Bias
What is bias? The noun bias is defined as prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
What does bias have to do with family court proceedings?
The Louisiana Supreme Court published the Code of Judicial Conduct as amended February 27, 2019. Canon 2 “A Judge Shall Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in All Activities” has three parts.
Part one states that a judge shall respect and comply with the law and shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. It further states “as used in this code, impartiality or impartial denotes absence of bias or prejudice in favor of or against particular parties or classes of parties as well as maintaining an open mind in considering issues that may come before the judge” (Effective February 1st 2005). Most judges are older, white men who bring their own personal values to their individual courtrooms. It is unfortunate that too often these values discriminate against women, despite Canon 2.
Too many judges hold an outdated belief that a man is the only person who can be head of a family. Women have been fighting for equality in the United States for decades. Women have the right to vote yet there is little other protection in the legal system for them. Without the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) being ratified there are no teeth to this Judicial Canon.
Furthermore, there is virtually no accountability for the actions of judges. In family court, these judges are ruling on how a family will move forward after a divorce. It is in a divorce situation it is even more important for judges to uphold Canon 2 and not bring their own personal values or bias to the courtroom.
The majority of the cases in family court that linger beyond two to three years most often have domestic abuse involved. This is where personal bias hurts women and children the most. Women typically are not believed when they disclose abuse nor are children. Judges demand that Women show vast amounts of evidence to prove the abuse is happening. A man will simply refute it with his own personal statement and the judge will accept it without any evidence to back up his statements.
Men spin a story about how their ex-wife is just out to get him or she’s paranoid or she’s hysterical or one of many statements similar to these. This is where the harm to women and children escalates. The abuser now knows and is emboldened by the lack of accountability for the harm he inflicts upon other humans. The abuser quickly learns he has a new way to continue his control over his victims.
Over the last two decades abusive men learned that they can weaponize family court by exploiting judicial bias. This is done through numerous legal filings to keep the victim engaged with the abuser on a regular basis. It is also done by using the children. When there is lack of cooperation amongst the parents the mother is blamed despite the actions and words of abusers.
Access to the children is weaponized.
Payment of child support is weaponized.
Information sharing is weaponized.
Schedules are weaponized.
Extracurriculars are weaponized.
Holidays and special occasions weaponized.
In October 2020 NCBI published research with figures that should shock the logical mind.
Estimated cost per year of domestic abuse — $12 Billion
Estimated people per year impacted by domestic abuse — 10 million
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499891/#_NBK499891_pubdet_
The actions of family courts across the United States are contributing to these astronomical figures. It takes a woman on average 7 times to finally leave an abusive partner for good. Just because women stay in an abusive relationship does not lessen the abuse on her or the children. When women and children have the courage to disclose abuse it is our duty as a society to believe them and provide the necessary protection. False abuse claims happen in about 2–3% of cases. Therefore, family courts are disbelieving 97–98%.
Judges take an oath of office and if they can’t bracket their personal biases to uphold Canon 2 then we as a society need to remove them from office.
