The Sentencing Of Domestic And Non Domestic Violence Cases

For centuries domestic violence has been perceived as a private matter private of which the government has not been concerned about nor was it considered the government’s business to intervene on behalf of a battered spouse. The unlawful nature of this failure for state or federal government intervention against this crime contributed to the systematic abuse of women in the family. The traditions, customs, and common law found in both British and American societies continued right up until the last decade of the 20th century and left the battered wives and very frequently, her children, at the mercy of the husband. It wasn’t until the 1990’s when the government began to do something to protect mothers, wives, and lovers from intimate

The above costs could only be an estimate as not many domestic abuse cases are reported. Injuries from domestic violence could simply be recorded as accidents at home or slips & trips. Health care facilities being the first people to face the abuse victims, need to be experienced to recognise the signs of abuse and be confident in dealing with these issues. Proper training needs to be in place for this. Therefore

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

Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is a common problem. As a result, the criminal justice adapted to demands, especially from feminists, who bemoaned the poor response of police, and in turn, the justice system by instituting mandatory arrests. However, mandatory arrests have proven that just like protection or restraining orders, they are not effective in deterring domestic violence (Davis, 2008). Similarly, the arrests do not have a substantial effect on recidivism and create undue procedural complications for the criminal system (Zelcer, 2014). On the contrary, proponents of the approach, argue that it has a deterrent effect on the perpetrators and that it can even protect offer immediate protection for the victims (Clark, 2010). Nonetheless, using statistical evidence and arguments from scholarly sources, this position paper will expose the inefficiencies and constitutional inconsistencies that make mandatory arrests harmful for the batterer, victim, and the criminal justice system.

Domestic violence is a crime that occurs regularly within the United States. It claims millions of victims each year. There is not a specific cause to establish why domestic violence occurs. However, it has been documented that domestic violence is a product of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, and any other forms of torture or torment that the particular abuser wishes to employ to gain control or power over their victims (Gosselin, 2005). Due to the complexity of this crime, many criminologists and socialologists have studied its causes and the effects in order to determine social policies and additional theories to better understand the causation of domestic violence. The social policies and theories that are developed from

What used to be a private issue has significantly reformed to be punishable by law highlighting society’s changing values. The main victims of domestic violence are usually women and children who are subjected to extreme abuse by the spouse. The Family Law Act 1975(Cth) established the Family court which attempted to address issues of domestic violence. However, the imposition of this legislation has reflected societal concerns where the law does not effectively deal with domestic violence as cases are continually unreported. Also, police are not adequately investigating the issue. For example, in the case of Swan, Wayne v D.P.P (2008) an indigenous woman was reluctant in reporting abuse until she was caught wandering the streets, heavily affected by alcohol. Due to cultural barriers, indigenous woman are compelled endure intense abuse in the household. The enactment of Crimes Amendment (Apprehended Violence) Act 1999(NSW) made it mandatory for police to investigate breaches of apprehended domestic violence orders (ADVOs) and arrest perpetrators if necessary. Greater use of ADVOs and investigation has reduced the amount of verbal abuse, physical violence and harassments. However, the case of Jean Majdalawi (1996) forced legislations to take further actions as the victim was shot in the head by her husband outside Parramatta Family Court even though an ADVO had been filed against him. Consequently, the event

Every action is followed by a reaction; however, occasionally the reaction is only a temporary solution that leads to long-term consequences. This is especially true of how domestic violence is currently governed by the criminal justice system and social norms. A lack of preventative care exists and this ignores the consequences of domestic violence in our society. Incidents of domestic violence are often treated as one-time or isolated occurrences; however, in many cases abusers and victims fall back into these learnt behaviors. Therefore, domestic violence is a never-ending cycle that cannot be stopped without cultural and legal changes that focus on preventing further instances of violence and empowering victims to break the cycle.

Aboriginal women more often prosecuted of both sole and dual arrested women. They concluded that dual arresting women is a cause for concern because only 19% of the cases are prosecuted. Leniency from the court is concluded to be greater for women than men because only 30% of female intimate partner violence cases go to trial while 53% of male intimate partner violence are prosecuted. The first limitation given is that the cases only come from one jurisdiction, so it cannot be generalized to other areas. The next limitation is that only female cases were examined and same-sex intimate partner violence cases were excluded. The

Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 to an extent has added to the existing criminal remedies by focussing not just on the physicality of domestic violence but also the psychological aspect in terms of controlling and coercive behaviour (coercive meaning acts used to harm or frighten and controlling meaning acts used to make another subordinate by isolating and depriving them ). However, it has not significantly changed the rules of evidence in protecting victims of domestic violence. In this light, it can be argued that there are problems with the implementation of section 76 in that it does not fully protect victims of domestic violence.

This essay will critically analyse the significant changes that have occurred within domestic violence which is viewed as a vital subject within the criminal justice system. It will explore the way that domestic violence has progressively become a concerning issue in the criminal justice system from being relatively acceptable in recent history. In addition to this, the essay will explore legislation changes in relation to domestic violence and how the police have arguably been forced to change their attitudes towards a problem that was once thought of as a private regard. It will critically analyse the theories put forward as to why domestic violence occurs in today’s society. It will explore the weaknesses within the criminal justice system, especially the police in regards to domestic violence, the police previously viewed domestic violence as a matter of which they should not get involved. However as mentioned in the essay, after many reviews within the system, many improvements have been made to help protect the victim.

With approximately 1.3 million women being victimized by an intimate partner each year and one in every four women experiencing domestic violence at some point in her life-time, domestic violence, also referred to as intimate partner violence Even after decades of increased activism and raised awareness by government agencies, the public and many nonprofit organizations, domestic violence still remains a serious problem within the United States.

When it comes to describing domestic violence all that comes to mind is a woman or man being physically abused or being mistreated and humiliated by another person. You may think that since domestic violence is a serious concern the criminal justice system has taken actions to stop or prevent it. In reality the system is failing these women and some are getting seriously hurt or even killed. Domestic violence was not that popular before the Tracy Thurman case. Ever since the case was shown to the public domestic violence awareness increased. It captured the attention of the public through the media.

Domestic violence is an issue that is impacting the indigenous Australian population (Korff, J. 2015).This should be concerning to Australians so that they may help reduce fatal deaths by domestic violence (Korff, J. 2015).

Victims of crime, particularly those violent in nature, have their rights violated and experience exceedingly high level of trauma and stress (Appendix B, 2015). It is surprising then, that Criminal Justice Systems (CJS) around the world forgo many victims’ rights and provided limited space for them to interact with the system (Sarre, 1999). Rather systems are built around balancing the rights of offenders against the greater safety and need of the community whilst neglecting individual justice needs of the victims (Sarre, 1999). With limited rights and minimal involvement a victim often becomes a disposable utensil to the CJS (Clark, 2010). They are used by the courts to determine the ultimate truth so justice may be served, with no care for the damage that may be caused in the process and then disposed of the case is concluded (Braun, 2014). In 2011-2012 a victimisation survey revealed that 1.2 million Australians were victims of personal crimes, such as assault, robbery and sexual assault (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Of these victims, only half of the crimes were reported to the police (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Such low reporting rates have been contributed in part to this notion of imbalance offender VS victims’ rights (Braun, 2014). Due to the sensitive nature of sexual crimes, the limited available evidence and victim rights, these crimes tend to carry the lowest reporting rates (Braun, 2014). During the latest Australian

According to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), in 2003 to 2012, domestic violence accounted for almost a quarter of all violent crimes committed. According to the same survey conducted, only 55% of those domestic violence crimes were reported to the police. Based on a study that was conducted on past domestic violence crimes, there was a decline of domestic violence from 1994-2003 but in recent years, depending on the type of intimate partner violence, each either had a small increase or stayed the same (Truman, 2014).