DV PROGRAMS ENCOURAGE FALSE ALLEGATIONS

THE FOLLOWING DATA PROVIDED BY RADAR SERVICES INC

False Allegations: A National Crisis
Our nation’s legal system was founded on a series of protections, enumerated in the
Bill of Rights, that assure due process for any citizen accused of an offense. But in
the past 20 years, those protections have been whittled away in the name of “holding
batterers accountable” and “assuring the safety of victims.” It is no surprise, then, that false allegations have become commonplace.


How Do Domestic Violence Programs Encourage False Allegations?
Domestic violence (DV) programs promote false allegations in at least eight ways:

1. State domestic violence coalitions lobby for broader definitions of domestic
violence, weaker evidentiary requirements, and less attention to due process.

2. Domestic violence coalitions push for generous benefits to persons awarded
restraining orders based on scant standards of proof.

3. Abuse shelters, sometimes referred to as “one-stop divorce shops,” dispense
free legal advice.

4. Legal aid clinics script clients’ court testimony, which amounts to a form of
suborning perjury.

5. Hotlines and websites encourage persons to seek restraining orders for abuse
that is one-time, minor, or only emotional in nature.

6. Prosecutors refuse to sanction false allegations of abuse.

7. Judicial education seminars advise judges to “play it safe” by issuing the
restraining order. Checklists instruct judges to “hold batterers accountable” and “increase safety for victims,” but say nothing about assuring due process or safeguarding the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.”12

Not surprisingly, VAWA-funded domestic violence programs are largely silent on the
matter of false allegations. The term doesn’t even appear on the website of the ABA
Commission on Domestic Violence.