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Domestic Violence In Australia Essay

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Domestic Violence in Australia

Before considering the possible solutions to Domestic Violence in Australia, it is imperative to develop an understanding of the scale and scope of the problem.
Firstly, there must be acknowledgement of the particularly damaging nature of domestic violence, Minister for Child Protection Helen Morton stating, “The impacts of this experience on the physical and emotional wellbeing, and overall quality of life, for adult and child victims can be devastating, with many experiencing a lifetime of fear, threatened and actual abuse and violence.” (Western Australia. Department for Child Protection and Family Support, 2015). The extreme effect domestic violence can have on individuals has a corrosive and insidious …show more content…

Family and Domestic Violence is an issue that affects between one in three and one in five women (Mouzos & Makkai, 2004). In 2014 the Western Australia Police released the statistic that there had been over 40,000 calls for assistance in cases of domestic violence between 2013 and 2014 (Western Australia Police, 2014). Domestic Violence is responsible for the majority of physical injuries to women and is a contributing factor to around 60% of homicides with female victims (Shackelford & Mouzos, …show more content…

Gelles and Straus also found that, closely related to substance abuse, low self-esteem of the perpetrator can also promote physical violence. One theory that gained traction in the early 1970’s through the work of William Goode (1974) is the “ultimate resource theory”. This theory assumes the inherent desire for a male to maintain authority in a family environment, and to be able to supply more highly valued resources to the family unit than his female counterpart. It is then argued that, “men may resort to

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