The really sad thing is, that if you read more on the Thomas James Ball case (he's the guy who hit is 4-year old daughter and made her mouth bloody), there are some flaws in the family court system in some states that do need sorting.
For example, the reason why Ball committed suicide, is that he was going to be jailed for non-payment of child maintenance and his ex-wife's legal fees.
Yet the reality is, Ball had been unemployed for over two years, and that would mean he had no money coming in. Different states have different rules, on how long someone will be paid unemployment benefit concurrently, but the maximum is two years (the average is one year). You then can't claim again for another year.
Ball was told if he showed at the next court date, without the money, he would be jailed until he paid up. However, that is utterly ludicrous, because how could he be expected to get the money to pay, if he was stuck behind bars?! Better surely, to give the guy some help to get a job, and then he could pay.
Ball accepted he owed the money, he never said he wouldn't pay, in fact he wanted to pay, but he couldn't at that time.
The issue with Ball hitting his daughter sickens me, so please don't think I'm a fan of his, because I'm not. I just think the details you find if you look further into his case, do highlight some issues that need to be addressed with the US family court system.
However, the importance of these issues get lost, when men like Ball try to get their point across in such violent and misogynistic ways.