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Press Release Violence Against Women Act

PRESS RELEASE: Dr. Phil’s Testimony was ‘Reckless and False,’ Group Charges

PRESS RELEASE

Dr. Phil’s Testimony was ‘Reckless and False,’ Group Charges

WASHINGTON / July 25, 2011 – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments, a national victim-advocacy organization, is charging that Dr. Phillip McGraw, a TV personality known to many as Dr. Phil, made claims at a recent Senate committee hearing that were “reckless and false.”

Dr. McGraw’s testimony was given during a July 13 hearing on the Violence Against Women Act held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. McGraw, a psychologist, often appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

During his testimony, Dr. McGraw made repeated statements about violence against women, but glossed over the widespread problem of abuse against men. McGraw made a number of claims that were flatly wrong, SAVE alleges.

Dr. McGraw asserted that “Domestic violence is now the most common cause of injury to women ages 15 to 44.” But the actual leading causes of injury to women are falls, overexertion, and car accidents. McGraw told the senators that “In too many situations violence against women, young and old, is almost treated as an ‘acceptable crime.’” But that statement ignores research showing over 90% of Americans abhor domestic violence.

Dr. McGraw’s testimony “is reminiscent of the Jim Crow rape scares that focused on black-on-white rape, while studiously ignoring the problem of white-on-white sexual assault,” the SAVE letter explains.

“Two weeks ago Catherine Becker allegedly sliced off her husband’s penis and tossed it in the garbage disposal,” notes SAVE spokesman Philip Cook. “The gruesome incident took place just miles from Dr. Phil’s southern California home. But by the time Dr. McGraw arrived in Washington for the hearing, all awareness of male victimization seemingly had vanished from his mind.”

Women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners, according to a research summary compiled by Dr. Martin Fiebert of California State University.

A copy of the SAVE letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee can be seen here: http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/Reckless-False-Statements-Made-to-Senate-Judiciary-Committee

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

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Dating Violence Press Release Sexual Assault Victims Violence

Partner Violence Reduction Act Brings Hope to Victims

Partner Violence Reduction Act Brings Hope to Victims

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Aiming to strengthen the federal Violence Against Women Act, today the Partner Violence Reduction Act was released for consideration and future enactment by the United State Congress. The proposed law was developed by Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – SAVE – a national victim-advocacy organization.

The Partner Violence Reduction Act will bring hope to abuse victims such as Ebonee Barnes, mother of three. Writing in a Philadelphia-area newspaper, Barnes recently revealed that the “shelters they place us in are beyond unlivable.”

The Partner Violence Reduction Act will also offer hope to persons like Sean Lanigan, a northern Virginia teacher who was falsely accused by a student of sexual assault. As featured in a recent Washington Post expose, the school district refused to restore Lanigan’s full teaching privileges even after a jury found him innocent of all charges.

And the Partner Violence Reduction Act will kindle hope among victims of domestic violence who have been refused help on account of their sex or gender identity. The PVRA will ban discriminatory practices by abuse shelters and other domestic violence services.

Part of the problem stems from overly-broad definitions of abuse. “Right now, just raising your voice counts as ‘domestic violence,’ which clogs the system with trivial and even false complaints,” explains SAVE spokesman Philip Cook. “That forces persons in life-threatening situations to wait their turn and hope for the best.”

The Partner Violence Reduction Act:

  1. Gives first priority to real victims and reduces false allegations by constraining definitions and distinguishing between an allegation and a judicial finding of domestic violence.
  2. Makes the law gender-inclusive and removes discriminatory policies.
  3. Seeks to protect and restore families when the abuse is minor.
  4. Removes harmful mandatory arrest, predominant aggressor, and no-drop prosecution policies, thus helping to restore due process.
  5. Allows legal assistance to be provided both to the alleged victim and alleged offender.
  6. Improves the accountability of domestic violence organizations.
  7. Curbs immigration fraud.
  8. Removes provisions that violate the Constitution and restores civil rights to the accused.
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Dating Violence Domestic Violence False Allegations Press Release

11% Falsely Accused of Abuse, Survey Shows

11% Falsely Accused of Abuse, Survey Shows

WASHINGTON / June 2, 2011 – A national survey of 10,000 Americans reveals 11% report they have been falsely accused of abuse. The first-ever survey of its type probed persons’ first-hand experiences with false allegations of child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. The study was commissioned by Stop Abusive and Violent Environments.

The survey results headlined a False Allegations Summit, which was held today at the Fairfax Hotel in Washington, DC.

Conducted May 2-4, 2011, the survey also found 15% of respondents personally knew someone who has been falsely accused of abuse. In 81% of the cases the falsely accused person was a male, and in 70% of cases the false alleger was a female. Twenty-six percent of the wrongful accusations were made in the context of a child custody dispute.

“This survey shows tens of millions of Americans have been falsely accused of abuse,” explains SAVE spokesperson Natasha Spivack, “These persons were stamped with the scarlet Abuser label, leaving them to wonder whatever happened to the notion of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.”

The Summit featured statements by leading stakeholder organizations, including the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Home School Legal Defense Association, American Coalition for Fathers and Children, National Coalition for Men, and Encounters International.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers statement spotlighted the “immense, often irreparable harm caused to our clients by false allegations, not only to reputation and personal relationships, but often to the accused individual’s livelihood and even heath.”

The Summit also included the emotion-wrought testimonies by four victims of false allegations of abuse.

The False Allegations Summit is being held in the wake of a recent Washington Post front-page article about Sean Lanigan, a local school teacher who was falsely accused of sexual molestation by a 12-year-old student. The article triggered editorial commentaries and citizens’ expressions of disbelief and outrage.

The full survey results can be viewed here: http://www.saveservices.org/false-allegations-awareness-month/survey-results/. The False Allegations Summit is the kick-off to False Allegations Awareness Month in June. More information on the observance can be found here: http://www.saveservices.org/false-allegations-awareness-month/.

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

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Domestic Violence Press Release Sexual Assault Victims Violence

NFL Must Tackle Super Bowl Abuse Myth

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

WASHINGTON / February 4, 2011 – A victim rights group is calling on the National Football League to denounce the myth that Super Bowl Sunday is a “day of dread” for victims of abuse. Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – SAVE – believes such claims foster hysteria and trivialize the problem of domestic violence.

The myth dates back to 1993 when a group of activists charged Super Bowl Sunday was “biggest day of the year for violence against women.” The myth was later refuted by the Washington Post: http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/superbowl.asp

Still, groups like the Crisis Control Center in Texas are using the falsehood to promote its fund-raising efforts. According to a recent Crisis Control Center statement, Super Bowl weekend has “one of the highest incidences of domestic violence and sexual assault than any other weekend during the year.”

But Christina Hoff Sommers of the American Enterprise Institute doubts that view. “Women who are at risk for domestic violence are going to be helped by state of the art research and good information. They are not going to be helped by hyperbole and manufactured data,” she explained in a recent interview with The Daily Caller.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has recently joined the 15th anniversary team of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, along with other sports figures.

“While we appreciate Commissioner Goodell’s efforts to bring attention to the issue of domestic violence, he should also refuse to allow this persistent lie to stereotype NFL players as abusers or to tarnish the family appeal of the annual Super Bowl event,” according to SAVE spokesman Philip Cook. “We call on Mr. Goodell to repudiate the Super Bowl Myth as a spurious and blatant distortion of the truth.”

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments has recently released a video, “Seven Key Facts about Domestic Violence,” that documents how partner abuse is an equal opportunity problem of men and women: http://www.saveservices.org/key-facts/ . SAVE sponsors the TEPA (Training, Education, and Public Awareness) Accreditation program, a quality-assurance initiative: http://www.saveservices.org/service-providers/ .

And SAVE will be holding a conference February 24 in Washington DC. Persons who wish to attend “Hoax: The Continuing Distortions of Domestic Abuse” should pre-register here: tstoddard@saveservices.org .

SAVE is a 501(c)3 victim advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence: www.saveservices.org .

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Domestic Violence Press Release

Mandatory Arrest Must be Handcuffed, Group Says

PRESS RELEASE

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

WASHINGTON / January 31, 2011 –  Calling mandatory arrest “injurious” and “lethal,” Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is today calling on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to institute a Defective Policy Recall to remove the practice of arresting persons accused of domestic violence without solid evidence or probable cause.

The SAVE letter to the Judiciary Committees cites a 2007 Harvard University study that found mandatory arrest increases partner homicides by nearly 60%. This translates into about 600 persons killed each year. According to Radha Iyengar, author of the Harvard study, the reason mandatory arrest backfires is that such policies “discourage victims from calling for help.”

An earlier study of mandatory arrest in Milwaukee concluded, “mandatory arrest prevents 2,504 acts of violence against primarily white women at the price of 5,409 acts of violence against primarily black women.”

“Although mandatory arrest makes for a good ‘get-tough-on-crime’ sound-bite, the bitter reality for victims is that it places their lives at risk,” explains Claudia Cornell, Psy.D., SAVE spokesperson. “Considering the heavy-handed practice is costing us two deaths a day, there’s no excuse to delay implementing alternatives to arrest for lower level aggression.”

Mandatory prosecution policies are also found to be harmful. According to research by Laura Dugan of the University of Maryland, such “no-drop” policies double white women’s risk of homicide. About two-thirds of prosecutors adhere to mandatory policies for allegations of domestic violence.

Each year the federal government spends $56 million under the Violence Against Women Act to promote mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution. Even though the federal law removed its endorsement of mandatory arrest in 2005, none of the states with such laws have repealed these policies.

The over-criminalization of partner conflicts detracts from law enforcement efforts. Last November Adyan Sanchez of Bradenton, Fla. was arrested for tossing tamales at her boyfriend. In May, 73-year-old Theresa Collier of Largo, Fla. spent 24 hours in jail for slapping her foul-mouthed granddaughter on the face.

SAVE is a victim advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence: www.saveservices.org .

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Press Release Special Report

Most Abuse Programs Slice and Dice the Truth

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

WASHINGTON / January 18, 2011 – The majority of domestic violence education programs supported by the federal government do not provide a truthful depiction of the problem of partner abuse, according to a report released today. The document, “Most DV Educational Programs Lack Accuracy, Balance, and Truthfulness” concludes that nine out of 10 training, education, and public awareness programs fail to meet minimum standards of objectivity.

The report is issued by Stop Abusive and Environments (SAVE), a victim advocacy group working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence. The full report can viewed here: http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/SAVE-DV-Educational-Programs

The SAVE report highlights a Centers for Disease Control survey that shows teenage girls are more likely than boys to be perpetrators of dating violence. But the Department of Justice inexplicably uses the CDC survey to justify the need to “engage men and youth in preventing crimes of violence against women,” according to the DoJ website.

More worrisome are training programs for judges that downplay the existence of female aggression and short-circuit legal protections. At one New Jersey seminar, judges were instructed, “Your job is not to become concerned about all the constitutional rights of the man that you’re violating as you grant a restraining order.”

“The report documents a long-standing and deeply-entrenched distortion of the truth,” explains Claudia Cornell, Psy.D. SAVE director. “How can we hope to bring an end to partner abuse when most agencies are educating the public with biased and inaccurate information?”

SAVE has established an accreditation program to assure the accuracy of domestic violence training, education, and public awareness (TEPA) activities. More information about the TEPA Accreditation Program can be seen here: http://www.saveservices.org/policymakers/

Christina Hoff-Somers, author of Who Stole Feminism? will be the keynote presenter at a January 27 press conference to explore the documented distortions of abuse education programs. Designed to commemorate the Super Bowl Hoax, the event will take place 12:00 – 1:30pm at the Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20002. Media representatives can register here: tstoddard@saveservices.org .

Each year the federal government spends $76 million for domestic violence training, education, and public awareness programs. Few of these programs adhere to standards to ensure their information is accurate and valid.

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Domestic Violence Press Release

TEPA Accreditation Program Promotes Evidence-Based Policy and Practice

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Teri Stoddard, 301-801-0608, tstoddard@saveservices.org

WASHINGTON / December 28, 2010 — Our nation’s decades-long effort to curb domestic violence rests on the three-legged stool of criminal justice programs, shelter services, and training, education, and public awareness. Criminal justice programs and shelters are already monitored by a variety of regulatory and professional oversight bodies.

But how do we know that abuse information that is disseminated to police officers, judges, and the general public is accurate, unbiased, and up-to-date? Philip Cook, author of Abused Men, believes “there is more false, falsely framed, or disingenuously deceptive information about domestic violence than any other significant public and social issue.”

To address this need, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – SAVE – has established the TEPA (Training, Education, and Public Awareness) Accreditation Program. The program provides a Good Housekeeping-type “Seal of Approval” to educational programs offered by professional and trade organizations, state domestic violence coalitions, abuse shelters, and governmental entities. SAVE expects the accreditation program will promote evidence-based policies and more effective abuse-reduction programs.

For more information about the TEPA Accreditation Program, see: http://www.saveservices.org/policymakers/

SAVE is a 501c3 organization devoted to ending domestic violence.