My father wrote this paper in regards to domestic violence within the United States and fair enactments and relations. Would appreciate any feedback positive or negative and defensive or offensive statements in regards to this. All feedback welcome. Thank you all. Also, please tell me if this is the wrong subreddit or any others that should be approached. Domestic Violence is a big problem, but should not be approached as a cash cow for the judicial system. Problems should be attempted to be resolved in a calm manner (ie. counseling) that does not involve instant arrest and restraining orders that ultimately lead to family destruction even in "minor" FMV cases. Again, any feedback appreciated. Thank you.

Family Violence

There exists a class of problems in society which do not have a social solution. A social solution is defined as one where a change in social rules and enforcement alone will bring about a change in human behavior without a change in morality. Morality is founded in a natural law structure of beliefs concerning right and wrong behavior reinforced by social experience which cannot be imposed or enforced. Attempts by government to legislate and enforce morality only add to and reinforce social problems while entrenching discord in society. The problem of family violence belongs to this class. Humans believe it is morally wrong to take the life of another person (although this is qualified by capital punishment and warfare) but the application of physical, emotional and psychological force against another person is considered morally problematic.

Family violence is rooted in the different roles played by males and females in a traditional family unit. There is a biological component, males have evolved with a physical and hormone structure that generally makes men aggressive toward their environment, the female hormone structure generally makes women more docile and submissive, education and experience can moderate but not overcome hormonal driven behavior. Males have traditionally provided for the physical and economic welfare of the family establishing and enforcing the rules by which it functions, each man a king in his castle. Females have traditionally provided for the emotional and functional well-being of the family, each woman a queen in her domain. Therein lies the conflict and tragedy, where tragedy is used in the philosophic sense as the remorseless working of nature resulting in the inevitability of unhappiness where the futility of escape is made evident in the drama. In families two powerful members of a mutually dependent contractual social unit with different biological characteristics, agendas, skills, talents and strengths attempt to achieve and maintain family health, welfare and tranquility while functioning under an overly simplistic, poorly defined and unwritten contract to "love. honor and obey" within male dominant social and religious structures.

The traditional male and female roles in family life have undergone considerable change in the latter half of the last century, unaccompanied by change in the underlying system of beliefs that makes up morality. The industrial revolution and mechanization of production accompanied by a decreased requirement for and valuation of human labor has devastated the traditional male role in families. Males are decreasingly able to provide for the physical and economic welfare of the family and suffer both physically and mentally from their failure. Economic necessity has forced women out of their household domain into often low paid employment in the service industry to supplement family income and they suffer equally from their inability to perform their traditional family role. Both male and female roles in the family have become ambiguous while the economic welfare of families has greatly declined creating a fertile ground for domestic conflict, family dissolution and social collapse.

Widespread concern about the increase in domestic violence in the mid-1980s led to a domestic violence experiment in an impoverished Minneapolis suburb with a majority black population characterized by a high rate of male unemployment. Various police and court combined approaches to intervention were tested that included arrest, mandated separation and mediation. Publication of the study in 1984 indicated that arrest was the most effective deterrent to family violence and recommended that states change laws prohibiting police from making arrests without warrants in misdemeanor domestic violence cases. This recommendation, encouraged and funded by federal grants, led 15 states to enact legislation mandating "Zero Tolerance" arrest policies.

The Minneapolis study was not representative of the population as a whole and follow-up studies were recommended. Six such additional studies were initiated with Atlanta (presumably the core inner city) being one of the sites chosen. Results from the follow-up studies were ambiguous and did not validate the results of the earlier Minneapolis study. Atlanta either failed to conduct the study or failed to report the results but the State of Georgia nevertheless implemented the "Zero Tolerance" arrest program coupled with a voluminous Family Violence Act.

This shift from an "arrest as a last resort" tradition on the part of law enforcement was based on good intentions (the path to hell is paved with good intentions) and quickly led to a 70% increase in arrests for minor assaults but immediately degenerated into:

  • mandatory arrests based on hearsay and mere allegations that encourage violence in family disputes;
  • undermining the investigative integrity of police departments;
  • flooding the court system with misdemeanor cases that defy resolution;
  • denial of the right to confront an accuser in self-defense;
  • denial of the right to have the assistance of counsel;
  • searches and arrests without warrants;
  • assumption of guilt until proven innocent;
  • denial of due process as misdemeanor cases drag interminably through overloaded courts;
  • enforced Protective Orders that prevent reconciliation;
  • forceful ejection from homes without due process;
  • seizure of property without redress;
  • lengthy court enforced separations that break up families and marriages;
  • family economic devastation;
  • punishment and imprisonment without trial;
  • public censure for unproven crimes;
  • life long criminal arrest records in the national arrest database;
  • indentured servitude and often outright slavery meted as punishment;
  • loss of present employment and future employability;
  • misdemeanor court cases becoming a major source of court and attorney revenue rendering systematic change difficult or nearly impossible.

Common law courts establish law through precedent that violates civil law (constitutional) guaranteed rights. Zero Tolerance policies seem to have originated in campaigns against drunk drivers but once introduced into statuary law and enforced by the courts Zero Tolerance arrest policies quickly came to permeate nearly all aspects of common law as advocacy groups claim precedent established by prior rulings. Current laws to control domestic violence deny the accused defendant of virtually every liberty spelled out by the Bill of Rights while doing nothing to define or solve family violence problems.

Number of Domestic Violence Fatalities in Georgia +====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+ |2006|2007|2008|2009|2010|2011|2012|2013| +====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+ | 106| 118| 111| 123| 132| 111| 131| 118| +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ Data from Georgia Commission on Family Violence website.

The Family Violence Act coupled with a Zero Tolerance arrest policy has had no recognizable effect in reducing the number of fatalities resulting from family violence incidents and is contributing to an increase. This data compiled by female advocacy groups is highly suspect. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) 2012 Summary Report-Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Georgia Crime Information Center, reported a total of 65 fatalities resulting from family violence in 2012 to the FBI national database, or 50% of that claimed by female advocacy groups. Of the 65 reported deaths 45 were attributed to males and 20 were attributed to females. Criminal injury resulted in 1467 incidents (961 male and 505 female), with superficial wounds, property damage, threats, and abusive language reported in 53,198 incidents. Total violent crimes reported by the GBI in 2012 were 37,012. If the 1467 incidents of family violence that resulted in death or serious injury were included in that total then 4.1% of total violent crimes in Georgia resulted from family violence. Trolling through female advocacy group data proved to be a waste of time and effort yet it is this misleading data that is forcefully thrust before legislatures, courts and police.

Family Violence Incidents +=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+ | 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| +=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+ |58420|62156|65485|71475|72870| +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ Family violence incidents have shown a dramatic increase, hardly indicative of a deterrent effect.

Police Action Taken 2012

Arrested 23988 33% Citation 408 1% Separation 11438 16% Mediation 7187 10% Other 19949 27% None 9925 14% The preponderance of arrests and enforced separations verses citation and mediation is a particular concern. No statistics have been published indicating whether reported incidents are first time or repeat occurrences and the Family Violence Act makes no provision for differential handling, stating:
"Because assault of any kind is a serious crime and needs to be treated as such by the courts, mediation of family violence is simply not an appropriate response. Mediation is a process by which the parties voluntarily reach consensual agreement about the issue at hand. Violence, however, is not a subject for compromise. Thus, when the issue before the court is a request for an order of protection or a criminal family violence charge, mediation should not be mandated." Georgia Commission On Family Violence, A Model Judicial Protocol For Family Violence Incidents.