartum depression.

White-Domain recently earned release for a woman sentenced to six years in prison for stealing items worth less than $300, arguing that the punishment was too severe when balanced against the harm of family separation.

Since getting funding last year the Women and Survivors Project has represented 30 clients in 15 clemency petitions, 14 administrative advocacy cases, four resentencing cases, one post-conviction case, and one appeal.So far, five women have been released. Collectively that has added up to about 30 years of incarceration saved, White-Domain said.

The Women and Survivors Project, believed to be a rare full-time practice dedicated these specific kinds of post-conviction cases, was built on the work of a small number of Chicago attorneys who three decades ago began working on such complicated cases pro bono, mentoring and training a younger generation along the way.

Their work, Byrne said, grew out of research on domestic violence and also from firsthand observations. Byrne watched how the criminal system failed to see self-defense from a female perspective, such as the effect ongoing battering has on a person’s state of mind and perception of danger.

In 2020, the Albert & Anne Mansfield Foundation awarded White-Domain a grant to continue at the Illinois Prison Project, the statewide advocacy organization where she currently works. The Women and Survivors Project remains small — she is the only full-time attorney — but the grant could provide leverage to secure more funding.

Source: New legal clinic concentrates on cases of women languishing in the system for crimes against alleged abusers – Chicago Tribune

Former ‘slave’ speaks out about abusive sex cult being run from a rural property – ABC News

On an isolated rural property in New South Wales, a man has been keeping six women as sex slaves. One of his former partners is speaking out in a bid to help them and encourage others to come forward. Warning: This story contains descriptions of extreme violence and sexual abuse.

Davis was a prolific online writer, publishing dozens of lengthy posts on fetish websites describing his philosophy on “psychologically conditioning” his slaves “to be 100% dependant [sic]”.

He wrote about finding women willing to be “subjected to the abuses and traumas of the Stockholm syndrome like [sic] effects of enslavement” and described a “death protocol” which involved passing the “ownership” of his slaves to other men if he should die.

Sex worker advocate Lucy Price was shown some of the videos, as well as even more graphic content that wasn’t shared publicly.

Ms Price was so worried she messaged one of the women living at the Armidale house.

One of the women living with Davis responded that everything he did was consensual.

“We ensure that each person has autonomous, enthusiastic and informed consent,” she replied.

Ms Price was shocked at the response.

“Absolutely there’s no way, no-one would consent to being smashed in the head that violently, to the point where your head is like jolted. I don’t even know if she was even completely responsive,” she said.

Four Corners can also reveal Davis had a group of like-minded men who he was training to subjugate women.

The group used social media to recruit more female followers.

Cult expert Mr Ross said Davis appeared to be trying to “franchise” his sex cult.

Davis’s closest confidant and right-hand man was Joshua Clinch. He posted on social media about Davis’s mentorship and boasted of his plans to set up his own slave house.

Four Corners spoke to one woman Clinch tried to recruit to join a “chateau of submissive women in western Sydney” in late 2019.

Source: Former ‘slave’ speaks out about abusive sex cult being run from a rural property – ABC News

A terrible toll – Violence against women is a scourge on poor countries | International | The Economist

One reason domestic violence is more
common in poor countries is that money
worries are stressful, and men are more
likely to lash out when stressed. But there
are more fundamental reasons. There is
seldom much of a welfare state to fall back
on if women leave their husbands and cannot
find work. Family and neighbours may
judge them. In Africa the difference between
the share of women who have been
attacked in their lifetime and those who
have been attacked in the past year is relatively
small, suggesting many are trapped.

Education seems a promising avenue.
In the long run, it empowers women and
makes them less vulnerable to abuse. But
in the short run, it does not always help.

In sub-Saharan Africa women who attended
primary or secondary school are more likely to be abused
by their partners than those with no schooling.
Only university-level education correlates with a lower
likelihood of abuse. It may be that in countries
where universal education is relatively
new, a little schooling emboldens wives to
challenge their husbands, without giving
them the means to walk away. Work follows
a similar pattern. Women in Africa
who work are more likely to be abused by
their partners than those who do not.
Again, this may be because as women gain
a little more independence, their husbands
try extra hard to keep them down.

Source: A terrible toll – Violence against women is a scourge on poor countries | International | The Economist

Defending women, legally – The Jerusalem Post

In Israel, religious law governs all family matters. There is no civil marriage or divorce, which (between Jews) are under the jurisdiction of government-sanctioned rabbinical courts. As specified in Jewish law, it is the husband who must grant a divorce Without a get, a woman cannot re-marry. She is considered an aguna, a so-called chained wife, and if she has children with another man they are regarded as mamzerim, children born of a forbidden sexual union, who will themselves be restricted from marrying any other Jew but a mamzer.

The Rackman Center annually assists some 500 women in receiving legal and psycho-social support and litigates 40 cases before the religious and civil courts in Israel, including the High Court of Justice (all pro bono). Trained volunteers run the center’s help line.

“What really distinguishes us from other centers is the unique combination and synergy between being a civil society organization of activists, together with the research, expertise and knowledge that we develop as an academic center,” explains Halperin-Kaddari, who served for 12 years as a member (and four years as vice president) of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Source: Defending women, legally – The Jerusalem Post

Scientists call for convicted baby killer Kathleen Folbigg to be pardoned, released

Ninety medical and scientific experts are pushing for convicted serial killer Kathleen Folbigg to receive a full pardon, arguing she is not responsible for the deaths of her four infant children.
Folbigg is currently behind bars after she was convicted of the murder of three of her children and the manslaughter of another.

Genomic sequencing has found that two of Folbigg’s daughters, Sarah and Laura, had a genetic mutation, said Australian National University’s Carola Vinuesa.
“The team found a novel variant never before reported in a gene known as CALM2, which encodes for calmodulin,” Professor Vinuesa said.
“Calmodulin mutations typically are associated with cardiac arrhythmia that can cause sudden unexpected death in children and adults both while awake and asleep.”

The scientists also found Folbigg’s two boys also had a genetic mutation which has been shown to cause epilepsy in mice.
There was no physical evidence indicating she murdered the babies, but prosecutors pointed to a series of ominous diary entries.

Source: Scientists call for convicted baby killer Kathleen Folbigg to be pardoned, released

The People Haven’t Risen Up For The Same Reason Abuse Victims Don’t Leave Their Abusers – Caitlin Johnstone

This is what so few people understand about abusive relationships. People see friends and family members stuck in relationships that are obviously horrible and say “She should leave him! Why doesn’t she just leave??” If the abuse happened in secret the first question your loved ones ask when you escape is “Why did you let it go on so long? Why didn’t you leave sooner?”

Abusive relationships aren’t just one partner doing cruel things to another. If they were, there would be no relationship: there’d just be a woman getting assaulted one time by her boyfriend and then immediately leaving. Abusive relationships necessarily include the construction of psychological barriers to leaving, or else they would not exist. Victims of abuse are kept constantly confused, off-balance, insecure and unsure of themselves, because their abuse always necessarily includes the element of psychological manipulation.

This is why people stay in abusive relationships, whether it’s abusive relationships with significant others or abusive relationships with empires.

Vast fortunes are poured into keeping us from realizing that we are being exploited by powerful wealth hoarders while our nation’s resources are sent to fight wars of planetary domination. That our ecosystem is being destroyed for profit with no real plan for what to do when it’s gone. That we are being increasingly oppressed and impoverished to keep us from having enough awareness and wealth to dethrone our rulers. And that it doesn’t have to be this way at all.

Source: The People Haven’t Risen Up For The Same Reason Abuse Victims Don’t Leave Their Abusers – Caitlin Johnstone

Parental alienation should have no place in our law or legal system

Parental alienation is already being misused in our family courts to the extent that victims of domestic abuse are afraid to disclose abuse for fear of being accused of alienation.

In America, more than fifty thousand children each year are forced by courts into unsupervised contact with an abusive parent. More than 70% of domestic abuse perpetrators gain custody of children. More than 770 children have been murdered by a divorcing or separating parent since 2008. For children in America, bravely speaking out about abuse is no guarantee of escaping it. The courts often overlook and dismiss allegations of domestic and sexual abuse. In many cases they do so because of the aggressive misuse of a concept called parental alienation (PA).

Despite there being no scientific evidence for it, parental alienation has become a dominant force in American courts as the standard defence against domestic abuse allegations.

If we take protecting children in the UK seriously, then we must look to the experience of the US with parental alienation. It shows us quite how dangerous this concept is, and why it has no place in UK law or our legal system.

Source: Parental alienation should have no place in our law or legal system

25th of February, 2021 – The War On Women

Just three days after we heard that RISE have lost their contract following an “equalities impact assessment” on its service provision, another women’s charity, Monklands Women’s Aid, has announced it, too, has been defunded.

The charity has been supporting women and children for 30 years, and its activities include providing refuge, housing support services, and crisis support, for those who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing, domestic abuse. Like RISE, Monklands has had its funding removed as part of a decision to make services more “inclusive”; specifically to provide services for men. And perpetrators.

The activists who want to convince everyone that biological sex has no impact on a person’s life, although a minority, are successfully infiltrating organisations and influencing decision-makers.

This is not a drill. This is a war on women. Let’s start fighting back.

Source: 25th of February, 2021 – The War On Women

Review ordered over Qld woman’s fire death | Port Macquarie News | Port Macquarie, NSW

Fearing for her safety, the 49-year-old grandmother had moved into a gated community at Logan, south of Brisbane. She made sure it had good security including 24-hour cameras.

On February 9, she took out a temporary protection order against ex-partner Gary Hely.

Neighbours have told The Courier-Mail that Ms Langham went to police “daily” with security footage and told them of four occasions when Mr Hely had breached that order in the space of a week.

About 9pm on Sunday, she made her final request for help – a triple-zero call to report a disturbance outside her townhouse.

Police did go to Ms Langham’s home, but not until after midnight. They could not determine if Ms Langham was there and left.

By 4am on Monday they were back, when the property was engulfed in flames in a fire police believe was deliberately lit.

“Despite what we’ve learned and seen in other instances such as Tara Brown and Hannah Clarke and her children, here we are again. A person who is a victim of violence has needed to be protected, and we have not been able to protect her.

“We are not satisfied with that, and we will be relentless in trying to find out what has happened.”

When asked what else Ms Langham might have done to protect herself, Mr Gollschewski said: “I don’t know what more Doreen could have done.”

Police are yet to formally identify the bodies found inside the blackened Browns Plains home. Autopsy results are still pending.

Source: Review ordered over Qld woman’s fire death | Port Macquarie News | Port Macquarie, NSW