If it's October it must be "Domestic Violence Awareness Month." This federally mandated observance means we will hear more dishonest claims about how domestic violence is a gender crime perpetrated entirely by men against women.

Now men's groups are fighting back, pointing out decades of research establishing that domestic violence is perpetrated as much by women as men.

But more needs to be said. Most of the hysteria over domestic violence is generated for one purpose: to gain advantage in custody cases. In other words, false domestic violence accusations break up marriages and separate children from their fathers.

Now domestic violence hysteria is becoming so extreme that it is creating a Stalinist gulag, where men are dragged from their homes without any evidence of wrongdoing. They are interrogated and forced to confess to crimes they never committed.

That's right. American citizens are routinely forced, on pain of incarceration, to confess to crimes they have not committed.

Forced confessions are familiar from the Stalinist regimes of Eastern Europe. Prisoners were required to denounce themselves publicly for their "crimes" against socialism. Arthur Koestler described this in his novel, Darkness at Noon.

In Warren County, Pennsylvania, fathers like Bob Pessia are told they will be jailed if they refuse to sign papers confessing to acts of violence. The documents require the father to admit, (quote) "I have physically and emotionally battered my partner. I have committed the following acts of violence against her:" He must then describe violence he committed, even if he insists he committed none. He must state, (quote) "I am responsible for the violence I used. My behavior was not provoked."

As Bob Pessia says, "This means I have lie and admit to something that I did not do." Other men testify, "It will be useless to try to defend [ones]self because it will just make it worse."

These officials mean business. In Massachusetts, minister Harry Stewart was jailed for six months for refusing to sign a similar confession.

Perhaps this year for Domestic Violence Awareness Month we might all become aware of how the domestic violence hoax is creating a police state.

Stephen Baskerville