Essay 4

I Do Not Necessarily Agree With Everything I Have Found And Cited 

Guilty Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

 There has been an increase to one million Domestic violence cases were in which physical violence is not even alleged. False accusations of domestic violence have become so popular and widespread that lawyers from all around have a nick name for them “a legal slam dunk”. These cases are getting so popular especially for a woman to file one because of all the perks that come out of it. These cases are filed for many reasons some include to give leverage to one side in a child custody case, to get even with a partner, to sue for money, and to receive some of the benefits that belong to an actual female victim of domestic violence. Please don’t take me wrong I really believe domestic violence is completely wrong and uncalled for and the person that commits this crime should be punished accordingly, but it is also wrong when someone files false claims and sends a innocent person to jail, not only that but it will stay on the victims record for their life and he or she will even lose some of their constitutional rights, like the 2^nd amendment, the right to bear arms.  My point is people who file false accusations of domestic violence or any other crime similar should have equal or greater punishments to the crime that was falsely filed, also police should have some kind of physical evidence other than the police officers discretion to make an arrest and file charges for this crime, but to help those who are abused restraining orders and other protective services can be made or used without hard evidence so the real victims can still be protected, this is because of how these false accusations have become so popular and people are twisting and breaking the law to use this as leverage is custody cases and for other reasons, also males have be painted as the all time abuser and cops are trained to be sympathetic toward the women, in these cases leaving a easy way to manipulate the law and have innocent people (male or female) arrested for something they have not done. 

These false allegations of domestic violence have become so popular now day’s and something needs to be done to stop it. Over one million cases of domestic violence are filed each year were there wasn’t even any physical harm or evidence (Chase). These cases have become so popular that lawyers even have a nickname for them which is “a legal slam dunk” (Rosenthal).  Fathers' organizations now estimate that up to 80% of domestic violence allegations against men are false allegations. Since society offers women so many perks for claiming that they are victims of DV, false or staged DV allegations now appear to be even more frequent in family court cases than false sex abuse allegations and they are much easier to fabricate (Clark).  False accusations are claimed from a variety of people which includes all ages, all races and even both sexes, but females are more likely to because of how easy it is for them and because of some of the perks that come with it. I can even account for one of these because two years ago I broke up with my ex girl friend and she has threaten to accuse me before but I didn’t take her seriously. I took my apartment key I gave her back, but I didn’t know she had made a copy of it. I was sleeping because I had to work early that morning. Around 4 o’clock in the morning she comes is my apartment (which was trespassing in the first place) intoxicated and tried to lay down with me. I woke up and was shocked, I got up and got ready for work and tried to convince her to leave. She got mad because I was serious about breaking up with her, she hit me in the face, broke my radio, yelled and screamed pushed me, and threw my stuff around so I tried to get out of the door and she pushed me again but she was drunk so she feel and hit my dresser. I was frustrated and left. When I came back to check if she was still illegally in my apartment, the cops were there and arrested me. Even when I told them what happened I was still arrested, and even when she sobered up and tried to drop the whole thing because I didn’t do anything the court didn’t allow it and it is still on file today. This is completely wrong and I’m hoping I can have it expunged soon because it effects my ability to find work, plus I was the victim not her, this is why I believe that something needs to be done to investigate these cases more accurately.

There is such a broad term for domestic violence that it leaves an easy way to falsely accuse someone of it. Unfortunately, innocent men and women are wrongfully accused of domestic violence every day.  Often times, these allegations are simply designed to obtain an advantage in a divorce or child custody proceeding (Weinberger ). In addition, false charges of domestic violence can be filed out of jealousy, anger, or revenge, and can have both civil and criminal consequences (Corso). In order to make this law harder to manipulate their needs to be better investigations that follow a report of domestic violence. This law is twisted everyday to accuse and charge innocent people. Spouses have been known to file false reports leading up to custody battle’s and divorce’s (Discioarro). Another reason for these false accusations is a domestic violence "victim" receives special treatment for welfare, public housing, and other state and federal benefits. In New York City, a domestic violence victim is moved up on the list for public housing and can get cash from the state. This is done without the defendant having been convicted of anything; the public agencies take the accusers word for it (Discioarro). Since domestic violence most often takes place without the presence of witnesses, it is a charge that is easily abused. Once a false report is made, even if the complainant doesn't follow through, these cases are hard to stop and can have devastating personal and legal consequences (Joffe). In many cases allegations of abuse are used for a tactical advantage, and the government still spends 1 billion dollars a year on domestic violence programs ("mediaradar"). All that I am saying is something needs to be done to make sure this law isn’t abused anymore and we need to be sure we aren’t sending innocent people to jail because this can have a negative impact on the rest of the victims life.

The worst part about all the false reports as a male is; that males are already painted as the abuser in a way, and cops are even trained to be sympathetic toward the female in the case (Larson), So it is much easier to frame a male of domestic violence. In domestic violence cases, men have a disadvantage (Watson). A man could hit a woman who is trying to attack him with a bat and cops have often arrested the men for abuse and battery though he acted in self-defense. Sometimes innocent people are arrested and convicted of crimes they did not do. Domestic violence is a crime where many innocent men get arrested because cops reach the wrong conclusion by automatically believing the woman though it's the woman who committed the act (Winfrey). Something needs to be done so this law doesn’t hurt more people then it helps,

The opposing view of my argument is that men are the aggressors in most cases and that it is already hard enough for women to come forward a make a case when being a victim of domestic violence. This is not a good argument because in this generation statistics show that 50% or more of the time, women are the one’s who initiate the dispute (Clark). This is confirmed by hundreds of valid studies, the authors of which are sometimes threatened with discontinuation of funding for being “politically incorrect”. It is so easy to file a case of false domestic violence, let alone a real case. Those who daily deal with the issue of domestic violence are concerned over the growing issue of filing a false police report ("WowKtv"). There are a large number of these types of cases occurring all over the United States. Veteran officers say prosecuting someone for filing a false domestic violence report would have a long-lasting negative impact. It would deter anyone from ever reporting a domestic incident ("WowKtv"); because of this it makes it easy to file false claims and not even have to worry about getting caught or penalized. It is easy for women to file claims, and even if a man or woman didn’t want to do that, He or She could just get a restraining order because those are virtually given to every one that applies.

I honestly know domestic violence is completely wrong and I agree that people found guilty should be punished. I don’t want any girl “or man” to be abused in a relationship. I do not agree with physical violence, but something needs to be done to help all the innocent people that are sent to jail for no reason. Domestic violence cases should be handled more appropriately and people who file false claims should have equal or greater charges, and police officers should have hard or physical evidence in order to make an arrest and charge someone because, false accusations have become so widespread, and the law has been twisted to penalize innocent people and give the opposing person a tactical advantage in court, especially when dealing with custody battles, and males are so much more likely to be the victim of false accusations because cops are trained to be more sympathetic and believing of the female.