The Toledo Blade reported in April that former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno called for increased enforcement to combat domestic violence.
Reno pointed out that when she was state attorney general for Dade County, Florida, she made domestic violence a priority. Reno did not mention that she also railroaded a number of defendants in the 1980s when she was Dade County chief prosecutor as part of the nationwide hysteria over child sex abuse (see Frontline’s excellent site about the Dade County prosecutions).
Reno asked an audience at the University of Toledo, “If we cannot have peace in our homes, where can we have peace in our world?”
But if we cannot have justice in our courts, how can we have it in our world? Reno allowed herself and her office to be caught up in a hysterical movement and innocent men paid the price. Punish men and women who engage in violence against loved ones by all means, but resist falling prey to demagogues like Reno who pervert justice to further their own careers.
Source:
Janet Reno urges better effort against domestic violence. Toledo Blade, April 8, 2003.