Violence Against Women Act

In the most recent data available from 2015, it was disclosed that nearly 92,000 Canadians had report to the police an incident related to domestic violence; of this number, 80% of them were women (Burczycka, 2017). It is then no surprise that intimate partnership violence has been found to be one of the major causes of violence against women in Canada (Ministry of the Status of Women, 2015). Many agencies focus on supporting directly the female victims and providing them with secured shelters and safe spaces to rebuild themselves after leaving their abusive relationship (Shelter Safe, 2017). However, a need to address domestic violence from the roots arose in Ontario1982, when the community identified a gap in the offer of programs

Domestic violence is as old as recorded history. There have been reports of domestic violence since the dawn of time, in every country. Throughout history domestic violence has been legal and socially acceptable, until recently. Two major elements have sealed the status of woman for more than six thousand years. Those elements are male dominance, and the concept

The NSW legal system has responded to the issue of domestic violence to achieve justice for family members. The Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 was introduced to better protect victims and the families of domestic violence. Under section 38 of this act, Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO’s) were introduced to protect the adult, importantly, it also instantly includes any children that are living with the adult at the time, unless there are valid reasons as to why they should be let off. This is highly effective for the family of domestic violence as it also ensures the safety of children which demonstrates fairness and equality as all members of the family are included to ensure safety. This act was also significant

In February 2011, the council of Australian Governments (COAG) introduced the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022. The policy includes a 12 year national action plan aims to interrelate the significant work conducted by all Australian governments, community groups/organisations and individuals aiming to reduce the level of violence directed towards woman and children.

State (Miccio, 1999). Through the rule of thumb, any conduct that resulted in black eyes, welts, and split lips constituted no violation of the law. Husbands would not be prosecuted if they beat their wives with a stick no thicker than the diameter of their thumb. This rule of thumb, in effect, gave husbands the right to use physical force as a means to control their wives behavior and women were left at the mercy and control of their husbands. In 1870 the “subtle chastisement” law in the United States ended, but women saw little improvement in the prevalence of domestic violence (Ball, 2002).

The report responding to section 40507 of the Violence Against Women Act from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services- National Institute of Mental Health determined that:

Laney, G. (2010). Congressional Research Service. Violence Against Women Act: History and Federal Funding. 1-20.

Last April, Senate members added a provision to the Violence Against Women Act, first passed in 1994, that would allow

The Congress of the United States in 1994, as part of the Crime Bill, passed law allowing the federal government to take part in the battle against domestic violence. This new law, named The violence against Woman Act (VAWA), To fight this violent crime problem, VAWA made federal domestic violence crimes to be act against by the Department of Justice. Reliable with this federal inventiveness, the Crime Bill also modified the Gun Control Act to embrace domestic violence-related crimes. Congress reiterated its commitment to fight domestic violence crimes by the performing in the fall of 1996 of extra federal domestic violence crimes in both VAWA and the Gun Control Act. The federal government has largely lacked authority over several domestic violence crimes. However domestic violence remains primarily a matter of state and local jurisdiction (Lindhorst, Casey, & Meyers, 2010).

It is evident that violence towards women has become an important matter that needs to end and more awareness has been brought to the issue. Most people are disturbed when hearing about violent crimes that are committed towards

Despite the fact the physical effects of domestic violence could be the similar as for other forms of violent crime, the emotional effects can be much worse. Domestic violence happens when a crime is committed against a victim by someone with whom the victim is or has previously found, in a close relationship or somebody living in the same household as the victim. Domestic violence regulations differ from state to state. These variances range from conceptualization to the requirements under required reporting laws. Because of all these differences, the entire process of avoidance a domestic violence situation rest on each state. The Violence against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) has been designed to increase victim services and detention and trial of batterers. Stakeholders are persons who have an absolute interest in it, any of individuals who begin and perform it, or individuals whom it distresses directly or secondarily. Detecting and concerning stakeholders can be a huge portion of guaranteeing the efforts accomplishment. To obtain stakeholder contribution and support, it’s vital to understand who probable stakeholders are, but their interest in the effort. Since most women and men’s obtain their health care in primary care settings, health care professionals can play a critical role in decreasing the progress of domestic violence through screening and intervention in a regular bases.

In his 2003 paper Jeffery Adler states, "social scientists generally link domestic violence to strains and tensions in gender relations, especially men's efforts to preserve masculine authority. According to many criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists, wife beating represents a "strategy of patriarchal power, typically employed either to discourage women from challenging men's authority or reign in those who stray from established or expected gender roles." (Adler, 2003) In 1995, Michael P Johnson introduced two distinct forms of domestic violence. One is where families suffer from occasional outbursts of violence from either husband or wives (common couple violence) While others are terrorized by systematic male violence (patriarchal terrorism). The distinction between the two is important because it has implications on how policy is implemented, the development of intervention strategies, and educational programs. (Johnson 1995)

Historically, domestic violence on females has evolved drastically. It used to be a norm for women to be objects of their fathers or husbands and lacked civil rights. In many cultures, domestic violence was not preceded as a crime. According to Marcia Chaiken’s article “Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice,” she explains the history of violence against women and how it has evolved through the centuries. Chaiken states how women experience physical and sexual violence by their intimate partners which leave harmful effects on mental and physical health, and their ability to live healthy and productive lives. In the past, men had the right to use physical force against their wives and forcing sex was considered a private relational problem. Forcing sex was sought as romance back in the day, not rape. Religions generally discouraged the act of physical abuse within relationships, but women had to obey the men because they lived under his roof. A common perception of the past was that a man’s home was inviolate and authorities cannot interfere with relationships. Around the 1960s, women

The history of domestic violence goes back all the way to the start of mankind. Ever since lower people were taken advantage of by higher people in society. The men were much stronger than the women which resulted in the women usually being the ones abused. In the beginning, the man had every right to abuse his woman. If you stare back into the 1940’s and 1950’s you will notice that little was done to stop domestic violence. The police would get involved but would leave the situation to be resolved by the family members. As suggested in the peer-reviewed article “Domestic violence past and present” by Anna Clark, policemen would just tell the man to composed himself and the woman to stop aggravating him. For example, in the sentence “Before the 1970s, judges and police officers still saw wife beating as a trivial offense—policemen would tell husbands to calm down and wives to stop annoying them, and cases rarely came to court. Popular culture depicted wife beating as a joke, and psychiatrists saw it as a pathology of the

Domestic violence has been a main issue throughout history and all over the world; it can evidentially affect children, the elderly, women, and even men. Although abuse can affect many individuals, a significant portion of domestic abuse cases are against women. Globally, women are constantly facing physical, social and mental abuse by men and/or their significant others. In past years, the issue of domestic violence has gained the attention of researchers. In fact, studies have shown that it is a global issue negatively impacting the social and health status of individuals, particularly women. A survey of domestic abuse in Canada signifies that 29% of married women have been abused by their partners at least once (Nwosu, 2006). Many argue