Discussion on the history of armed citizenship – from the days of the founding of the US to present day. How stand your ground laws were supposed to protect women, but how the reason for these laws have failed women and people of color when defending themselves as armed citizens.
April 12, 2021 – The date has changed, but the migration situation continues from Trump, to the Biden administration. Once again, the US Southern Border is deluged with migrants from nations referred to as the “Northern Triangle Countries of Central America” – namely, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. To make…
Guest: Judith Herman, MD, formerly a full-time Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at Harvard Medical School; and co-founder former Director of Training at the Victims of Violence Program in the Department of Psychiatry, at Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of several books, including the groundbreaking book, Trauma and Recovery, The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror.
Discussion on the insidiousness and pervasiveness of domestic abuse – and the mistreatment of victims by the very people and institutions that should be protecting them. How these institutions have functioned for generations with impunity, including the Catholic Church, Hollywood, government and even the private sector. She explores what it is like for victims who suffer repeated abuse as well as institutional bias – where victims are treated with contempt by society, by the judicial system and even their own families.
October 26, 2020 – In my recent interview with Dr. Roger Pitman, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital, we discussed many issues including PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which has as its hallmark, debilitating memories, flashbacks, and intense emotions that traumatized women,…
Discussion on what is PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it can be combated to bring people experiencing painful repetitive memories some peace. Noted doctor who has researched PTSD for most of his career talks about how it affects Veterans of War and Domestic Violence Victims – while explaining Treatment Options Available to Move Them Forward.
January 31, 2019 – Today is the last day of “stalking awareness month.” Yet, each day we see more new incidents of violence against women–including the mental and emotional torture which is stalking. In fact, most of us know that stalking is often a precursor to physical violence against women.…
Discussion on Sexual Assault, Recent Judgments & #MeToo – how the Legal System is all too often more friendly to the ‘alleged’ perpetrator than the victim. Attorney Murphy discusses cases she has been involved where Judge’s trample on the rights of victims, censoring the words they use to describe their assault, making it impossible to describe their ordeal. She describes real cases litigated, including against a judge who ordered the victim to not use ‘certain words’ to describe her brutal unrelenting rape. Clearly, judicial overreach to stifle a victim’s First Amendment Right to choose her words, her speech in a public forum – a court of law. Justice itself is bare if a victim can be ordered to only speak of her ordeal in palatable terms – and not describe what the perpetrator had actually done to her. It is axiomatic, that to get a just result – the ability of the victim to tell her story without judicial censorship and bias is critical for a jury to reach a just result.
A fascinating story that unfortunately, is not out of character with the US judicial system – treating women as second-class citizens, and elevating abusers, and minimizing the effect upon the victim.
Attorney Wendy Murphy. She is a former prosecutor now working as a “victim advocate” and “impact litigator” to assist abused women and children – bringing change to how the courts, legislators, and the public view violence against women and children. She has written numerous briefs in both federal and state courts on Sexual Assault, to violations of Civil & Constitutional Rights – taking place on College Campuses & in the Workplace. Many of her cases and issues are of first impression (never before litigated) in MA and around the nation. She is an adjunct professor of sexual violence law at New England Law – Boston, and often appears as a legal analyst for a variety of news outlets including CNN, PBS & Fox News.
Her book, And Justice for Some is a riveting compendium of insights as a prosecutor as well as a victim advocate – on how lawyers and judges let dangerous criminals go free.
Oct. 1, 2018 – In recent days we have heard testimony from an alleged victim of sexual assault and a US Supreme Court nominee–vying for an Associate Justice position on our nation’s highest court. What strikes me the most, is the way the hearings have unfolded. If ever there was…
November 15, 2017 – Harvey Weinstein has put a face on a problem that has existed for centuries. Men taking advantage of women because they can. Yet, most thought that in the culture of the western world, this behavior was seen more aberrant or unusual than normal gentry would admit–the…
