Nothing is simple. I saw a movie yesterday, a courtroom thriller, that reminded me of how speech is withheld, people don't take the stand, don't fully cooperate with the law, because they make the call that they would harm another. In this film, a defendant harmed himself by speaking fully and honestly.
When I was a safehouse counselor for battered women, sometimes we'd get a subpoena to testify. You would think it would be to protect our client, but no, it was always because of a custody battle, and the batterer was trying to prove that the mother was unfit because she allowed the kids to reside in a shelter. He was usually the bread winner and the house and lifestyle belonged to him. The kids' quality of life would suffer if the mother got custody. Yes, crazy - making, but true.
We were compelled to come to court. And our files were not protected, as those of therapists are. What to do? We didn't keep files for longer than a day or two, everything was destroyed to protect our client's privacy. When lawyers asked us about the client, we said we couldn't remember. Because they were trying to force us into what would not be right speech. Our highest oath was to keep the client alive. And we didn't believe that it was her fault if she fled the home, the kids missed some school, and the presents in Santa's bag were light or non-existent. The kids, we felt, had a right not to witness their father beating their mother, feel intimidated, and without intervention, repeat the battering cycle.
Right speech is not harming, to the best of our ability. None of us ever went to jail for contempt of court, though we were threatened. We had a little amnesia thing going. And yes, we did have a bit of contempt for the court.
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