DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – THE FACTS
What is Domestic Violence?
1. Defining domestic violence
The Government defines domestic violence as:
Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.
Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive and controlling behaviour through which the perpetrator seeks to exert power over the victim. Although the definition recognises adults as being 18 years or over, domestic violence often overlaps with child abuse where children may witness and/or are victims of abuse. Domestic violence cuts across race, gender, sexuality, age, class and geography. However, the majority of perpetrators are men and between 80-95% of those who experience it are women. Domestic violence is a form of violence against women and a gross violation of human rights. It also occurs against men in heterosexual relationships and in same-sex relationships against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.
The Home Office acknowledges that domestic violence includes culturally specific forms of harm, which impact on BME women and which, among others, include:
• Forced marriage – marriage contracted without the valid and free consent of one or both parties involving physical and/or mental duress; • Dowry-related abuse – violence, abuse or harassment perpetrated in order to obtain money, property or goods upon marriage; • Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – female circumcision comprising procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genital organ whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons; • Honour based or related violence – domestic violence or other forms of violence against women perpetrated in the name of religious and cultural notions of so called ‘family honour’.
2. Consequences of domestic violence
Domestic violence can go beyond actual physical violence. It can also involve emotional abuse, the destruction of a spouse’s or partner’s property, their isolation from friends, family or other potential sources of support, control over access to money, personal items, food, transportation and the telephone, and stalking. It can also include violence inflicted on, or witnessed by children. In some minority communities, domestic violence can be perpetrated and/or condoned by the extended family and the community at large. The victim may be accused of bringing dishonour to family and the community, if they question or leave abusive and oppressive relationships. This often results in severe consequences such as social ostracism, sexual harassment and acts of violence, including, in some cases, so called ‘honour killings’.
3. What does the law say about domestic violence?
The Government is committed to tackling domestic violence on every front and ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable. On 18 June 2003, Safety and Justice: The Government’s Proposals on Domestic Violence was published. This set out the Government’s strategy for tackling domestic violence through prevention; protection and justice; and support, and included proposals for legislative and non-legislative changes to the way domestic violence is dealt with in England and Wales.
The consultation ended on September 12, 2003, and responses helped inform final measures in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act, representing the biggest overhaul of domestic violence legislation for thirty years. This is a key part of Government’s aim of putting victims at the heart of the criminal justice system. Measures in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act include:
• Making breach of a non-molestation order a criminal offence. Breach will be punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. This measure will also require the court to consider, whenever it is deciding whether to issue an occupation order, whether it should also issue a non-molestation
• Giving cohabiting same-sex couples the same access to non-molestation and occupation orders as heterosexual couples
• Making couples who have never co-habited or been married eligible for non-molestation and occupation orders
• Issuing guidance on the setting up and conduct of domestic violence homicide reviews
• Enabling courts to impose restraining orders when sentencing for any offence. At present, such orders may only be imposed on offenders convicted of harassment or causing fear of violence
• Enabling courts to impose restraining order on acquittal for any offence (or if conviction has been overturned on appeal), if they consider it necessary to protect the victim
We have refined the work contained in Safety and Justice and created a comprehensive National Delivery Plan which captures all cross departmental work and outlines the plan for local delivery.
This policy work is joined up at the centre but the test for the next couple of years is ensuring that these policy initiatives join up at regional and local level too. Government Offices and local partnerships are critical to interpreting central policy directives and ensuring that there is comprehensive and coordinated delivery.
4. Barriers to support and assistance
It is difficult for most women to leave abusive situation but experience of specialist BME women’s groups shows that BME women can take even longer. This is because women from BME communities, particularly those subject to immigration control, have additional barriers to overcome when attempting to escape domestic violence. The following is a list of some barriers, which are not exhaustive:
• Guilt, shame, confusion, lack of confidence, low self-esteem and uncertainty
• Fear of not being believed or supported by family, community or wider society
• Religious and cultural pressures, such as notions of shame and family honour or dishonour, expectations to “suffer in silence” or accept domestic violence as normal; stigma of divorce/separation; pressure to reconcile and “save the marriage” at all costs; and hopes of changing violent behaviour
• Social ostracism/treated as an outcast, reprisals and further violence or harassment
• Social and racial isolation
• Lack of English or language problems
• Ignorance of rights and services
• Fear and experiences of sexual discrimination
• Fear of and experiences of racial harassment or discrimination
• Fear of removal or deportation
• Fear of losing children to social services or to their partner and his family; or being unable to provide for them
• Inadequate services or responses from agencies, including failure to intervene and protect victims in the name of cultural sensitivity
• Fear that agencies are corrupt and unsympathetic, based on experiences in their homelands
• Homelessness
• Mental health (including post traumatic stress syndrome, depression, self-harm and other conditions – suicide statistics suggest that women in minority communities are more likely to turn to suicide and self-harm than leave abusive situations)
• Other health needs
5. The role of agencies in overcoming barriers
Women and children need support and assistance from statutory and voluntary agencies to overcome barriers and prevent repeat victimisation. This is vital in enabling women and children to seek safety from abusive relationships. The role of agencies includes providing the following
• Law enforcement and legal protection through criminal and civil justice agencies
• Housing and information. Financial assistance. Referral to appropriate health care providers for any health/mental health concerns
• Domestic violence information, advice, advocacy, counselling and support services provided by voluntary sector women’s groups and specialist BME women’s organisations
6. Key statistics
• Domestic violence accounts for 17% of all violent crime in England and Wales
• Domestic violence cost England and Wales around 23 billion in 2001
• £3 billion was spent on public service, including
• £1 billion by the Criminal Justice System, nearly a quarter of its budget for violent crime
• £1.2 billion by the National Health Service
• £250 million by Social Services
• £160 million by local Housing Authorities and Housing Associations
• And over £300 million in civil legal services
• Domestic violence also costs employers nearly £2.7 billion a year in lost economic output
• The cost of human and emotional suffering is estimated to be £17 billion. (Cost of Domestic Violence, Professor Sylvia Walby, University of Leeds)
• 54% of rapists were current or former partners (British Crime Survey 2001)
• Police in the UK receive a call from the public for assistant for domestic violence on average every minute
• For 30% of victims, domestic violence starts or escalates in pregnancy
• In 30-66% of cases where women are being abused, children are also being abused by the same individual
• Repeat victimisation is common. No other type of crime has a rate of repeat victimisation as high
• Victims are at greatest risk of homicide at the point of separation or after leaving a violent partner
• Two women each week are killed by a partners or former partner, a total of over 100 deaths each year. 47% of all female homicide victims compared with 5% of male victims were killed by current or former partners in 2001-2; 116 women killed compared with the 102 killed by current or former partners in 2000-1
• Victims are also killed by family members other than partners or former partners
• Children can also be killed due to domestic violence
• In 2004, more than 15,000 households were accepted, by local housing authorities in England, as being owed a main homelessness duty where the reason for homelessness was fleeing domestic violence. This represents 13% of all homelessness acceptances in England in 2004.
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