Domestic Violence
'A large portion of this type of violence is committed by people who do not see their acts as criminal against people who do not know they are victims'
Richard Davis.
The real questions should ask ‘Why are we so violent?’ and ‘What systems support the violence?’
We all need to stand shoulder to shoulder and condemn violence whoever does it, and until we do, the very real violence being committed against, and in front of our boys and our girls will continue to reinforce gender and violence as a way of life.
Society needs to support the victims, and not be sabotaged by those whose limited agenda values one type of victim over another or the systems that let it happen. full text
Secrets and Lies: Responding to attacks on domestic violence campaigns
Of people who experienced physical abuse before the age of 15, 55.6% were abused by a father or step-father and 25.9% by a mother or step-mother. For people who experienced sexual abuse before the age of 15, fathers, step-fathers and other male relatives made up 43.7% of the perpetrators and mothers and other female relatives made up only 1.7%.
Domestic Violence 50 years On
Domestic violence whether ``minor'' or otherwise should not be tolerated as the mental trauma extends way beyond the perpetrator and victim and can go on for well over 20 years for family members.
Domestic Violence in NSW
Domestic violence is an issue that permeates all levels of society. It is difficult to accurately estimate the true incidence of domestic violence in society as most incidents are not reported to police and some victims may attempt to deny or hide its reality. Access Economics believes that approximately 1.6 million women in Australia have experienced domestic violence in some form since the age of 15. In the overwhelming majority of incidents, the violence is perpetrated by a man against a woman. However, the reverse situation is not unknown, nor are same sex relationships immune to domestic violence.
Dad charged after 8yo witnesses mum's murder
A man has appeared in court charged with murdering his wife in front of his eight-year-old daughter at Randwick, in Sydney's east, on Wednesday night. It is alleged the 35-year-old stabbed his wife to death before fleeing with the girl, prompting fears for her safety.
Do We Ignore Do we ignore violence against men?
This item was published in the media just after White Ribbon Day and the 16 Days of Activism to prevent violence towards women. Such responses are unfortunately common when campaigns that highlight violence against women are undertaken. Violence towards women in particular is downplayed when it is said to be a 'social problem' and not a gender issue. Violence in our society is at alarming levels, however, the majority of violence to men is perpetrated by men, and despite claims to the contrary, huge resources are dedicated to combating and controlling this phenomenon. The list of signatories following this article are also of concern, some of whom were 'surprised' to see their names on the document.
Response to 'Male victims of violence must not be ignored'
Ultimately, Woods' claims do a great disservice to the men he seeks to support. While men are overwhelmingly responsible for family and intimate partner violence, they also subsequently suffer the humiliation of being caught up in the judicial system, or at best the grief of losing a relationship and access to children due to the use of violence in the past. Perhaps if fewer men used violence towards women, we would be concurrently addressing a raft of issues men face today.
Nobody doubts that some men experience violence from women, but overwhelmingly it is us, the men, who do almost all the damage. Fudging the figures only continues to keeping the issue silent and hidden. White Ribbon Day is about men being active in stopping violence. Woods would do worse than to get on board.
“If I Killed You, I'd Get the Kids”: Women's Survival and Protection Work with Child Custody and Access in the Context of Woman Abuse
Public interest in child custody and access has intensified under the guise of gender neutrality and without adequate attention to gender based violence. A study of formal systems' responses to abuse by intimate partners identified child custody and access as a central issue. Interviews with women revealed that upon leaving abusive partners, women's work involved the contradictory requirements of preserving the children's relationships with, yet protecting them from, their fathers. Interviews with service providers and document analysis illustrated how certain practices, policies and ideologies create and sustain these requirements. Findings illustrate that gender analysis and accounting for violence in custody and access practice are necessary to the safety of women and children.
DRAGONFLY WHISPERS
The experiences of women who have lived with domestic violence and their journey through the Family Court. Sera's Women's Shelter, North Queensland Domestic Violence Resource Service and the North Queensland Combined Women's Services
Aardvark Programme
A program for children who have experienced living with Domestic Violence.
The program allows children to talk freely about their feelings, speak up about being scared, angry and unsafe.
PARKAS Parents Accepting Responsibility Kids Are Safe
The PARKAS program began at the request of adult clients who had been the victems of domestic violence, as well as clients who had been the perpetrators of family violence. The intention was to develop a child focused group work program that would assist children to rebuild often fragile relationships they experienced with their parents/carers as a result of family violence.
Interesting case
In this case we have a father who thinks its ok to hit a child with a belt.
There are letters between the parties - the father makes plenty of allegations against mum, uses aggressive and abusive language, but also denies his actions are violent. The judge thought they were and said so. Could this be an example of false denial of violent and unacceptable behaviour - because in his mind, his behaviour to the child is ok? The only reason we can see it is because he has put it in writing. If all the sparring between the parties was verbal, then there would have been no reason for an injunction. Dad would have said, as he did in the letter, "mum is putting ideas into the kids head" or similar, Mum would have said, "No I don't, the child told me dad is violent and belts him" Dads response. " I am not violent - I only administer reasonable and necessary discipline"...( H & H FCWA 111 PT 6061 of 2001)
Female Violence: Speak Softly but Carry a Big Stick
The future well-being of a society is directly linked to its ability to care for and educate its young. Families that cannot successfully care for their young, nurture the seeds of future violence and criminality. Until we learn this, we will continue to build more prisons at a much higher cost than treatment or prevention. Until we fully recognise and support the importance of the parental task of caring for its young, we will not stop the cycle of violence.
Women main target of partner violence despite public misconceptions
Female victims of assault are seven times more likely to have been assaulted by a partner or ex-partner than male assault victims, the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.
But despite this, the number of Victorians who mistakenly believe that men and women are equally responsible for domestic violence has doubled in the past decade
Battered women 'betrayed by police
Battered women are being wrongly prosecuted by NSW Police, an advocacy group says. The report, which has been forwarded to the NSW Ombudsman, is based on the study of seven women who had been assaulted by their partners but found themselves in court after calling police.
Domestic Violence And Children
In homes where domestic violence occurs, children are also at high risk of suffering physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Whether or not they are physically abused, children who witness domestic violence suffer significant emotional and psychological trauma said to be similar to that experienced by victims of child abuse. A child may experience domestic violence at a number of levels. As direct victims of physical abuse or serious neglect .Research suggests that men who abuse their partners are likely to assault their children. The abuse of women who are mothers usually predates the infliction of child abuse. At least half of all abusive partners also batter their children. The more severe the abuse of the mother, the worse the child abuse. Daughters are more likely than sons to become victims. Woman abuse is also the context for sexual abuse of female children. Where the mother is assaulted by the father, daughters are exposed to a risk of sexual abuse 6.51 times greater than girls in non abusive families Where a male is the perpetrator of child abuse, one study demonstrated that there is a 70 percent chance that any injury to the child will be severe and 80 percent of child fatalities within the family are attributable to fathers or father surrogates.
Trends in Homicide, 1968 - 1992
The masculine nature of homicide, that is men killing other men as well as women, is universal. The motives and interactions differ however, depending on the victim's gender. Women are frequently passive, and usually noncontributing victims, often family members or sexual intimates. However, according to a study carried out in Victoria, 7 men are often killed as a result of confrontational violence. This mainly involves men who are highly marginal in an economic and social sense. They display high risk-taking behaviour regarding their own, and others lives during disputes. Often conflict, or saving face, escalates to physical violence, and sometimes this results in a fatality.
A recent overview of homicide patterns in Australia suggests that male suspects are more likely to be single or divorced, while female suspects are more likely to be married or in a de facto relationship. This ties in with the pattern of a relatively high proportion of women offenders involved in spousal homicides - 52.0 per cent of female offenders killed their spouses, compared with 18.2 per cent of male offenders. However, it should be remembered that female offenders are relatively infrequent, and overall, many more women than men are the victims of spousal homicide.
STATISTICS FROM THE UK
Claims are made that the following statistics prove that that mothers are the greatest danger to children, and the courts should be giving more fathers custody of children after separation. The study found that children are seven times more likely to be beaten badly by their parents than sexually abused by them and violent acts towards children are more likely to be meted out by mothers than fathers. Despite the proportion of mothers involved in violent treatment, a fifth (20%) of the sample were 'sometimes really afraid' of their fathers. In comparison, only 7% of the sample were 'sometimes really afraid' of their mothers.
Common Misconceptions in Addressing Domestic Violence in Child Custody Disputes
Domestic violence has been recognised as an important factor to consider in determining the best interests of children in custody and visitation disputes. However, there remain many misconceptions about the extent and impact of domestic violence in child custody proceedings. Several misconceptions are identified and juxtaposed with the reality of emerging knowledge in this field, and implications are outlined. These issues are illustrated by the perspectives of 62 women victims and 95 children exposed to domestic violence who had to navigate the justice system after separation from an abuser. Recommendations are offered for enhancing professional education, resource development, and collaboration among courts and community service providers.
Domestic Violence Related Homicides in WA
Series of statistics re homicides in WA.
The Criminal Justice System's Response To Women Who Kill Their Partners
Violence in all cultures is heavily gendered - and Australia is no exception. A person's experience of violence as both a victim and a perpetrator will be influenced by whether they are male or female. It will also be influenced by their race, culture, socioeconomic circumstances, sexual orientation and many other factors.
In examining spousal homicide committed by women it must first be noted that this is a rare social phenomenon. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, in the 10 year period from 1989 to 1999 there were 3,481 homicide offenders in Australia of whom only 437 (12.8%) were women.
However, women are most likely to kill (in descending order) their husbands, ex-husbands, de facto partners and lovers followed by children and other relatives.
On my calculations, approximately 162 men died at the hands of their female partners over that decade.
Many studies have shown that when women kill male partners, this typically follows "a history of physical abuse by [that] partner".
In contrast, when men kill their spouses, it is usually their last act of violence against their long-term victim. In other words most spousal homicide, whether the man or the woman killed, is the final act in a long pattern of domestic violence perpetrated by a man against a woman.
REFERENCES EXAMINING ASSAULTS BY WOMEN ON THEIR SPOUSES OR MALE PARTNERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SUMMARY:
These "statistics" and "research articles" are often quoted to support the claim that women are more violent than men. However, their is no revelation as to what terms of reference were used to define violence. The "research" states that women perpetrated greater partner violence than men, that women were more seriously injured than men. It is reported that women were more prone to violence when they were abused as children. The report also does not make any reference to violence of males or females against children.
Family Violence and the Shared Parental Responsibility Act:
Family violence in family law disputes is an ongoing and significant concern, with an estimated 66% of all separations involving violence and abuse issues. The impacts of family violence on children, whether as victims or witnesses, are well known: such children may develop emotional and/or behavioral problems, learning difficulties and a variety of health concerns. Further, the impact of family violence is not limited to the individual child; there are also significant generational effects, with children who witness or are subjected to family violence being 100 times more likely to perpetrate similar violence against their own families than children who do not experience this abuse.
"Fathers' Rights" and Violence Against Women
The fathers' rights movement has had four forms of impact on violence against women.
Most importantly, the fathers' rights movement has influenced family law, with damaging consequences for women, children, and indeed men. Above all, fathers' contact with children has been privileged, over children's safety from violence.
An uncritical assumption that children's contact with both parents is necessary now pervades the courts and the media. The Family Court's new principle of the 'right to contact' is overriding its principle of the right to 'safety from violence'. The Court now is more likely to make interim orders for children's unsupervised contact in cases involving domestic violence or child abuse, to use hand-over arrangements rather than suspend contact until trial, and to make orders for joint residence where there is a high level of conflict between the separated parents and one parent strongly objects to shared residence
HOW THE FATHERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT UNDERMINNES THE PROTECTIONS AVAILABLE TO VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE AND PROTECTS THE PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENCE
Fathers' rights groups have attempted to:
- Wind back the legal protections available to victims of violence, and
- Wind back the legal sanctions imposed on perpetrators of violence.
While fathers' rights groups often claim to speak on behalf of male victims of domestic violence, these efforts undermine the policies and services that would protect and gain justice for these same men. Fathers' rights advocates also make excuses for perpetrators:
- Act as direct advocates for perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of violence against women;
- Use abusive strategies themselves;
- Work to undermine and harass the services and institutions that work with the victims and survivors of violence.
Is Domestic Violence a Gender Issue?
The gender debate on Domestic Violence that continues to prevent the problem being addressed. This article highlights the commonality of the two parties ( a victim support person and a person who lobbies for 'fathers') in their abhorrence of violence, and how, when gender issues are raised – gender becomes the topic of importance, rather than the act of violence itself.
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
"It is not only an international tragedy that we need to have a day to symbolize and draw attention to the prevalence of violence against women in all societies throughout the world," said Mr von Doussa. "But worse that we, as a nation, must take this day to reflect upon the fact that we consider Australia to be a sophisticated 21st century country, yet violence against women is one of our greatest social problems."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey Australia (2005) found that over 400,000 men were perpetrators of violence against women and almost 1.3 million Australian women had experienced physical and sexual violence from a current or former partner since the age of 15.
Just Another Little Murder
My sister was trying to flee a possessive, armed man when she had her young life ended. If Peter Keogh had been armed with a gun, rather than a knife, when he attacked my sister outside the kindergarten where she worked, who knows what the death count might have been? It wasn't the first time Keogh had used a knife. He was only 14 years of age when he brandished one at a policeman - alongside Preston Railway Station in 1963 - before being shot in the knee-cap. After a string of attacks on women in the 70s, in 1981 he tried to stab a former girlfriend in her house in Northcote. (Peter Keogh committed suicide in 2001)
Man convicted of de facto's 'callous' murder
A 27-year-old Brisbane man has been imprisoned for life after being convicted of murdering his de facto partner three years ago. Terrance John Jackson was sentenced to life for the murder of 53-year-old Marita Ameli Brown.
Law Reform by Frozen Chook - Reg Graycar
Barry Williams Lone Fathers' Association spokesperson, maintains that men and women are equally violent. "My ex-wife, for example, once chucked a frozen chook at me" he says by way of illustration.
There are numerous references to the hope that a shared parenting law would alleviate the distress of non-custodial parents, the majority of whom are fathers.The fathers' groups persistently claim that the Court is 'biased' against them.But their claims had (and have) no empirical support: the literature and the available studies show that the Family Court makes orders (in contested cases) in favour of fathers at twice the rate of those made by consent
OTHER SUBJECT HEADINGS:
Familicide
Child Abuse
Child Sexual Assault
Domestic Violence
Male Suicide
False Allegations or False Denials?