Justice By Omission

Published on Medium today Justice by Omission: How Family Court Covers Up Its Failures.

Ask your local court system for the following:

• How many protective orders were later dismissed as false or unproven?
• What percentage of custody decisions are reversed on appeal?
• How often does the same judge deny motions from one party while granting all motions for the other?
• How many parents are alienated from their children for more than six months?
• How many unrepresented litigants lose custody without ever getting a trial?

You won’t get answers. Not because the data is unclear — but because it’s never been collected.

Lack of data collection is a systematic issue with family court. At one point I tried very hard to just find out how often permanent alimony was awarded but ran into a dead end. I even engaged my local state senator's office but the issue was that the data was simply not recorded. 

I also tried to find out how many family law lawyers have ever been convicted of fraud upon the court. This, however, was easier to find out. Zero. Despite it being one of only three crimes in the state without a statute of limitations. 

Our court system, especially family court, is far more corrupt than most people realize.