You don’t have to have a degree in psychology to understand that certain careers put abnormal stress on workers. When a worker feels stressed, is away from their family for long periods of time, or endures other professional...
How To Change Your Abusive Behavior
July 18, 2022
It is relatively easy to find support for survivors of abuse, whether emotional, verbal, physical, or all of the above. A quick Google search reveals hundreds of thousands of resources, ranging from online forums, informative...
Is it truly possible for a person to change? Is our behavior learned, or do certain predilections pass down to us from our parents and other forebears? Are we born to be angry, mean, and violent, or do we evolve to become abusive...
When you compose a tweet, a Facebook status, or an IG story, you’re communicating with your friends and followers all in one fell swoop. That’s super useful for announcing your engagement, sharing a video of your new...
When you think of “domestic violence,” you might imagine one adult behaving aggressively towards another. But what happens when it’s a minor who stands accused of domestic violence? If you’re in this situation,...
Pennsylvania’s Protection from Abuse Act has the laudable goal of reducing domestic violence. Courts issue PFA orders to restrain spouses or other intimate partners and other household family members from continuing with...
Are you familiar with the expression “in vino veritas”? Roughly translated from Latin, it means “in wine, there is truth.” A modern interpretation might be “when a person drinks, they lose their “filter,” thus...
Individual Cities in PA May Soon Craft Their Own Gun Laws. This Could Mean Trouble for You.
July 8, 2022
Recent news reports tell of multiple lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania which could allow individual municipalities to craft gun ownership legislation. Two of the suits, filed in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, may pave the way for...
PFA Orders Affect Job Prospects
July 6, 2022
Make no mistake: having a Pennsylvania PFA order entered against you can seriously impact your job and career prospects. If you face a PFA order complaint and request, you may hope to ignore it, especially if you have already...
A press report tells the sad story of a Pennsylvania man arrested after he allegedly violated a protection from abuse (PFA) order. The story recounts an extreme version of what not to do when served with a PFA order. The report...
Proposed Bill Aims to Bar Those Convicted of Domestic Violence Crimes from Holding Public Office in Pennsylvania
July 2, 2022
When a person is convicted of a crime, the repercussions often extend far beyond serving time in jail or prison, paying fines and restitution, and being on probation or parole. Now, proposed legislation in Pennsylvania would...
On November 14, 2021, a Pennsylvania woman petitioned the court for an emergency PFA against her husband, ex-cop Robert Vicosa, claiming he had falsely imprisoned her, sexually assaulted her, then released her while keeping their...
The human mind is a funny thing. We like to think we’re in control of how our own brains operate, but that’s not exactly how things work. One of the many peculiarities of our physiology is that when we’re faced...
Maybe it’s time we changed our thinking. We all do it: we hear the words “domestic violence,” and we imagine the scene in a very particular way. It involves a woman, small, slight of frame perhaps, and a large, burly man...
Facing the Social Stigma of Your PFA
June 24, 2022
It’s never easy to deal with a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order. Someone has accused you of a heinous act or crime. The order itself can disrupt your life, limiting when you can go and when. Perhaps the most difficult...
Domestic violence accusations against a suspended district attorney in Somerset show just how complicated these cases can be. One important takeaway is that if a third party alleges abuse, but a purported victim denies being a...
Pennsylvania’s ChildLine has put parents in unprecedented peril from allegations of abuse—including accusations from their own kids, as one case in Allegheny Township shows. Parents Nevin and Leann Lawson faced an...
A former Allentown mayoral hopeful found herself accused of child endangerment and failure to report child abuse. A conviction could have meant a slew of life-changing consequences. While Allentown Councilwoman Cecilia “Ce-Ce”...
A juvenile in Dauphin County, PA, was been arrested and charged with making terroristic threats—all because of a severely misguided “prank.” The story shows the disconnect that often exists between kids looking to have a...
The case of a fired Pittsburgh bus driver shows just how damaging a ChildLine report can be to a person’s reputation. When we read stories like this, we must consider objectively: Is it fair to label this person as a child...