Lary Holland: Official Blog, Links, and Resources

RADAR: Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting. Despite the best of intentions, our nation's effort to curb domestic violence is not working. Current solutions not only fail to reduce domestic violence, but also create other severe problems. Families are being undermined and children harmed. Innocent Americans are penalized based on false accusations. And victims of violence are re-victimized by a rigid system that ignores their wishes, or excludes them altogether.

Alan Karmin joined host Lary Holland on Get Off The Bench on October 1, 2008 to discuss Domestic Violence Awareness Month, RADAR, raising the evidentiary standards on Personal Protection Orders, and many other necessary changes to the Domestic Violence Programs in the United States.

To listen or download this Episode of Get Off The Bench.

Information about Alan Karmin:

Alan Karmin is an award-winning writer and published author. In his latest work, The Measure of a Man. The Measure of a Man, Alan documents his odyssey going up against an unfriendly family court system after being falsely accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife.

Honored by the New Jersey State Legislature for “Praiseworthy Determination and Spirit,” he has been an active board member of the Family Support Organization of Union County, New Jersey Council for Children’s Rights, Safe Harbor Child Access Centers and RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting).

An expert in management and building of non-profit organizations, Alan is the Executive Director of Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County, as well as Director of the New Jersey Alliance for Family Support Organizations. He has also held titles as Executive Director of Development of Easter Seals New Jersey, the Tri-County Chapter of the American Red Cross and Bloomfield College .

Alan graduated from the University of Miami , Coral Gables , Florida with a degree in Communications. A resident of Westfield , New Jersey , he is a single father with sole custody of his two children.

About the Episode. Discussions ranging from the Violence Against Women Act, the Landmark New Jersey Case Crespo v. Crespo, Fix Vawa Now, and False Allegations of Domestic Violence hurting real victims.

You can vote on the article at current.com.

http://current.com/items/89364441_false_domestic_violence_allegations_hurt_real_victimes_alan_karmin_on_get_off_the_bench

The Harvard Law Record, Harvard Law School's Independent Newspaper Since 1946, published an article on their website today titled "Alec Baldwin Takes on Family Law."

There were some talking points in the article that I definitely had to agree with. In fact, Alec Baldwin proposed a new default rule for custody procedings. It makes perfect sense to raise the evidentiary standard and add the presumption listed below to keep petty arguments from ever reaching and congesting our courts.

"He called for a presumption of innocence, and a standard of shared, 50-50 custody - unless a party could prove something fundamentally wrong with the parenting skills of the other."

Can't say I could disagree with that Baldwin's comments there. I would take it as far as they do in other forms of proceedings involving the protection of children which would provide "best efforts for reunification" in the event that a flaw was identified. This would protect the rights of parents to be the caretakers of their own children. Government oversight should be a limited oversight when it comes to our families. If there is a problem, help a family get through the problem. Don't pit parent against parent in an all out war where the children and property of the parties is the prize.

Baldwin had no less harsh criticism for judges, whom, Baldwin believed, whether appointed or elected, made decisions based on political pressure. Most of the latitude within the courts, he continued, belonged to powerful law firms. The role of money was powerful in divorce cases, he said, observing that cases were made to drag on much longer than necessary because of the obstacles presented by wealthy couples' lawyers.

To Baldwin, the lack of oversight that ordinary people could exercise over law meant that the legal system looked like "a game two lawyers play ¦if a guy cuts another guy's throat, and he wins, it's a game. Nothing that looks or smells like justice," Baldwin concluded, "walks into an American courtroom anymore."

I would encourage people to go and read the entire article at the HL Record and draw your own conclusions. The important thing is that people are talking about this stuff on a more regular basis and now it is time to begin dismantling an industry that otherwise is encouraging the breakdown of parent-child relationships nationwide. Simply put, parental rights must be respected and protected by all, including judges, legislators, and especially other parents. Children deserve to have the love, care, and affection of both parents.

Original Article Source:

http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/storage/paper609/news/2008/10/02/News/Alec-Baldwin.Takes.On.Family.Law-3465467.shtml