Domestic Violence

02/29/2012

Exposing the Ugly Details of the Military Sexual Violence Epidemic

By Sandra S. Park, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Rachel Natelson, Service Woman's Action Network at 5:08pm

On Monday, a federal court judge heard oral arguments in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case brought by the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) and the ACLU seeking records from the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs regarding their response to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence in the military. While the hearing has yet to yield a final ruling, one point was clear: the government continues to refuse to disclose documents that could reveal the human toll of military sexual and domestic violence.

12/19/2011

Domestic Violence

Survey Reports Alarming Levels of Sexual and Domestic Violence

By Katherine Clemente, Women's Rights Project at 12:09pm

Last week, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reported the results of its extensive survey on intimate partner and sexual violence in the United States. The findings were staggering. In the past year alone, 1.3 million women were raped. In their lifetime, approximately 1 in 5 women have been raped and 1 in 6 women have been stalked. 1 in 4 women have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner.

11/28/2011

Swept Up By S-Comm

D.C. Says No to S-Comm: City's Mayor and Council Take Bold Steps to Protect Immigrant Community

By Johnny Barnes, ACLU of the Nation's Capitol at 3:39pm

Mayor Vincent Gray and the D.C. city council rejected Secure Communities, saying they would not allow the DHS to federalize the D.C. police department.

10/24/2011

Domestic Violence

Stop Domestic Violence in Its Tracks

By Katherine Clemente, Women's Rights Project at 6:04pm

It is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time when many of us ask: what can we do about the injustice of intimate partner abuse? More than 10 years ago, Jessica Lenahan faced just that question when the police failed to respond to her pleas for help, resulting in the deaths of her three children. Following that tragedy, she took the issue of police response to domestic violence to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that she had no constitutional right to enforcement of her restraining order, and then to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

08/26/2011

Domestic Violence

Creating a Safe Space in the Most Obvious Place: At Home

By Alicia Gay, ACLU at 12:02pm

This post is part of Mom's Rising's Blog Carnival on women's health and economic rights, held this week to commemorate the anniversaries of the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment and the 1963 March on Washington.

As a little girl from Kansas once said, “there’s no place like home,” and she was right. All of us may have a different notion of what “home” is, but ultimately we can agree home should be a place where we can feel comfortable and safe. Unfortunately for too many people who have experienced domestic violence, home isn’t safe. It is also regrettable that in many cases law enforcement officials, and in some cases our own government, have failed in their duty to protect the most vulnerable among us.

08/17/2011

Domestic Violence

Make My Case Count!

By Jessica Lenahan at 3:45pm

My name is Jessica Lenahan and I am a survivor of domestic violence and an advocate for battered women and children. Six years ago, I turned to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an international tribunal responsible for promoting and protecting human rights throughout the Americas, because the justice system in the United States had abandoned me. Today, IACHR issued a landmark decision in my case that found that the United States violated my human rights and those of my three children, Rebecca, Katheryn, and Leslie.

06/21/2011

Disability Rights

Obama Administration Fails to Halt Runaway "Secure Communities" Train, Ignoring Complaints of Governors, Congress, and Law Enforcement Leaders

By Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 6:05pm

Last Friday the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced their proposed changes to the much-criticized Secure Communities (S-Comm) program, the centerpiece of the Obama administration's immigration enforcement program. The administration's proposals, including statistical monitoring of the program, development of training modules for local law enforcement jurisdictions, and formation of an advisory committee, amount to nothing more than window dressing and fail to answer the growing tide of criticism by the governors of Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, law enforcement officials, civil rights advocates, and immigrant communities across the country.

04/11/2011

S.B. 1070

Georgia “Show Me Your Papers” Legislation Will Endanger Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 2:06pm

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. In observation, Georgia lawmakers should reject legislation that attacks immigrant women, including H.B. 87, a bill currently pending in the Georgia legislature that is a copycat of Arizona's S.B. 1070 racial profiling law. H.B. 87 would endanger victims of domestic violence and sexual assault by creating more fear and distrust of local law enforcement in communities across the state, much like 287(g) has done. Similar to 287(g) agreements, which are agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police/sheriff departments, H.B. 87 would charge local law enforcement with enforcing federal immigration law.

American Civil Liberties Union