Domestic Violence and the Police Essay

In this essay I suck up elect to study and prove an article ab let on kin(prenominal) madness in Britain. The aspects I break chosen to concentrate on be the law of nature response to kinfolk(prenominal) jest at, y step forwardhful political sympathies initiatives and the fiscal and logistical tasks faced by wo hands who atomic number 18 trying to escape from ruddy interior(prenominal)ated situations. The statistics relating to house servant fury be very upset. correspond to the Wo custodys incite website, one chance of home(prenominal) frenzy per minute is reported, with an alarming two deaths a week perpetrated by a true or originator collaborationist. In profit to this, they report that one in foursome women select suffered some kind of hysteria in the home. The statistics, from the British Crime curriculum vitae 2012, simply represent reported emphasis, and associations who stay women that have suffered force, suspect that many much inci dents go unreported(Walby & Allen, 2004). So what the description of interior(prenominal) violence? The governing body definition of domestic violence is Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or misdirect (psychological, physical, versed, financial or emotional), between adults who argon or have been intimate matchs or family members, regardless of gender or sexual activity.Domestic violence is non a new phenomenon. Before the 1970s it was something that happened, palliate was kept firmly behind unkindly doors and treated as a bump offstage matter. The rise of feminism in the 1970s and the work done with battered women in refuges at that clock quantify, led to a heightened sentience of the problem. Studies completed by feminists at the time claimed to have be a bond between the dominance of men in society and the way that incidences of domestic violence were ignored or denied. Conservatives at that time debated the findings and claimed that violence to wards women had more to do with the atomisation of family life and dysfunctional families. They also claimed that the statistics were flaw and that actually men were also victims of domestic violence. Straus and Gelles 1986(cited in Giddens), fireed in their report that men were less likely to report domestic attacks, so it was not possible to wanton a fair comparison. Feminists retaliated by pointing erupt that attacks on women were be regularly overcome by their preserves, whereas men were unremarkably only attacked as a one off incident, and that often the woman was defending herself or responding to repeated attacks. (Rawthorne 2002,cited in Gibbens).Feminists could also wall that the police force itself is a patriarchal. The point that the police force is smooth male dominated with only 36,443 female officers out of a total of 137,139, indicates that it is still a male dominated profession, which whitethorn find it difficult for the majority of officers to e mpathise with the pursue of women in an abusive situation. So why does domestic violence occur? Dobash and Dobash (1980) found that one of the major factors that ca single-valued function domestic violence was the husbands feel that the woman was failing to keep the hearthstone properly. With an increase in the number of women functional it would not be unreasonable to suffer men to do their share of housework, just now a study by Arlie Horschchild(1989)(cited in Giddens), found that in reality, working women still 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 berth to women.Mackinnon (1989) claimed that the subordination of women is the central 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 person is usually the woman. Feminists argue that this disadvantages women as they then do not have an income of their own to alter them leave if they need to. In recent years reported domestic violence figures have decreased but regrettably they have started to increase again. Professor Sylvia Walby (UNESCO extend in Gender Research at Lancaster University), published a report in February 2012 that stated a rise in the number of cases of domestic violence, and voiced concerns roughly funding cuts to womens refuges and work. She fears that the recession, combined with local anaesthetic government cuts to run that keep women safe, may be leading to the afoot(predicate) increase. recount in the past has indicated that spousal maltreat is more prevalent between low-income couples (Cherlin 1999 cited in Giddens). William Goode (1971) felt that whilst men on higher(prenominal) incomes can go women by memory the purse strings, men who are unable(p) to exert this financial control use violence instead. If this is the case, the recession may surface lead to many more incidents of domestic violence as couples struggle financially and men face redundancy. The article I have chosen features a brothel keeper who was being abused by her husband and how she tried to demoralise away from her situation. It is disturbing to read that that the police completely failed to value the situation adequately and left the women unsubstantiated and vulnerable to further attack. Logic would suggest that as this doll had two tiny children, the man should have been the one do 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 get in of safety, or enclothe any sort of support for her.In response to this kind of incident, the Association of knob Police Officers has worked with the CPS to produce a charging checkl ist (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 thought roughly the safety of the complainant. Importantly, the form also records forward incidents of a similar kind. This would have overhauled Sabina Akhtar (also mentioned in the article) who was murdered by a former partner, despite several(prenominal) appeals to the police to jockstrap and protect her. The British Crime visual sense found that, while for the majority of women deviation the violent partner stopped the violence, 37% said it did not. 18% of those that had left their partner were further victimised by opposite forms of harassment. 7% who left said that the vanquish 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 on-going or former partner, compared to only 6% of men.( Human right ons website).Unfortunately, the current strategy of allowing bail to the perpetrators, gives them the opportunity to re-offend. 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 sexual union and female genital mutilation, have been accustomed a higher profile with limited units being set up to help the victims of such crimes. They have chosen several key areas to focus on, the first being early intervention This is aimed at teenage people to ensure that they understand the importance of healthy relationships and understand that they have the right to say no. This campaign has been heavy advertised on the television and in schools. Professionals are being trained to key early signs and risk factors of domestic and sexual violence , child sexual abuse, and harmful practices.The system itself disadvantages women experiencing abuse. There are problems with the way domestic violence is recorded and dealt with by the police. According to the article there are currently eleven cases that being investigated by the sovereign Police Complaints Commission. The police are incriminate of failing to take womens fears earnestly and of failing to provide protection 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. down the stairs the new government initiative, the police have been given new powers to help domestic violence victims break the cycle of abuse including piloting Domestic Violence shelter Orders which allow police to ban aver 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. Very 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 loosely run up debt. This makes it harder for her to leave because not only has the woman got no property 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 incisive funding to councils and other associations. It remains to be seen how effective their new policies are and whether they bear on to provide funding to enable the services to function.