And Another Thing . . .

I'm still waiting to find out how Pierre Pierce has escaped jail time for his admitted 80 violations of a no-contact order in a 17 hour period, when any one of those violations carries a mandatory minimum seven day jail sentence. In my earlier post, I provide the law, the links, and a general commentary with examples about how DV cases are still not taken very seriously. I've just seen a good example of what I'm talking about:

S.C. House leaders on Wednesday vowed to pass a bill strengthening the state’s criminal domestic violence laws by the end of the session.

The pledge came a day after WIS-TV reported that a House panel had killed one bill increasing penalties for domestic violence — while passing another making cockfighting a felony.

It also followed what critics called insulting comments about domestic violence victims made during the committee’s discussion of the legislation.

. . . .

According to a tape of the meeting obtained by The State newspaper, Altman asked why the bill’s title — “Protect Our Women in Every Relationship (POWER)” — just mentioned protecting women. Harrison suggested making the bill the “Protecting Our People in Every Relationship” Act, or “POPER.”

A voice on the tape can be heard pronouncing it “Pop her.” Another voice then says, “Pop her again,” followed by laughter.

I'll never forget the number of "If I gave her two black eyes, I already told her twice" jokes I had to endure as the DV prosecutor. And I'm not talking about the "okay, I shouldn't laugh, but this is really funny" stuff that you share with close friends because everyone knows nothing's meant by it and it's not a reflection of real world views. These were deliberate goads by virtual strangers designed to provoke a reaction. Like going up to a random black person on the street and telling a racist joke about lynching to see if you could get a shocked expression, or better yet, a politically correct tirade you could mock.

I'd had no idea that it was such a nasty little topic still. I'd grown up in politically correct Iowa City where you didn't make fun of such things, much less truly believe them. Wow.

By the way, I still think political correctness goes way too far. It also has a disparate impact, in that nobody even thinks to call women on it when they wear t-shirts that say "throw rocks at boys." That's just as bad, in my book.

But even with that said, I can't let this stuff slide. The attitude of the whole article on Pierce didn't appear to treat the problem seriously.