How Self-Represented Women Get Abused and Tortured in Family Courts

http://www.selfrepresentedfool.org/id83.html  

April 10, 2010 - Public Meeting hosted by California Protective Parents Association in Davis, CA 

STOP Family Courts’ Torture And Abuse of Protective Parents And Self-Represented Parties.

By Dr. Natalia A. Sidiakina for Elkins Family Law Task Force meeting on 2/2/10 in San Francisco, CA (NOTE: Dr. Sidiakina WAS NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK before the Family Law Task Force members. Instead of allowing public comments, the Elkins Family Law Task members CONCLUDED the meeting 2 hours AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. The COPY of this speech with attached graph “Time Trend in Incarcerations in the US” was given to the Elkins Family Law Task member from CA Court of Appeals in Sacramento, Third Appellate District.)

What the family law courts do to protective parents and self-represented parties, mostly women, unfortunately, is called abuse and TORTURE, i.e. intentional infliction of emotional pain and suffering for the purposes of sadistic gratification of judges [1], who have characteristics of classic psychopaths [2] , and for punishing protective parents and self-represented parties for being, as they are,  “protective” and “self-represented”.

Needless to say, the prevalence of anti-social personality disorder across societies is TWICE as high in MEN than in women, thus, out of all sociopaths out there, 2/3 are men and 1/3 are women. [3] In the US, the prevalence of anti-social personality disorder is THREE times as high in MEN than in women (4% of population, 1% women, 3% men). [4].

With regard to intellectual abilities, Mother Nature made its choice- WOMEN are the carriers of intellectual abilities which they pass onto their children. [5] Without mother’s parenting, through epi-genetic mechanisms, the pre-frontal cortex of the child DOES NOT develop properly [6], and the child becomes PREDISPOSED to impulse control problems and, therefore, misbehavior and misconduct, which can potentially lead to certain behaviors (taking things without permission, breaking things in anger, etc.) that are considered “criminal”.

In September of 2007, I was TORTURED by the family court judge James Bertoli of Sonoma Superior Court. I could not handle the emotional and physical pain and suffering and lost my consciousness in the courtroom. As a result of this torture, I developed and was diagnosed with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and disabilities of Dissociation and Depersonalization to the point that I need assistance with daily life activities. [7]

I know that THOUSANDS, if not millions of protective mothers go through the same hell and torture and get disabled with PTSD. The prevalence rate of PTSD is TWICE as high in women than in men. [8]

 After being disabled from torture and abuse in family courts, most self-represented and protective mothers come down with COMPLEX PTSD so severe that they CANNOT TALK about what had happened in the family law courts and try to AGGRESSIVELY AVOID any reminders of that hell.

In the US, over 58,000 children PER YEAR are given into custody of ABUSIVE FATHERS by the family courts [9], [10], which leads to abnormal development of children’s brains and HUGE costs to society. [11]

The consequences of mothers suffering from PTSD and Depersonalization Disorder or SEPARATED from their children due to family court abuses are TERRIBLE in children, because children DO NOT receive biologically necessary MATERNAL parenting, which leads to ABNORMAL development of the pre-frontal cortex and ABNORMAL behavior in children. And the CA family courts PUNISH these abnormally developed and, thus, cognitively disabled and misbehaved children by sending them to juvenile JAILS.

The consequences of being sent to a juvenile jail for a child are HORRIFIC- research showed that OVER 97% OF ALL ARRESTED ADULTS are former teenagers who were sent to juvenile jails in their teenage years. [12]

The number of INCARCERATED AMERICANS has SURGED to unprecedented levels since 1990:

From 1990 to 2000, the numbers increased by approx. 750,000 to approx. 1,850,000;

From 2000 to 2006, ONLY 6 YEARS, the numbers increased by approx. 500,000 to approx. 2,350,000. [13]

For these last 6 years, the rate of increase went up from 75,000 /per year in 1990s to over 83,000/per year in 2000s.

What the CA family courts are doing to protective and self-represented parents, mostly mothers, and their children is UNCONSCIONABLE, IMMORAL AND INHUMANE, and violates the International Laws on Torture, the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Geneva Conventions, and United Nations Convention Against Torture. [14]

The abuse and torture of protective and self-represented parents and their children, which widely take place in California family courts today, CAUSE THE SAME DAMAGE TO SOCIETY AND HUMANITY AS GERMAN NAZISM AND ITALIAN FASCISM DID IN 30x-40x.

I perfectly understand that this Elkins Task Force was set up to let a little steam out and to protect the status quo, but I really want to tell all abusive judges in family courts that they are fascists and psychopaths and commit crimes against humanity. And I want to inform this Task Force about these crimes against humanity and request that it uses all its power to stop them.

References:

[1] Wikipedia.org and Declaration of Human Rights on Torture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture

[2] Wikipedia on Anti-Social Personality Disorder:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder

[3] Psychopathy and the DSM-IV Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder:

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Hare%20RD%20Psychopathy%20JAP%201991.pdf

[4] LoveFraud.com article on sociopaths:

http://www.lovefraud.com/01_whatsaSociopath/number_sociopaths.html  

[5] Wenner, M. (2009) A Patchwork Mind. Scientific American Mind, July/August 2009, p. 52-59.

[6] Higgins, E.S. (2008) The New Genetics of Mental Illness. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p.41-47.

[7] Depersonalization disorder can be caused by abuse and torture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder

[8] PTSD is twice more common in women than in men regardless of the rate of exposure to the potentially traumatic events:

http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/bul1326959.pdf

[9] More than 58,000 children per year are given into custody of abusers:

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/index.html

[10] Full report of Leadership Council on child abuse, statistics:

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/med/PR3.html

[11] The economic costs of child abuse to society:

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/costs.html

[12] Szalavitz, M., Bad Crowd: Why Juvenile Detention Makes Teens Worse, Time, 8/7/09, accessed online at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090808/hl_time/08599191483700/print at p.1

[13] “Time Trend in Incarcerations in the US” graph on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_incarceration_timeline-clean.svg

[14] Wikipedia.org, International Laws and UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Torture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture

Family Courts’ Reliance on Parental Alienation Syndrome Theory Turns Normal Children Into Mental Retards.

By Dr. Natalia A. Sidiakina for Elkins Family Law Task Force meeting 10/22/09

RE Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) - the genomics and brain research for the last 14 years COMPLETELY invalidate that "theory". In fact, PAS is WORSE than eugenics. The genomics and brain research show that:

1) A child inherits from the MOTHER the architecture and functioning of the brain areas (frontal cortex, pre-frontal cortex, parietal lobes, hippocampus, etc.) related to problem solving, complex thinking, decision-making and strategic thinking. [1] Through epi-genetic mechanisms, MOTHER'S parenting of a child IS CRUCIAL to the proper development and functioning of the above-mentioned brain areas.[2]  

2) A child inherits from the FATHER the architecture and functioning of the brain areas (limbic system, etc.) involved ONLY IN INSTINCTIVE behaviors, such as feeding, sex, and social aggression and/or withdrawal. [1] Father's parenting IS IRRELEVANT to the development of the brain areas and behaviors involving problem solving, complex thinking, and decision making. 

3) There are NO species in the nature that have FATHERS rearing and parenting the off-springs. The reason- without Mother's parenting an offspring CANNOT SURVIVE. The family court-adopted "father's parenting" IS UN-NATURAL and leads to damages and abnormalities in the development and functioning of the brain of a child. Whether mother is "friendly" or "un-friendly" to father is completely IRRELEVANT to the child's development. AS SIMPLE AS THAT. 

4) Therefore, this "Parental Alienation Syndrome" theory is WORSE than eugenics because the application of this theory to the real life, i.e. paternal parenting, TURNS mentally normal children into mental retards who have difficulties with complex thinking, decision making, problem solving, and strategic thinking. These difficulties are coded through epi-genetic mechanisms and are PASSED to the future generations UNLESS maternal parenting fixes faulty epi-genetic mechanisms and, thus, allows the normal development of the child's brain.

5) If biological mother is not physically available to parent the child, the next best thing will be MATERNAL grandmother or aunt or sister or great grandmother.

References:

[1] Wenner, M. (2009) A Patchwork Mind. Scientific American Mind, July/August 2009, p. 52-59.

[2] Higgins, E.S. (2008) The New Genetics of Mental Illness. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p.41-47.

Below is Dr. Sidiakina’s second speech on October 22, 2009 before the California Elkins Family Law Task Force. The copy of this speech with attached article (reference [1]) and calculations was given DIRECTLY to the Task Force members.

The Family Courts' System in CA Turns Children Into Slaves

By Dr. Natalia A. Sidiakina for Elkins Family Law Task Force meeting on 10/22/09 in San Francisco, CA

Recent research of 2009 found that children who ended up being sentenced to juvenile prison were 37 times more likely to be arrested as adults, compared with similarly misbehaved kids who were either not caught or not put into the Family Court Juvenile system [1].

Simple calculation shows that, in other words, 97.37% of all adults arrested during the lifetime are FORMER TEENAGERS who were JAILED during their teenage years.

Amendment XIII to the Constitution of the United States of America states in part:

“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

(See: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendments.html )

Children are the easiest and safest target for abuse because they cannot get even. Children abused by their parents or relatives will never hurt their abusers because their families are the only source of love and affection there is. In 1988, 1 of every 10 children in the US was molested by a trusted family member.[2] At the present time, because of the increased stress in life (wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising oil prices, financial crisis, foreclosures, unemployment, etc.), the number of sexually abused children is much higher.[3].

Child sexual abuse is VERY COMMON in the US. “The Honorable David Paterson, a state senator from New York, testified that one of every three young girls (33%) and one of every five boys (20%) become victims of child sexual abuse and that a high percentage of those most afflicted repeat the cycle” [4]. Girls from the households, where male partner batters his female partner, are 6.5 times more likely to be sexually abused (by the batterer) than girls from non-violent homes [5], [6]. Most sexually abused children, over 35%, are sexually abused by their own fathers [5], [6].

In California, children are the least powerful and the most discriminated and abused human beings: they have neither free quality education, nor free health services, nor free legal services, and they cannot work and make money, except in rare circumstances. Even if they make some money, their guardians or parents control the money. That’s why abused children hurt and kill themselves: an act of hurting or killing oneself is an exercise of power. When no other action of power is available, the ultimate power of taking your own life gives a person the highest pleasure and satisfaction. Consequently, when abused children reach adolescence and realize that they have the power to kill themselves, they fantasize about suicide and many of them exercise this ultimate power.

The logical chain is as follows: married parents change with time and stop loving each other. They have extreme stress from work and life (37% of employees in the US are bullied at work [7]) plus they have to go to the trial court to get a divorce. Parents need to provide for their children and, consequently, over 95% of parents in California cannot afford continuous legal representation. When parents become self-represented, they lose their human identity in the eyes of the trial judge and the court system. As non-humans, they get denigrated, humiliated, and abused by the court system. Consequently, parents become extremely distressed and either abuse their children or get withdrawn for many months or even years.

Domestic Violence is a factor in 50-80% of divorce cases in the US, depending on the jurisdiction. [8] The victims of domestic violence are overwhelmingly women and children, approximately 95% [9]. Therefore, women, especially battered women who are forced to represent themselves, get further abused by the family courts. In addition, a high correlation has been shown between spouse abuse, child abuse and incest [10], putting at extremely high risk of paternal abuse the children of these battered women. Research has found that 75% of men who abuse their female partner also abuse their children [5], [6].

Lack of parental, especially maternal, attention and prolonged stress during childhood and adolescence make children more vulnerable to depression and addictions through epigenetic mechanisms.[11] Prolonged stress also damages cognitive functioning and memory through epigenetic mechanisms [12], interfering with the normal development of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala areas of the brain [13]. An average divorce in California lasts about 3 years [14]. After 3 years of abuse or neglect, children become depressed and suicidal or aggressive and violent [15] towards their peers, younger siblings, or pets. When they reach adolescence, they are likely to either commit suicide or become antisocial.

Children learn the environment by following an example provided by adults. Learning and novelty seeking behavior is necessary for survival and, therefore, is adaptable. On the neurological level, learning and novelty seeking behavior is mediated by neurotransmitter dopamine [16] and involves an increased activity in the pleasure-reward circuitry of the brain. Also, learning and novelty seeking helps combat stress, anxiety, and memory loss through epigenetic mechanisms [17]. Children feel pleasure and reward from learning and novelty seeking and some, like many scientists, for example, can even become addicted to this behavior.

Children mostly learn by example and mimic adults by experimentation as children prepare for adult life. Children in California will inevitably try alcohol and illegal drugs in adolescence because adults frequently use them and they are widely available. Many juveniles will develop an addiction to alcohol and drugs simply because they are predisposed through genetics or because their brain epigenetics makes them extremely vulnerable [18]. Stress and resulting inhibition of cognition diminish one’s awareness of developing an addiction. As a result of stress and addictions, children’s overall cognition and, therefore, conscience and social behavior get suppressed. Antisocial actions lead children into the juvenile court and into jails, where children get more abused and stressed and become more violent and antisocial [1].

 Pursuant to the US Constitution, Amendment XIII, ratified by California on December 15, 1865, slavery is legalized in the US and, accordingly, in California as a punishment turning all prisoners, including children, into slaves and, consequently, property of the State of California.

The need to maintain security in prisons makes it necessary to have bright lights at all times, which necessarily disturbs the natural sleeping pattern and, consequently, the development and normal functioning of the brain regions such as amygdala, pituitary, prefrontal cortex and other areas of the brain. [19]

As a result of damaged and malfunctioning amygdala, pituitary, and prefrontal cortex, jailed children become permanently socially disabled expressing constant aggressive and violent behavior [20]. Finally, they become repeated offenders [1] and end up in jails for long periods of time.

In 2006, the FBI estimated that 14,380,370 arrests occurred nationwide for all offenses (except traffic violations), of which 611,523 were for violent crimes, and 1,540,297 were for property crimes. In 2006, 76.3 percent of all persons arrested were male, 82.2 percent of persons arrested for violent crime were male, and 68.8 percent of persons arrested for property crime were male [21].

Law enforcement made more arrests [in the US] for drug abuse violations in 2006 (an estimated 1.9 million arrests, or 13.1 percent of the total number of arrests) than for any other offense [22].

 There is absolutely no scientific or medical basis for distinguishing between an addiction to power or sweets and an addiction to cocaine [23] or any other drugs, legal or illegal. Any addiction is a biological brain disease and not a failure of character or willpower.

Arrests of juveniles (under 18 years of age) [in the US] for murder rose 3.4 percent in 2006 compared with 2005 arrest data; for robbery, arrests of juveniles increased 18.9 percent over the same 2-year period.

 A special supplement to the [FBI] 2004 report showed that the volume of juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations [in the US] involving all drug types, collectively, increased 22.9 percent in the 10-year period from 1994 to 2003 (no update was provided in the 2005 report) [24].

“With at least 2,381 children sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, the US is the only remaining nation continuing to impose the sentence, which violates international law [U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child]”[25].

… Children of color in the US are 10 times more likely to receive life without parole than white child offenders. In some states, including California, the rate is 20 to 1” [26].

As the ultimate result, the California court system grows a huge number of imprisoned slaves, 170,000 in 2008 [27], which, of course, is good for the tyrants and the ones who use the slave labor.

            The state and federal government officials increasingly complain about insufficient funds to run the prisons to justify their “outsourcing” of prison management to privately run “contractors”. By the means of this “outsourcing”, private prison companies get access to the source and virtually unlimited use of the slave labor.

Naturally, government officials involved in such “outsourcing” indirectly and directly benefit and share profits from the slave labor. For example, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney were indicted in connection with privately run federal detention centers in Willacy County, Texas. Dick Cheney has personal investments in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies.[28]

References:

[1] Szalavitz, M., Bad Crowd: Why Juvenile Detention Makes Teens Worse, Time, 8/7/09, accessed online at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090808/hl_time/08599191483700/print at p.1

[2] Dr. Forward, S. (1990) Toxic Parents. Bantam Books, p.144-152., p.140. 

[3] See also: Hamilton, M.A. (2008) Justice Denied- What America Must Do To Protect Its Children

[4] EXPOSE to Petition to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of abused women and children of the US, dated 5/11/07, p.201, Exhibit 6

http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/sites/documents/0000/0096/Web_Petition-C.pdf

[5] Arizona Battered Mothers Testimony Project, Exhibit 8, pages 14-18, Petition to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of abused women and children of the US, dated 5/11/07, p.49.

http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/sites/documents/0000/0096/Web_Petition-C.pdf

[6] Common Misconceptions in Addressing Domestic Violence in Child Custody Disputes, Exhibit 9, Petition to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of abused women and children of the US, dated 5/11/07, p.49.

http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/sites/documents/0000/0096/Web_Petition-C.pdf

[7] Kim, J.N. (2008) The Cubicle Bully. Scientific American Mind, July/July 2008, p.13.

[8] Divorce Mediation and Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Report (Civic Research, Inc. Kingston, N.J., Oct/Nov. 1998), at p.1.

[9] Jaffe, P.G., Wolfe, D., Wilson, S., Children of Battered Women. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990.

[10] American Bar Association, Young Lawyer’s Division, Center for Child Advocacy and Protection, Legal Response: Child Advocacy and Protection, No. 2, P. 1 (June-July 1979); Roy, A Current Study of 150 Cases, Battered Women: A Psychological Study of Domestic Violence (1979). 

[11] Higgins, E.S. (2008) The New Genetics of Mental Illness. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p.41-47.

[12] Levine, A. (2008) Unmasking Memory Genes. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p.49-51.

[13] Canli, T. (2008) The Character Code. Genes of the Psyche. Scientific American Mind, February/May 2008, p.53 at p.56. 

[14] Source: personal experience, legal research (published cases), and surveys of friends.

[15] Canli, T. (2008) The Character Code. Genes of the Psyche. Scientific American Mind, February/May 2008, p.53 at p.56. 

[16] Canli, T. (2008) The Character Code. Genes of the Psyche. Scientific American Mind, February/May 2008, p.53 at p.56.

[17] Levine, A. (2008) Unmasking Memory Genes. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p.49-51. 

[18] Higgins, E.S. (2008) The New Genetics of Mental Illness. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p.41 at p. 45-46.

[19] Leitzell, K. (2008) Irritable? Take a Nap. Sleep Deprivation Leads to Heightened Emotions. Scientific American Mind, February/May 2008, p.10. 

[20] Canli, T. (2008) The Character Code. Genes of the Psyche. Scientific American Mind, February/May 2008, p.53 at p.56.

[21] Source: Official FBI Report on Crime in the US in 2006 found at http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2006/02/14/in_depth_us/frameset1317384.shtml

[22] Source: Official FBI Report on Crime in the US in 2006 found at http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2006/02/14/in_depth_us/frameset1317384.shtml

[23] Sweets activate pleasure and reward pathways in the brain and, therefore, are addictive. Experiments with rats showed that sugar is more addictive than cocaine (cocaine-addicted rats switched to sugar). See Dvoskin, R. (2008) Sweeter Than Cocaine. Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008, p.16; also Conti, L. (2008) Faux Sugar: Bittersweet. Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008, p. 14. 

[24] Source: Official FBI Report on Crime in the US in 2006 found at http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2006/02/14/in_depth_us/frameset1317384.shtml

[25] “Sentencing Children to Die in Prison” in USFmagazine, Spring 2008, p.8. 

[26] “Sentencing Children to Die in Prison” in USFmagazine, Spring 2008, p.8.

[27] Hatton, N. (2008) A Voice for Prison Reform. USFmagazine, Spring 2008, p.14.

[28] Christopher Sherman, (2008) Prosecutor who had Cheney indicted yells at judge, Associated Press, news of 11/21/08, see at

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_re_us/cheney_indicted;_ylt=A2KIKvnxPydJIiQA5zXLLJ94