Crowbar to Tend a Flower Garden

In our desperate attempt to quell the rising tide of Domestic Violence incidents, have we tossed the baby out with the bathwater? Do our well intentioned but misguided Domestic Violence laws save families or inadvertently destroy them? If you have a loud argument with your wife--and maybe it does get physical, a shove, a slap, a thrown lamp-- and the neighbors call the police and you end up being arrested, jailed, and charged with a crime, is there much chance that you and your wife will ever be able to save your marriage or your family? What about the effects on an impressionable child who sees daddy--or mommy--being placed into a patrol car in handcuffs? After a Domestic Violence case is settled, will the Criminal Justice System be there to help you put your shattered family back together?

By and large, the answer is a resounding "NO!"

The truth is that harsh and expansive Domestic Violence laws and penalties have done little to prevent or contain violence in the home. What these laws have inadvertently done is create a huge bureaucracy of "advocates", counselors, and treatment providers within law enforcement and social service organizations as well as in the private sector. It's the same response we used in creating the "War on Drugs" and it is failing miserably. All we have are more police, more prosecutors, more people in jail, and more families and lives ruined. For every case where the legal system helps a dysfunctional family with an ongoing Domestic Violence history, several other families are forever split apart needlessly because our laws pit one family member against another, often against the will of everyone involved except the Courts and Prosecutors.

Trying to prevent escalating cycles of violence in the home by creating dozens of Domestic Violence crimes and increasing penalties is like using a crowbar to tend a flower garden!! Charging family members with crimes in order to preserve family safety often destroys the very family these laws are intended to protect!! These laws can:

1. Separate parents from their children indefinitely
2. Cause family members to lose their jobs
3. Force juveniles or dating adults to change schools or classes
4. Force family members to move out of their homes
5. Be used by unscrupulous family law attorneys as leverage in divorce proceedings
6. Deprive you or your right to possess a firearm
7. Require you to undergo needless and often ineffective "Anger Management" or "Batterer's" courses.
8. Make it more difficult to clear your record of past convictions for DV offenses.

Keep the Criminal Justice System from ruining YOUR family and your life in the name of "Domestic Tranquility"!! Being charged with ANY Domestic Violence offense is serious business. A conviction could destroy your family , your job, and your happiness.

Call (877) 242-4808 today, before it's too late!