Clare's injustice

So once again we have another illiberal law forced upon us, that was brought about by grieving parents.

BBC:


'Clare's Law' gives 'right to ask' on domestic violence

People in some parts of England and Wales will soon be able to find out from police if their partners have a history of domestic violence.
The scheme is dubbed Clare's Law, after a woman murdered by a former partner.

I'm sorry but giving women the right to 'CRB check' potential partners is a terrible scheme and it's also doomed to fail.

The grieving parent who came up with this idea, a person who really shouldn't be involved in policy making because they are unable the think straight on the issue, believes that if this law was in place sooner, it would have saved his daughters life. It wouldn't.

He probably also believes something along the lines of if it saves just one woman from domestic violence it will be worth it, regardless of the potential for illiberal intrusions into peoples private lives. It won't.

Clare Wood, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was murdered in 2009 by a former boyfriend with a violent background.
The 36-year-old mother had made several complaints to the police about George Appleton, whom she had met on the internet, before he killed her. He was later found hanged.

Clare Wood's life would not have been saved by this law because she:

made several complaints to the police [...] before he killed her

This law will not save other women from domestic violence because they set themselves up as victims. They stay with abusive partners because: "I love him", "He's not normally like that", "He told me he can change" and a million other reasons.

I don't know what Julia thinks about this law because I haven't talked to her about it. I do know she could supply endless news stories about women who choose to remain with violent and abusive partners.

Every woman has the ability to save themselves from abuse. Advice to all women, and I'm probably stating the obvious here but you wouldn't realise it: If your partner hits you, just once, walk away. Walk away and don't look back.

Don't listen to their justifications, pleas and promises. Don't believe the police can sort your relationship out for you. Take their power away from them by taking yourself out of the equation.

Women who are likely to stay in an abusive relationship once in it, are just as likely to stay with their partners even if they are fully aware of their history.

My emphasis:

T, from Wolverhampton, contacted the BBC to say she wished she had known that her husband had a history of violence.
"I was badly treated by my husband and beaten often," she said.
"The first time he did it he said he didn't know what he had done and it wasn't in his nature to do this. I accepted this, but was then beaten again and more frequently. If I had known that he had a history of violence then I would have left much sooner."

You should have left much sooner anyway.  You should have left after the first incident, and even though you allowed yourself to be taken in by his lies, the second incident should have shown him up for the manipulative animal that he is. Knowing his history is not likely to have changed your choices.

S, from Lincolnshire, was in an abusive marriage for 12 years but was unaware her husband had been arrested for beating a former girlfriend.
"If I was a single woman, and especially if I had children, I would definitely want to have access to a register that recorded details of abusers before contemplating a serious relationship," she said.

No serious relationship can be based on police background checks of your potential partner.
A serious relationship is created through a mutual build up of trust over time. If that trust is betrayed, then leave.

Advice to men: If you find that the girl you are dating has done a police background check on you, any man worth his salt would send her directly to dumpsville.

Most of the people who take advantage of this scheme will turn up nothing. Most men are not abusers. Just like there is not a paedophile on every street corner, domestic abuse has been blown out of all proportion to create yet another scare. This is the worst part. Not only will the scheme be largely redundant, it will be used to probe into peoples private backgrounds by others who have no right to any information other than what they are told by their partners themselves.

Miss Wood's father welcomed the pilot scheme and said that, had it been in place earlier, it would have given his daughter the chance to make an "educated decision" about her relationship with Appleton.

No it wouldn't because she:

made several complaints to the police [...] before he killed her

"I believe that if my daughter had known of the past of her partner she would have dropped him like a hot brick and scampered out of there," Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

 No it wouldn't because she:

made several complaints to the police [...] before he killed her

She had the chance to make 'an educated decision' about her relationship. She didn't take it. She had the opportunity to 'drop him like a hot brick' the first time he laid a hand on her. She didn't do it.

Home Office statistics suggest two women are killed by their current or former partner each week in England and Wales.

Figures 'suggest'? What does that mean? The figures are either correct or they're not. Even so, we now have this next piece of intrusive legislation because of a possible 104 deaths per year.

You know what would be a much fairer and more effective way to prevent a lot of these deaths?

Walk away

You take their power with you.