Teach judges what domestic violence is, Congress urged"And my reply:WASHINGTON - Citing a New York case in which a woman was killed by her >> ex-boyfriend who was out on bail, the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson urged Congress on Wednesday to teach judges about domestic violence.
"The judges need to be educated on the complex dynamics involved in domestic violence," Denise Brown told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act, part of the 1994 crime law.
The Violence Against Women portion of the 1994 crime law included authorization for spending $1.6 billion over six years for shelters and numerous other services such as educating state and federal judges. The legislation anticipated spending $273 million this year overall. House appropriations bills initially fell about $100 million short of that until the Senate pushed for restoring the funds.
To The Editor: Denise Brown testified in front of Congress recently, asking them to teach Federal judges about domestic violence. I agree that judges, like the rest of us, need better education about domestic violence issues. I am all in favor of such a program. But let's make sure we start with the facts, and not just the common myths about domestic violence.For instance, according to the report Murder in Families from the Dept. of Justice (July 1994), 55.5% of all domestic murder victims are husbands. And yet, 16% of those women who murder their husbands are given probation, compared with 1.6% of the men who murder. On average, women who murder their husbands receive sentences less than half as severe as men who murder their wives. When children are murdered, 61% of the time it is by the mother. I have to wonder if Ms. Brown passed these facts on to Congress.
There is no way around it: domestic violence is a nasty problem, regardless of who is doing the abusing. And there is no denying that men are perpetrators of domestic violence. But if there is to be an educational program for judges , police or anyone, we need to educate them with the truth that domestic violence is not a gender issue. It is not just men beating up women and children. Women are just as often the perpetrators.
The Violence Against Women Act provides a lot of money for shelters and other services for women. When are we going to recognize the rest of the victims men and children and condemn the violence that they suffer through? How many brothers of men murdered by their spouses were invited to testify along with Ms. Brown?
All I ask is that anyone truly interested in the reality of domestic violence look beyond the headlines and the "information" so readily provided by media outlets. Don't be fooled by half-truths, myths and outright lies. The facts are not hard to find, and must be brought to light.