Domestic Violence and the Police Essay

In this essay I harbour chosen to study and discuss an article ab step to the fore national military force in Britain. The aspects I hurl chosen to concentrate on atomic number 18 the law response to crustal plate(prenominal) ab purpose, recent govern workforcet initiatives and the pecuniary and logistical problems demonstrated by wowork force who are trying to escape from groundless domestic situations. The statistics relating to domestic violence are very move. According to the Womens Aid website, one chance of domestic violence per minute is reported, with an alarm two deaths a week perpetrated by a menstruation or former companion. In addition to this, they report that one in quatern women have suffered some shape of violence in the home. The statistics, from the British abuse lot 2012, alone represent reported violence, and associations who support women that have suffered violence, queer that many more(prenominal) incidents go unreported(Walby & Allen, 2004). So what the definition of domestic violence? The brass definition of domestic violence is Any incident of large(p) 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 not a stark naked phenomenon. in the first place the 1970s it was something that happened, but was kept firmly behind closed doors and set as a private matter. The rise of feminism in the 1970s and the work done with battered women in refuges at that eon, led to a heightened awareness of the problem. Studies completed by feminists at the time claimed to have form a link between the dominance of men in conjunction and the way that incidences of domestic violence were ignored or denied. Conservatives at that time debated the findings and claimed that violence towards women had more to do with the fragmentation of family life and dysfunctional fa milies. They in like manner claimed that the statistics were flawed and that actually men were likewise victims of domestic violence. Straus and Gelles 1986(cited in Giddens), suggested in their report that men were less likely to report domestic attacks, so it was not possible to make a fair comparison. Feminists retaliated by pointing give away that attacks on women were organism regularly beaten by their husbands, whereas men were unremarkably only attacked as a one off incident, and that often the cleaning woman was defending herself or responding to repeated attacks. (Rawthorne 2002,cited in Gibbens).Feminists could also argue that the police force forceitself is a patriarchal. The fact that the police force is liquid antheral dominated with only 36,443 female officers out(a) of a total of 137,139, indicates that it is stock- chill out a male dominated profession, which may make it difficult for the legal age of officers to empathise with the plight of women in an abusive situation. So why does domestic violence occur? Dobash and Dobash (1980) found that one of the major factors that cause domestic violence was the husbands belief that the woman was failing to spare the house properly. With an increase in the number of women working it would not be unreasonable to expect men to do their share of housework, but a study by Arlie Horschchild(1989)(cited in Giddens), found that in reality, working women nevertheless do most of the daily chores and it is considered to be their responsibility. Feminists argue that violence against women is symptomatic of a patriarchal societys attitude to women.Mackinnon (1989) claimed that the subordination of women is the telephone exchange reason for mens violence to women and children. Functionalist theorists such as Talcott Parsons (1956) (cited in Giddens) stated that one partner in the family should stay at home to assume the effective emotional role. In the vast majority of households, that mortal is u sually the woman. Feminists argue that this disadvantages women as they then do not have an income of their own to modify them leave if they need to. In recent eld reported domestic violence figures have decreased but unluckily they have started to increase again. Professor Sylvia Walby (UNESCO Chair in Gender look for at Lancaster University), published a report in February 2012 that stated a rise in the number of cases of domestic violence, and voiced concerns about accompaniment cuts to womens refuges and services. She fears that the recession, combined with local politics cuts to services that keep women safe, may be leading to the current increase.Evidence in the past has indicated that wedding abuse is more prevalent between low-income couples (Cherlin 1999 cited in Giddens). William Goode (1971) felt that whilst men on higher incomes can control women by holding the old bag strings, men who are unable to exert this financial control use violence instead. If this is th e case, the recession may well lead to many more incidents of domestic violence as couples struggle financially and men face redundancy. The article I have chosen features a lady who was being abused by her husband and how she tried to get away from her situation. It is disturbing to read that that the policecompletely failed to assess the situation adequately and leave the women unsupported and vulnerable to further attack. Logic would suggest that as this lady had two small children, the man should have been the one made to leave. instead the policeman involved implied that by staying, she was inviting further violence The police also did not offer to remove the lady and children to a place of safety, or arrange any sort of support for her.In response to this kind of incident, the Association of Chief Police Officers has worked with the CPS to produce a charging checklist (appendix 1) to enable police officers to get a clearer picture on how to obtain a watertight conviction in cases of domestic violence, and to ensure that the officer has imagination about the safety of the complainant. Importantly, the form also records previous incidents of a comparable kind. This would have helped Sabina Akhtar (also mentioned in the article) who was murdered by a former partner, disrespect some(prenominal) appeals to the police to help and protect her. The British Crime Survey found that, while for the majority of women leaving the violent partner halt the violence, 37% said it did not. 18% of those that had left their partner were further exploited by other forms of harassment. 7% who left said that the worst incident of domestic violence took place after they had stopped living with their partner. world-wide figures show that 44% of female homicides are perpetrated by a current or former partner, compared to only 6% of men.(Human rights website).Unfortunately, the current system of allowing bail bond to the perpetrators, gives them the opportunity to re-off end. The current government has acknowledged that domestic violence is still a big problem in this country. The Home Secretary has allocated more than 28 million for specialist services to tackle violence against women and girls until 2015. Problems caused by cultural beliefs such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation, have been given a higher profile with specific units being set up to help the victims of such crimes. They have chosen some(prenominal) key areas to focus on, the first being early intervention This is aimed at young people to ensure that they realise the importance of healthy relationships and understand that they have the right to say no. This campaign has been heavily denote on the television and in schools. Professionals are being trained to identify early signs and risk factors of domestic and sexual violence, child sexual abuse, and deadly practices.The system itself disadvantages women experiencing abuse. There are problems with the way domestic violence is enter and dealt with by the police. According to the article there are currently eleven cases that being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The police are criminate of failing to take womens fears seriously and of failing to provide egis for women who are being abused on a regular basis. The government and the police have acknowledged that attitudes to women and domestic violence are still in need of change. Under the new government initiative, the police have been given new powers to help domestic violence victims break the motorbike of abuse including piloting Domestic Violence Protection Orders which allow police to ban alleged abusers from returning to the victims home for several weeks. In conclusion, it appears that the problem of domestic violence is starting to be brought out into the open.The sad fact is that even if a woman leaves her abusive partner she still is not safe. She often has to give up her home and sometimes even her family to get away. There also the question of financial support. actually often, abusive men control the finances as they use this as another way of keeping control of their partner. According to the Refuge website, men have been known to force women to give up their jobs, take out loans in their name, and generally run up debt. This makes it harder for her to leave because not only has the woman got no money to support herself and her children, but she also has debts against her name. Although the government has made dealing with domestic violence a priority, they are also cutting funding to councils and other associations. It remains to be seen how effective their new policies are and whether they continue to provide funding to enable the services to function.