ICC Recognizes "Institutional Violence against Women" in Family Courts
And: Mothers' Lawyer Vindicated & Father Convicted of Murder
The International Criminal Court [ICC] now recognizes institutional violence against women occurring in family courts, according to a new article in The European Times: Institutional Abuse: When Protective Mothers Become Victims of the System.
The author, an expert in institutional violence working with the ICC, describes crimes of “psychological violence and torture” being inflicted on mothers.
The recognition by such a respected international Court that horrible systemic abuse of women is not only occurring but is, in fact, criminal, is a huge breakthrough.
Although some organizations and activists have referred to family court injustices as “court crimes” and “legal abuse”, the underlying context was gender neutral corruption. It has not been made clear until now that these judicial abuses constitute systemic crimes against women as a class.
This is a huge step forward. It lends much welcomed credibility to all mothers who are “victims of the system” and validity to our cause of ending the Custody Crisis. After all, it is difficult for normal people to grasp the concept that any judge would deliberately inflict serious harm on women and children, much less that it is systemic.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
The International Criminal Court, based in the Netherlands, investigates and prosecutes crimes of concern to the international community. The Court “aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent these crimes from happening again”.
Four types of crimes are scrutinized by the ICC: war crimes, genocide, crimes of aggression, and crimes against humanity.
Institutional violence in family courts apparently falls under “crimes against humanity”, defined as deliberate acts that cause human suffering on a large scale. Since hundreds of thousands, likely millions, of women, and their children, have suffered greatly as a result of malicious conduct by judges, it definitely qualifies as crimes against humanity.
This type of institutional violence also fits under the category of genocide, defined as serious physical or mental harm caused to members of a group. Women, as a group, are absolutely being subjected to serious physical and mental harm in family courts, so it qualifies as a genocide as well.
INSTITUTIONAL VIOLENCE
“Institutional violence” is a relatively new category of criminal, civil, and human rights violations. It is generally defined as structural violence that occurs when organizations use policies, practices, beliefs, and attitudes to exploit, marginalize, or oppress vulnerable groups.
The inclusion of this new field of violence involves the recognition of a historical debt to women’s and feminist movements, a conceptual advancement and a tool of great transformative potential.
Calling out “institutional violence” directs attention away from individual judges, to a systems level, which is critical both to understanding and ending the Custody Crisis. Importantly, this frame of reference goes beyond just a formal recognition of women’s rights being systematically violated to one that emphasizes the need for their rights to be effectively enforced.
Dr. Sarah Thierrée, a neuropsychologist based in France, extends her expertise in institutional violence to the ICC. She is the author of the aforementioned article and clearly identifies the abuse of women in family courts as a form of “institutional violence against women”.
Thierrée cites examples of institutional violence from France, Belgium and England. She says the European Parliament has taken the issue on as well.
Dr. Thierrée’s focus, at least in the article, is on mothers who are desperately attempting to protect their children from further violence by the father after separation or divorce. Instead of protection, she says they are being psychologically abused and tortured.
Within the labyrinth of family courts, a chilling paradox persists: mothers, who should be lauded for their courage in denouncing [reporting] the abuse suffered by their children, often find themselves exposed to paroxysmal institutional violence.
Within those child abuse cases, she highlights ones in which mothers are being forced to hand children over to fathers who are molesting or raping them.
Thierrée recounts the story of Priscilla, a French woman. When Priscilla was ordered to hand her daughter over to the sexually abusive father, she fled into hiding, like so many desperate mothers. In an all-too-common ending, she was convicted of child abduction and imprisoned.
[Priscilla’s] story highlights the tragic impasse faced by protective mothers: either comply with court decisions they deem unsafe for their children or directly conflict with the law.
She cites statistics that show how common sexual abuse by fathers is, how rare false reports of sexual abuse by victims are, and how, despite these statistics, judges continue to discredit mothers 76% of the time.
In their attempts to report these [sexual] crimes and ensure their children’s safety, these women encounter a judicial system where 76% of complaints are dismissed without further action.
Dr. Thierrée recognizes judicial gaslighting as a form of institutional abuse. Judges systematically question and discredit women, making them feel disoriented, confused, and as if they are the abuser. This is a means of manipulating and controlling mothers and the situation.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE
Dr. Thierrée asserts the psychological abuse being perpetrated on women in family courts often rises to the level of torture. It certainly fits the human rights framework of torture:
The United Nations, within the framework of the Convention Against Torture, defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for purposes such as obtaining a confession, punishment, or intimidation”.
She gives the example that the “prolonged exposure to complex judicial procedures, where [mothers’] voices are discredited, and their protective efforts criminalized, constitutes a form of psychological torture”.
[Note the irony: judges making mothers out to be criminals when it is the judges who are the real criminals.]
Yes, the long, drawn-out proceedings in which women are degraded, criminalized, and financially devastated is definitely torture.
But it is oh so much worse than that.
The very worst form of psychological torture is the result of these criminal proceedings—the taking of children from mothers—damaging or destroying their relationship. The father is given custody and the protective mother gets little contact, supervised contact, or no contact all.
This restriction of contact causes children to be alienated to some degree, often a painful degree. No other torture inflicted on women in family courts compares to this, except murder. As moms in our Alienated Mothers Alliance can attest, it is a never-ending agony.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE, COERCION, FRAUD
These examples of institutional violence given by Dr. Thierre are hardly exhaustive. There are many more forms of “psychological violence and torture” being inflicted upon women in family courts.
Most come under groupings of psychological abuse, coercion, and fraud. In most cases, all three are committed by judges under the guise of fair and impartial divorce and child custody proceedings. Women walk into court thinking it is a place of justice and protection and are stunned at the abuse they are forced to endure.
Psychological abuse refers to words and actions intended to control, intimidate, punish, or subjugate. Judges psychologically abuse women in a variety of ways too numerous to elaborate on here.
Coercion is defined as someone using threats or intimidation to force another person to act against their will. Judges use coercion via implicit and explicit threats that mothers need to get with the program…or else, i.e. shut up about the father’s abuse and agree to him having custody. They also use coercion on children via ordering “reunification therapy” where coercive persuasion (brainwashing) is used for the same reason.
Fraud involves intentional deception to gain an unfair advantage. The main fraud committed by judges is in their findings and orders where they falsely accuse mothers of lying, alienating or being mentally ill, while giving fathers a clean bill of health. This is done in order to justify switching custody to the father.
Feel free to comment on the kinds of psychological abuse or torture your judge has inflicted on you…
TAKEAWAYS
The good news is that Dr. Thierrée gets the important things right. She identifies the institutional violence as an “intolerable systemic reality” for women.
She also notes that it is about power and control, not just abuse by exes. Judges have the power to discredit, abuse, and torture women. But this should be extrapolated to include the reason judges are exerting power in this manner: to keep men entitled and women oppressed.
Unfortunately, Thierrée has been drawn down the Parental Alienation Rabbit Hole, saying alienation should be banned. But the concept of alienation is not the problem. It is that judges are lying about mothers alienating and enabling fathers to alienate. Banning a concept is legally impossible and, anyway, will not stop judges from lying about women. They will just use whatever they like to switch custody.
Thierrée says reform is urgently needed and proposes a number of things to remedy the crisis, like training, oversight, and evidence-based practices. Unfortunately, none of these can or will make a difference because of the virtually absolute power bequeathed upon family court judges.
The best news to come out of Dr. Thierrée’s work is that she has gotten the well-respected International Criminal Court to acknowledge the crimes which women are being regularly subjected to in family courts around the world.
Kudos to her!
This acknowledgement brings much needed public attention and credibility to the issue and, hence, support for real reform. The present system for deciding custody must be dismantled and cases heard in a regular civil court with the right to a jury and all the due process protections inherent therein.
Join The Women’s Coalition where we are demanding a new system!
IN OTHER NEWS
FATHER FOUND GUILTY!
A father, who had been given sole custody despite a long history of violent behavior against women and children, was found guilty this week of murdering his daughter, Sara. He literally abused her to death.
The UK Family Court judge had discredited the mother’s reports of abuse and disregarded evidence of his violence gathered by law enforcement and CPS. On the other hand, the father’s accusations of abuse by the mother, were credited and used to switch custody to him, even though no investigation had been done and there was no history of abuse by her.
There is a lot of hand-wringing about the ban on reporting the judge’s name. Yes, culpable judges should be named; however, it’s more important to make clear to the public that what happened to Sara (and her mother) is a result of systemic sexism (institutional violence against women), and individual judges are just pawns in the agenda.
CASE DISMISSED!
In a case we covered earlier this year, a UK attorney who zealously represents mothers has had her disciplinary case dismissed: Attorney Calls Out Judge for "Boys Club" Ruling: Now She's Facing Suspension.
Charlotte Proudman had criticized the judge who made a ruling switching custody from her client, a loving mother, to an abusive father. She claimed he was misogynistic and part of the “Boys Club” on social media.
The Old Boys who sit atop the Bar Standards Board were none too happy about her insubordination and responded by charging her with misconduct, etc. She faced losing her license for a year and a hefty fine.
Well, that did not go over well with Charlotte’s many female supporters who made “good trouble”.
The Board could see which way the wind was blowing and dismissed the case entirely on Thursday on the grounds that Charlotte’s right to free speech allowed her to state her opinion about the judge.
It is being heralded as a victory for women’s rights and freedom of speech. However, not enough attention is being given to the fact that Charlotte was targeted not because she is a woman, but because she zealously represents women in custody cases—which threatens men’s power in the family.
In our History of the Crisis series, there is a time in the 1980’s when mothers’ attorneys were being retaliated against and threatened with prison: Persecution of Mom & Her Attorney: 4th "History of the Crisis" Case.
Since then, most women’s attorneys do not really fight for mothers either for fear of being retaliated against or to curry favor with the Old Boys. In fact, they are part of the system and often covertly sell mothers out.
CHAPTER 27: LAST SECTION IS OUT!
In this section of Chapter 27, Part 3, Herry works on destroying Legion’s job and career prospects with the assistance of his new wife, who’s taken on the family role of “Sheriff of Nottingham”—his “implementer and enforcer”. Financial devastation of Legion is a main vengeful goal of theirs, since that can be used against her in Family Court, as well as damage her life greatly.
The other central objective is to keep Legion from seeing her boys ever, at all. One way is to notify their schools that she is not allowed to see them and say they must keep her away. When the principal at Zane’s high school meets with Legion, he tells her, point blank, to “not ever” come back. Legion is crushed and continues rocking in her cushioned rocker attempting to soothe her increasing pain from the loss of her boys.
Meanwhile, Legion is led to believe that her attorney is busy working hard on her appeal to the district appellate court to overturn the trial court ruling that granted Herry sole custody and her zilch.
In the last section, Legion refuses to submit to “therapy” overseen by Herry and that is used to deny any visits with her boys, but she sneaks and spends time with them after school. However, she must spend another entire holiday season alone, rocking and rocking to cope with the loss of her precious boys. Part 3 begins with Legion having decided to appeal the fraudulent and unjust verdict of sole custody for Herry and zero visitation for her. But her attorney requires a small fortune up front and she’s already been drained of everything from litigating the two lower court trials. She desperately looks for someone who can loan her money so she can do the appeal
CHAPTER 27 of Mother-Fucking: The Saga of One Fucked Mother begins with Act I of “The Opera”—from Book 3, the last part of the book. “The Opera” has three Acts with five Parts—one for each of the three Family Court and two Appellate Court trials. Chapter 27 covers Acts I and II: the first two Family Court trials and the first Appellate Court trial. [This is a long chapter and will be published in newsletter-sized bites.]
Dr. Blue’s novel is based on her own experience of the Custody Crisis. It uniquely conveys how Family Court judges are “mother-fucking” women—a form of systemic oppression and violence directed at ex-wives—as protagonist Legion is systematically and methodically deprived of her children and money and reduced to “one fucked mother”.
Chapters are stand-alone interesting so you can begin reading anywhere. A Cast of Characters follows to help readers at any point [on the web page]. All published chapters are included in the Section: “Saga of One F**ked Mother” accessible on the top bar of the home page of Women’s Coalition News & Views. Sequential chapters are published every Wednesday and subscribers will find them in their inboxes, so make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet!
TEASERS
“If the Ex‑Cunt can’t work in her specialized fields, why then she is, for certain, fucked over as a custodial mother when it comes to her inside a court of family law thinkin’ that she’ll ever again be able to come after me and prevail! Ha! Fuck her!”
Principal Druid, taller than I by about six or seven inches, this time engaged squarely down into my azure eyes; and there may have been, just maybe there was, a slight, ever so slight tinge of “Shit, I’m so sorry for you, Ma’am” in those brown ones of his … “I, ah, I’m, um, I’m gonna hafta ask you to leave now and not come back. I trust you won’t be back, right? I mean … not ever.”
…I wasn’t. I never saw Principal Druid nor the people of the Urbandale High School nor my Zane there. Ever. More salt poured onto a wound so deep it would never, never heal.
You may also give a gift subscription to a mother who is going through her own Family Court nightmare and doesn’t understand why.
Or you can support the Coalition’s work through a one-time or recurring contribution at paypal.me/TheWomensCoalition.
All contributions, large and small, are greatly appreciated!
A female judge who prolonged my case by allowing opposing side, who is very wealthy, to file motion after motion (some repeats) to bleed me, allowed opposing side to torment my family and chase them down, repose them. etc., to deny all requests for my attorney fees and sanctions, to announce she would cut off my support before the trial even began, who ignored all evidence to claim that I had "more assets and less debt" when all evidence showed the opposite and to allow opposing side to hide all documents that would reveal the truth and to refuse to show his tax returns, which she predicated child support on. She basically kept me in court for 4 years for no good reason, making me miss work and become a desperate, pleading shadow of my former self. The real victim was my child, who was dragged through this as well. Shame on the Los Angeles family court system. It was a truly disgusting exercise in futility by an incompetent and mean-spirited judge and greedy lawyers who would do anything to line their pockets.
This Judge legally stripped me of certain rights while grossly limiting other rights such as protecting my son. Giving a man my ex abuser of no relation to my child primary custody of my son. Ultimately subjecting my son to the physical emotional, psychological abuse and torment me,all my other children suffered. Now my son is left to suffer it all alone silently, behind closed doors.