Dual Arrested Women

Family violence in Indigenous communities is linked with the Domestic violence policy (Parliament of Australia, 2011). The Current definition used by the Australia government to guide domestic violence policies. Is that domestic violence “refers to acts of violence that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship” (Chung & Wendt, 2015, p.202). In addition the policy states that violence in a family relationship to be between two people related by blood or marriage. (Department of communities Child Safety and Disability Services, 2012). Thus family violence must have a separate policy to be able to address the accurate impacts of the problem in Indigenous Communities (Larsen & Peterson, 2010).

Brownridge, D. A. (2003). Male Partner Violence Against Aboriginal Women in Canada: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 65-83. Retrieved f rom DOI: 10.1177/08862605 02238541.

When the criminal justice system was established, the main objective was to create neutrality and fairness between the sexes. Even though people might believe that there is no such thing as ‘stereotyping’ in the criminal justice system, it is quite obvious that women are constantly being look down upon because of their sex. In general, women tend to be treated like fragile objects that could break at any moment; the truth is that women can be strong and courageous just like men. Society stereotypes women and the criminal justice system is no different.

The number of women incarcerated is growing at a rapid pace. This calls for a reevaluation of our correction institutions to deal with women’s involvement in crime. Increasing numbers of arrests for property crime and public order offenses are outpacing that of men. The “War on Drugs” has a big influence on why our prisons have become overcrowded in the last 25 years. Women are impacted more than ever because they are being convicted equally for drug and other offenses. Female criminal behavior has always been identified as minor compared to Male’s criminal behavior. Over the years women have made up only small part of the offender populations. There is still only a small

Out of the shadows and into the limelight, the once hidden crime of domestic violence has recently emerged within the Australian community as a widespread criminal issue. This abuse of power occurs in a relationship when one partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate and control the other. Inflicting physical harm upon another human being is undoubtedly a breach of the criminal law, yet the Australian legal system takes little measures to protect the wider community from this type of violence. According to Family Lawyer Richard Ingleby, domestic violence has often been condoned by the legal system due to the fact that assaults occur in the ‘private’ realm of the home where legal measures are regarded as inappropriate, and interventionist. However, by overlooking domestic violence as a criminal offence, does the Australian legal system fail to adequately protect the family unit from this form of violence? Recent studies from the Australian Bureau of Statics have revealed that 23% of women who have ever been married or engaged in a de facto relationship have experienced violence by a partner at some time during the relationship. Due to the secrecy that once surrounded this kind of abuse, victims often feel unable to speak out and seek help, therefore even large surveys cannot provide accurate estimates of the extend of domestic violence within the Australia community (Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre, 1998). Despite the high incidence rate of

Witnesses raised concerns of the non-response of police services to cases of violence against Aboriginal women. In domestic violence situations, police do not always respond in a timely manner to calls for assistance. Witnesses also stated that police sometimes dismiss claims of sexual assault if the woman is Aboriginal and leads a “high-risk” lifestyle.

The issue of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) Family Law is yet another point of the legal system’s failings. ABS figures show that ATSI women are nine times more likely to be victims of domestic violence, with 70% of ATSI children being subject to abuse (‘Crying out for a new beginning’, March 2013, SMH). Once again, the government’s resource inefficiency is brought into

Women no matter where they are in the world are too often victims of violence. They face higher rates than men both if it is sexual assault, stalking, or severe spousal abuse and usually the results are that women will end up extremely injured or dead. With young women suffering the highest rates of violence, Aboriginal women in particular face an increased risk of violence compared to non-Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women in Canada are three times more likely to experience crucial and severe violence compared to non-Aboriginal women. Most of these women end up missing and murdered. The predicaments of missing and murdered Aboriginal women has brought tremendous pain and suffering in homes, in families and throughout Aboriginal communities. Many sources and factors have contributed to hindering solving this issue. Media and discrimination have long been known to have played a huge role in this tragedy.

The United States criminal justice system, an outwardly fair organization of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but for women. The policies imposed in the criminal justice system affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. I plan to examine how gender intersects with the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. Gender plays a significant role in understanding who commits what types of crimes, why they do so, who is most often victimized, and how the criminal justice system responds to these victims and offenders. In order to understand the current state of women and the way in which gender relates to crime and criminal justice, it is first

Women viewed as "feminine" by the court were sent to reformatories, while women viewed as "masculine" were subject to penal institutions alongside male prisoners. To be exact, the odds of incarceration for female defendants were approximately 42% lower than the odds of incarceration for male defendants (Demuth & Doerner, 2014, pg.4). Another study even found that female defendants were sentenced less harshly than male defendants, and on average 14% less likely to be incarcerated and received prison sentences about 7 months shorter (Demuth & Doerner, 2014, pg.4). These statistics prove that female defendants are viewed differently in our court system and thereby receive more lenient sentences. This can be due to the fact that women are looked at as feminine, caregiving creatures, while men are supposed to be the dominant "manly"

It appears from current trends that the rates of crime committed on part of female violators is trending higher as compared to that of male counterparts that comprise the population starting in the year 2000 with female prison population rising to 2.2% verses that of male prison incarceration numbers being only 1.6% in comparison (Sipes, 2012). However it should be noted that the total number of actual prisoners of males is estimated to be 1.5 million with only 113,000 being women or just 14% of the total prison

In viewing the information contained in the aforementioned articles, one can immediately understand the underlying reasons that women are committing more crimes than men. Through the mid-1990s, the arrest rates of both genders has increased steadily, with the male rate far exceeding that of females (Gross, 2009, pp. 84). However, in recent years, a shift has been seen, with the numbers of female offenders rising significantly, especially at the juvenile level, which significantly raises the likelihood of re-offending later in life. As such, an understanding of the differences between the sexes in terms of the reasoning behind their offenses has long been researched.

In the U.S. about 23.6% of women report that they have been threatened, have had attempted or completed physical violence, or unwanted attention by a current or previous intimate partner at some point during their life (Snider, MD, MPH, Webster, ScD, MPH, O 'Sullivan, PhD, & Campbell, PhD, RN, 2009). A reliable, easy, economically feasible, and statistically significant assessment needs to be used to determine the possibility of recidivism in abusers. At the current time, there are multiple assessments available, and all of them have their limitations as well as their positives. The goal of this paper is to compare some of the most popular tests to see which ones are the most accurate, their ease of use, and the possibility of using

All feminist theorists share a common focus on gender inequality; however feminism can be described as a set of perspectives rather than a single viewpoint (Strider, N.d.). Therefore, challenging gender biasness in the criminal justice system from the feminist perspective can take many forms given the fact that there a lot of sources of gender inequality in the system. For example, the early theories of criminal behavior largely ignored gender all together and as a result the field has become largely male dominated and males have also been shown to commit more crimes than women on average.

Female criminality attributes the disparities to the “masked behaviour” of female incidental to their roles (Pollak, 1950). Females have committed all types of crimes such as shoplifting, robbery and murder. However it is very rare that you would find a female committing murder as they are weaker than men and thus it is mostly the minor crimes they commit so they can get away with it.