Month: May 2012

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Media

SAVE Announces Resignation

WASHINGTON — SAVE announces that Natasha Spivack, member of the SAVE Board of Directors, will be resigning her position due to other professional responsibilities. Her resignation will be effective June 1, 2012. Ms. Spivack has served as a member of the SAVE Board of Directors since the organization’s founding in 2009.

Ms. Spivack is known as a powerful advocate for due process and fairness in the American legal system.

“Born in the former Soviet Union, Natasha saw first-hand how a society can abandon civil rights in the name of accommodating an ideological cause. Her warmth, humor, and many contributions as a SAVE board member will be greatly missed,” notes SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook.

Categories
Domestic Violence Press Release Violence Violence Against Women Act

PR: House Approves Violence Against Women Act: SAVE Applauds Long-Overdue Reform Measures

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

House Approves Violence Against Women Act:

SAVE Applauds Long-Overdue Reform Measures

WASHINGTON / May 17, 2012 – The House of Representatives has passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act by a 222-205 margin. Responding to public discontent, H.R. 4970 contains a number of measures designed to curb widespread waste and fraud in the domestic violence field.

A recent U.S. News poll found a strong majority of persons are opposed to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in its current form: http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-violence-against-women-act-be-reauthorized. Many women have questioned the effectiveness and fairness of the existing VAWA law: http://womenagainstvawa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Flyer-VAWA-Pro-Woman.pdf

Reforms contained H.R. 4970 include strong accountability measures, gender-inclusive language, and provisions to stem fraudulent claims of abuse by immigrants. The current VAWA law has invited immigration fraud by not allowing the US citizen accused of abuse to submit evidence that could refute the accusation.

The White House played an active role in opposing the bill. The Obama Administration issued a Statement of Administration Policy on Tuesday stating it would veto any bill that was modeled on H.R. 4970.

During Wednesday’s floor debate, sponsor Sandy Adams (R-FL) withstood numerous challenges. When informed by John Conyers (D-MI) that numerous organizations opposed her bill, she retorted, “Shame on them!”

Following passage of the bill, a number of established domestic violence organizations have reacted with anger and implied threats. The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women called the bill “dangerous.” The National Organization for Women charged that Representatives who voted for the bill “will be judged in the public arena and at the polls in November.”

According to SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook, “H.R. 4970 certainly is not a perfect bill. Still, passage of the House measure is a victory for victims who have been refused service in the past. It removes most sex discriminatory language. It is also a victory for taxpayers who are tired of the ongoing reports of waste and fraud.”

SAVE thanks the many organizations and individuals who have supported VAWA reform efforts. SAVE will continue to work for ways to reform and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act: www.saveservices.org/pvra.

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner abuse: www.saveservices.org

Categories
Bills Civil Rights Domestic Violence False Allegations Immigration Press Release Sexual Assault Violence Violence Against Women Act

PR: SAVE Calls on Lawmakers to Stand Tall for Victims and the Constitution during Upcoming VAWA Vote

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

SAVE Calls on Lawmakers to Stand Tall for Victims and the Constitution during Upcoming VAWA Vote

Washington, DC/May 15, 2012 – A leading victim-advocacy organization is calling on Representatives to support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, H.R. 4970. Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) says H.R. 4970 will best help victims of partner abuse and safeguard Constitutional protections.

SAVE urges lawmakers to resist attempts to expand definitions of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. Overly-broad definitions encourage false allegations of abuse and make it harder for true victims to be heard.

Since its passage in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has sparked controversy. The ACLU once termed VAWA’s mandatory arrest provisions “repugnant” to the Constitution, and in 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a VAWA provision designed to provide a federal civil remedy for sex assault cases.

One area of particular controversy centers on VAWA’s immigration provisions, which allow a foreign national to claim to be a domestic violence victim without provision of evidence. Under current law, the accused person is deprived of key due process protections and is barred from submitting evidence of immigration fraud. One civil rights expert termed such provisions “Kafka-esque.” (http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2012/03/the_new_vawaa_threat_to_college_students.html)

Last year the Senate Judiciary Committee invited testimony from Julie Poner, who was a victim of false allegations made by her former husband from the Czech Republic. Saying she had “suffered unimaginable consequences,” Poner lamented the countless men and women “who have lost access to their children, their homes, their jobs, and in some cases their freedom because of false allegations of abuse.” (http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/11-07-13%20Poner%20Testimony.pdf)

“Our nation was founded on due process protections such as the right of the accused to be advised of the charges, to confront his accuser, and to be afforded the opportunity to refute the accusations,” notes SAVE spokesman Philip Cook. “But under the existing VAWA, the accused is stripped of these Constitutional protections, affording more rights to the accuser than to the American citizen. This is a slap in the face to notions of justice and fairness.”

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner violence: www.saveservices.org

Categories
False Allegations Law Enforcement Press Release Violence Violence Against Women Act

PR: VAWA Must Stop Funding Lethal Mandatory Arrest Policies

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

VAWA Must Stop Funding Lethal Mandatory Arrest Policies

Washington, DC/May 8, 2012 — States that enacted mandatory arrest policies saw a 60 percent increase in intimate partner homicides, according to a Harvard U. study. Now, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is calling on lawmakers involved in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to halt funding for such lethal policies.

Beginning in 1994, VAWA pushed states to change their domestic violence arrest standards from probable cause to the more aggressive mandatory arrest policy. Under mandatory arrest, the accused person is taken away in handcuffs if the police are called, even in the absence of evidence of physical violence.

VAWA’s 2005 reauthorization did away with the mandatory arrest language, but states continued to enforce these harmful policies. SAVE insists that the House of Representatives insert language in its version of VAWA that would stop taxpayer funding of arrest without probable cause.

Victims usually just want an officer’s help to defuse the situation, and are less likely to call for help if it will mean an arrest. So police aren’t there when they are needed most. Harvard researcher Dr. Radha Iyengar explains, “victims don’t want to call the police after the laws are implemented.”

SAVE’s report further details how the spike in homicides—more than 600 intimate partner murders a year—can be attributed to the mandatory arrest policies. http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/Justice-Denied-DV-Arrest-Policies

Besides loss of life, VAWA’s mandatory arrest policies have resulted in a civil rights fiasco by compromising the due process rights of the accused. Nearly 70 percent of those arrested are never convicted of the alleged offense—a sign that Fourth Amendment probable cause protections often are not met.

Said SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook: “The needless loss of 600 lives each year is a stinging indictment of mandatory arrest. Amazingly, Congress continues to dole out $30 million in taxpayer money each year to support this blinkered policy.”

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner violence: www.saveservices.org