Family Violence And Domestic Violence

For the purposes of this paper, the definition of family violence provided in the Queensland Family Violence Protection Act 2012 is utilised. According to the Act, family violence is behaviour that controls or dominates a family member in any way, and causes them to feel fear for their own, or another family member’s, safety or wellbeing. It can include physical, sexual, psychological,

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

Sex is the biological definition of the person, which is through the classification of the genitals. Gender identity is a person’s psychological belief that they are either man or woman no matter the sexual orientation. Gender has created a grand division between men and women. Discriminating women to be weak, unreliable, and irrational. While Men are to be declared as superior. The fight to become equal evolved from the industrial period where woman was no longer needed to also be a provider alongside her partner.

Walter (1969) gave a comprehensive definition of violence as “destructive harm including not only physical assaults that damage the body, but also techniques of inflicting harm by mental or emotional means” (p. 24). However, in the context of intimate relationships, the definition of violence requires more aspects to be determined. The basic questions to be asked when defining domestic violence proposed by Hegarty, Sheehan, and Schonfeld (1999) in their article A Multidimensional Definition of Partner Abuse are 1) which relationships should be included as domestic? And 2) how should violence in domestic life be defined? To answer these questions, Hegarty et al. said that it is important to choose the appropriate definition that is most relevant to the purpose of the studies. Dutton (2006) defined domestic violence in his book Rethinking Domestic Violence as “any violence occurring between intimate partners (same sex or other sex, married or unmarried) and against children” (p. 3), but further said that he will only focus on intimate

Gender is defined as being male or female as defined by roles, social status, and attitude. The perception of oneself and what characterizes gender identity. Included in gender identity is hormone and behavior interaction, along with the examination of psychological, biological, and environmental influences on sexual separation.

Domestic Violence is one of the most occurring situations found in the United States. This form of violence, also known as spousal abuse, happens within a relationship that is intimate or within a marriage. This particular issue seems to be found to affect women more often than men in varying ways such as injury or even death. Some of the injuries found in domestic violence cases are the head, neck, chest, face, breast, and abdomen, which are the most frequently injured. Many people believe that domestic violence is something that pertains to physical damage, but it has more of a psychological affect. The emotional aspect of domestic violence seems to be overlooked because one’s idea may vary

Domestic violence is a major issue with in the Australian society. Domestic violence is defined as a deviant behaviour by a person towards another person in a relevant relationship in any way that controls or dominates another person. (Domestic violence, 2014) ‘The Psychological of Criminal and Antisocial Behaviour’ state that, the primary form of domestic violence is classed as intentional violence. Intentional violence refers to the violent behaviours that are enacted with purpose, its occurs in domestic relationships, where there is a clear imbalance of power. (Mauro. P, 2017)

Domestic violence has become an increasingly dominant problem within Australian society but is constantly pushed to the side like a burden. Domestic violence is a relationship between intimate partners in which one individual seeks to assert power and control over the other and cause fear or intimidation and doesn’t have to be physical abuse, it can be emotional, psychological, financial, sexual or other types of abuse. It can affect anyone in the community regardless of gender, sexual identity, race, age, culture, ethnicity, religion, disability, economic status or location ("home - Domestic Violence", 2016). Violence isn’t just physical violence it can also be sexual, verbal, psychological, emotional, spiritual, economic or social. Domestic violence is the most frequent form of assault in Australian society nevertheless, it remains a hidden problem because it occurs within the privacy of the home and those involved are usually reluctant to speak out. Women and Children are commonly affected by domestic violence in fact, 33.3% of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15 (Domestic Violence Statistics, 2016). Although, studies show that men are not the only perpetrators, in fact more than 10,000 men alone have been affected by domestic violence in NSW ("10,000 men are domestic violence victims", 2016).

First of all I am going to begin with defining sex and gender. Sex in a sociological perspective is defined as the biological and physiological differences between men and women which are contrasted in terms of reproductive function(Abercrombie et al 2000 :313). On the other hand gender is sociologically conceived as the social roles allocated to men and women in society that is to say gender is learned not innate. However previously it was believed that sex determined gender thus the differences between men and

What is intimate partner violence? Intimate partner violence is when a partner is physical and sexually abused. Intimate violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples. Twenty seven percent of women and nearly 12% of men in the United States have experienced contact sexual, violence, physical, or stalking by an intimate partner (Prevent Domestic Violence in Your Community, 2014). 85% of women are victims of domestic violence.1/3 of American women and ¼ of women worldwide will experience domestic/dating violence in their lifetime. (11 Facts About Domestic And Dating Violence, 2014)

Domestic violence is the presence of violence within a relationship and takes place privately in domestic areas (Aic.gov.au, 2015). Domestic violence includes psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse (Aic.gov.au, 2015). In the survey conducted among the general public in Australia an anonymous respondent defined domestic violence as “Violent or aggressive behaviour, typically involving the abuse of a partner” (Kuol A. 2015).

“Domestic violence is a type of abuse by one or both partners in marriage, friends, family, dating or cohabitation” (Aziz & Mahmoud, 2010). There are many forms of abuse from verbal and emotional to physical that often escalates over time in intensity for the victim. Data from the criminal justice system, hospital patient medical records and mental health records, police reports, surveys and social services reports of thousands of women revealed that many are injured and killed as a result of violence from someone close to them. “The US Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender” (Robertson & Murachver, 2009). Researchers and the criminal justice system have not been able to agree on a clear definition to domestic violence which can range from physical injury, stalking, verbal abuse and humiliation, denial of shelter and access to money, and intimidation through aggressive behaviors. The definition of domestic violence may vary but the results from physical injury, mental and emotional trauma, and sometimes even death can last a life time.

Everyone seems to worry when it comes to alcohol or drugs but not when it comes to domestic abuse. Domestic violence refers to the acts of violence that occur within intimate relationships or between family members, this includes physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse. On average at least one woman a week is killed by a partner or former partner in Australia. this fact alone is enough to alarm most people. you might think that this fact was made up but it is very real, this statistic is pretty bad but at least one in three women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15.

In order to recognize the outcomes of domestic violence, it is key to know precisely what domestic violence is. Domestic violence is anything that involves physical damage, sexual assault, or distress of physical damage. In order to aid individuals who are going through domestic violence, it is fundamental to have a healthier understanding of what triggers domestic violence and how it affects the mistreated, abuser, and children of the mistreated.

There's a lot of recognized violence such as domestic violence, emotional violence, and sexual violence. But these aren't the only types of violence that exist.