wtf america

So right now in my "Gender, Law, and Society" class we're doing a unit on domestic violence. I thought I'd share this particularly lovely case with you. The case is called Castle Rock v. Gonzalez. It went to the Supreme Court in 2005. Enjoy.

So this occured in the town of Castle Rock, Colorado. On June 4, 1999, Jessica Gonzales and her husband divorce, and she gets a restraining order against him because he abused her during their marriage. On June 22, 5:15 pm, the husband comes and takes their 3 daughters (thus violating the restraining order). Jessica calls the police over and over and over, begging them to do something, and they refuse. Finally Jessica gets ahold of her husband and he says he has the kids at an amusement park in Denver. She tells the police, and they still don't do anything. She visits the police station in person at around midnight, and they take the report and send her home. They still don't do anything. At 3:20 am, the husband shows up at the Castle Rock police station, opens fire, kills a bunch of cops, and kills himself. Then they find the 3 daughters dead in the trunk. He had killed them with a gun he bought after he had taken them to the amusement park.

And here's the kicker: the husband worked at a diner in Castle Rock which the cops frequented often, so he and the cops were buddy-buddy.

So Jessica Gonzalez sued the police department for refusing to take action. If finally goes to the Supreme Court, and what do they say? She loses, because apparently the cops had no obligation to enforce the restraining order. Awesome.

Now this woman is going to International Courts, including the UN Human Rights Committee. Here's the great part. If she wins, the U.S. doesn't have to do anything about it, because we suck and WE ARE THE ONLY DEVELOPED COUNTRY WHICH REFUSES TO RATIFY THE Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was adopted by the UN in 1979.