Friday, March 23, 2012

The "I Lied to Police and Got Him Thrown in Jail" Act (New York Post)

by Abby Schechter, The New York Post


What's in a name? You are probably for reauthorization of the "Violence Against Women Act." Whereas you may not be in favor of reauthorizing the 'I lied to the police and got him thrown in jail for 10 months' act. And yet the two are the very same piece of legislation.

As the Independent Institute's Mary Theroux points out , VAWA has changes in it that essentially violate the rule of law.

"This Act goes far beyond simple discrimination to actively circumvent law as we understand it: accusers need provide no proof and are not held accountable for lying. The accused can and are summarily jailed, denied access to their children, and put under restraining orders on nothing more than the say-so of a woman who may very well be acting out of anger, a desire to retain marital property or sole custody of their children, or just plain whimsy.

VAWA "has redefined “domestic violence” to include dirty looks, name calling, or simply the “intuition” (imagination) of a woman that the accused is thinking ill thoughts."

And as Theroux highlights from a "Dr. Phil" clip, if VAWA is reauthorized it will become the law of the land that a woman can get her husband thrown in jail for 10 months because "he disrespected" but did not hit or punch her.

Oh, and by the way, VAWA has been around since the Clinton years and has been totally ineffective . A family violence expert said, "There is no evidence that VAWA has led to a decrease in violence against women."

There is also an illegal immigration component that is a slap in the face of current law . "For Hispanic voters, [Sen. Patrick] Leahy added a provision to increase by 50 percent the number of visas given to immigrants who claim to need to stay in the country to help criminal investigations. Ranking committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, was outvoted when he tried to include reasonable limitations on granting these visas, such as requiring that the crime be under active investigation and not beyond the statute of limitations."

Oh, one more small item of note: VAWA was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

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