PRESS RELEASE

Judges Are Often Mislead about Partner Abuse, Report Concludes

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2007 – Despite 200 studies showing that men and women engage in partner aggression equally, domestic violence programs frequently mislead judges and others. “Education for Injustice” concludes that slanted information is widespread and may be contributing to judicial bias.

The report was released by RADAR – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – a group working to improve the effectiveness of domestic violence laws.

Citing the Yiddish proverb that “A half-truth is a whole lie,” the report documents repeated instances in which government-funded programs state that only women are victims of partner assault, making no mention of male victimization.

One Department of Justice website highlights dating violence against teenage girls, while ignoring a recent Centers for Disease Control survey that found boys and girls are equally likely to initiate domestic violence: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5519.pdf.

When judges come to believe faulty information, judicial impartiality may be compromised. At one New Jersey session, judges were told, “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. Throw him out on the street, give him the clothes on his back, and tell him, ‘See ya’ around.’”

“Americans are up in arms about judicial bias,” notes Michael Geanoulis, RADAR spokesperson. “But they don’t realize that much of this is the direct result of taxpayer-funded programs that are consistently dishonest in their depiction of partner abuse.”

In West Virginia, a discrimination lawsuit has been filed following a taxpayer-funded presentation in which information was seen as distorted and abusers were referred to with epithets.

The report is available at: http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/Education-For-Injustice.pdf

R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://www.mediaradar.org.