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.
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Our discussion is on the International Bill of Rights – (3 parts) including: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted in 1948 after WWII, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights. Specifically, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICESCR), is a “multilateral treaty” adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1966, and put in force in March 1976. Yet, the Trump State Department is weakening the rapport with both the international community, while exacerbating the international norms.
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How Reconstruction was a new beginning for the formerly enslaved but the fight for equal justice had just begun – including the right to vote, be free of poll taxes, and the continuing struggle for women and notably black women to vote. Discussion of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, Fifteenth Amendment allowing ‘men’ to vote – and the long awaited Nineteenth Amendment allowing ‘white’ Women to Vote – Culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 taking away all impediments of voting to All Women and Men of Voting age and eliminating literacy tests and poll taxes to voting. Discussion of 19th century presidents who kept slaves during and while in office in the White House is also discussed.
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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,…
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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.
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Discussion on the new US Supreme Court Challenges by Republican-led states to ‘Dismantle’ the ACA which provides affordable healthcare to millions of Americans. What that would look like in a COVID world.
Guest: Attorney, Nicole Huberfeld, Professor of Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights, at Boston University School of Public Health, & Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. Her work is at the intersection of Health law & Constitutional law, and the role of “federalism in health care” –which is the role of the states with regard to actions by the federal government. Professor Huberfeldand often writes about Medicaid.
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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.…
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January 27, 2019 – Polarization on issues such as “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” routinely prevents clear dialog by those who hold them. So much so, that a well-known women’s rights advocate, and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, has written dozens of books on issues encompassing women’s rights, social advocacy and spirituality. Sister…
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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.
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January 9, 2019 – Today, a Senate Panel in Virginia approved to move the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) which had passed Congress but needed to be ratified by three fourths of the states to be a Constitutional Amendment. That process has been ongoing since 1972. However, just last year,…
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