African American children make up 15% of the U.S. population, but represent 34% of the children in foster care. A Criminal Defense Attorney's View
of the Domestic Violence Industry - Page 3
by: Paul G. Stuckle, Esq.
Updated: March 12, 2006
III. Who is the Real Victim Anyway?
Table of Contents
In Texas, the legal definition of a crime "victim" is not what one might
think. The word "victim" seems to mean the person who was assaulted, stabbed,
murdered, or had their property stolen. Under the law, the "victim" of a crime
is the "State." All criminal cases are therefore styled: "The State of
Texas vs. The Defendant."
Once the authorities become involved in a domestic disturbance, they will forever be
intertwined with the eventual outcome of the incident. The State, meaning the government,
police, and prosecutors, solely decide if a case will be prosecuted or dismissed. Even
if the "real victim," i.e. the person, who supposedly was assaulted, informs
the authorities of their desire to have the case dismissed, the charging decision is still
left up to the government.
The allegedly assaulted person can provide the government with an "affidavit of
non-prosecution," a document stating prosecution is not desired and requesting
the case to be dropped. Until recently, such affidavits were given substantial consideration
from the government. After all, why would the authorities want to prosecute when the
actual victim did not desire it? The answer is simple:
A case of alleged domestic violence now belongs to "The Family Violence Industry."
A constant complaint from those at the center of a family violence investigation is how
irrelevant the family is to the investigative team. The team wants to win the case. It
wants a criminal conviction. And will do anything to get it. The team, despite its public
overtures, does not care about the individual family it is making life-altering decisions
for. The family, alleged victim, defendant, and children alike are all mere pawns, literally
at the mercy of this governmental machine.
The machine knows very well how to destroy families, yet it knows nothing of healing them.
'The woman sitting across the table often breaks into tears and fits of trembling. She
lives in fear. She says she has been threatened and emotionally battered by those who call
themselves "front-line workers" in the war against violence against women."
Since the violence against women specialists invaded their lives a year ago, husband and
wife have developed ulcers, been financially battered and say they survived many attempts
to break up their marriage.
Now they're angry... From the start the advice from support workers connected to the
Domestic Violence Court was that she should break up her marriage. She should not risk
living with a violent man. Her attempts to defend her husband were met with
we-understand-and-we-know-better attitudes; she was afraid of him and was trying to protect
him so he wouldn't be angry. When it became clear she had no intention of separating from
her husband, the threats from domestic violence specialists connected to the court moved to
a new level that still terrifies her.
"They seemed to be threatening to take my child. They said if I wasn't
going to protect my child from his father, then the system would have to."
"I learned it's a system that doesn't listen."
Dave Brown, The Ottawa Citizen, 2001
"Cult of The Domestic Violence Industry"
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