Injunctions and Domestic Violence
An outline of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between adults who are, or have been, in a relationship together, or between family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.
Whatever form it takes, domestic violence is rarely a one-off incident. More usually it’s a pattern of abusive and controlling behaviour, through which the abuser seeks power over their victim.
Domestic violence occurs across society, regardless of age, gender, race, sexuality, wealth or geography. The figures show, however, that it consists mainly of violence by men against women.
Victims of domestic violence suffer on many levels - health, housing, education - and lose the freedom to live their lives without fear. Our Family and Relationship Team can offer help and support to victims of domestic violence, and can guide and advise you through a number of new measures designed to deal with this difficult and unpleasant situation.
Domestic violence costs the lives of more than 2 women every week. Following the advent of new laws, a national action plan has been published that sets out the progress made so far in tackling the crime and outlines future proposals to further improve support to victims and bring more perpetrators to justice.
Domestic Violence and the Law
Being assaulted, sexually abused, threatened or harassed by a partner or family member is just as much a crime as violence from a stranger, and often more dangerous.
Whether the criminal law can protect victims depends on the particular type of violence and circumstances of the violence, as well as on the responses of criminal justice agencies such as the police, probation and courts. Attrition is also a serious issue. (This is the process by which reported crimes are drastically reduced in number as they proceed from the initial report to the police, through charging, prosecution and eventual sentencing).
- In 30% of domestic violence incidents reported to the police, no action is taken
- In a further 38% of cases, they give a warning only
- On average, 26% of reported incidents results in arrest - and just over a quarter of these lead to a charge (7% of all reported incidents)
- Perpetrators are often charged with crimes that are less serious than the original offence
- 4% of reported incidents results in a conviction
- Bindovers and fines are the most common sentences for perpetrators of domestic violence - and only one in 200 offenders receives a custodial sentence. (0.5% of recorded incidents)
While successful prosecutions for domestic violence offences are rising - from 46% in December 2003 to 68% in September 2007 - these percentages are based only on the small proportion of cases that get as far as the courts.
One problem is that the criminal prosecution process focuses on incidents and ignores the fact that domestic violence involves a pattern of ongoing and controlling behaviour. The criminal law can also only rarely provide a remedy for emotional abuse - which can also have a serious and lasting impact on a woman or child’s sense well-being and autonomy.
Domestic Violence can be addressed
Since 2004 we have seen the development of Specialist Domestic Violence Courts (SDVCs) with associated in-depth support services for high risk victims, identified by Independent Domestic Violence Advisers or IDVAs. In Croydon, a combined criminal and civil court is being developed on the US model. Women’s Aid believes this is the best way forward, working across criminal, civil and family law to achieve effective outcomes in domestic violence cases.
Remember you can always deal with abuse by obtaining an Order from the court to stop the Domestic Violence and you can also obtain an Occupational Order to exclude the Perpetrator from the family home under the Family Law Act 1996.
But we can only really get to grips with the scourge of domestic violence if people come forward. That is the first and often the bravest step. After that, what we can do is help and advise, so that things have the best chance of coming to a satisfactory conclusion.
What are the types of domestic violence?
- Destructive criticism and verbal abuse: shouting /mocking/accusing/name calling/verbally threatening
- Pressure tactics: sulking, threatening to: withhold money, disconnect the telephone, take the car away, commit suicide, take the children away, report you to welfare agencies etc, unless you comply with his demands regarding bringing up the children. Lying to your friends and family about you, telling you that you have no choice in any decisions
- Disrespect: persistently putting you down in front of other people, not listening or responding when you talk, interrupting your telephone calls, taking money from your purse without asking, refusing to help with childcare or housework
- Breaking trust: lying to you, withholding information from you, being jealous, having other relationships, breaking promises and shared agreements.
- Isolation: monitoring or blocking your telephone calls, telling you where you can and cannot go, preventing you from seeing friends and relatives
- Harassment: following you, checking up on you, opening your mail, repeatedly checking to see who has telephoned you, embarrassing you in public
- Threats: making angry gestures, using physical size to intimidate, shouting you down, destroying your possessions, breaking things, punching walls, wielding a knife or a gun, threatening to kill or harm you and the children
- Sexual violence: using force, threats or intimidation to make you perform sexual acts, having sex with you when you don’t want to have sex, any degrading treatment based on your sexual orientation
- Physical violence: punching, slapping, hitting, biting, pinching, kicking, pulling hair out, pushing, shoving, burning, strangling
- Denial: saying the abuse doesn’t happen, saying you caused the abusive behaviour, being publicly gentle and patient, crying and begging for forgiveness, saying it will never happen again
Domestic violence against men
Domestic violence, for so long considered to solely affect women, claims the lives of over 30 men per year nationwide. One man in six will be the victim of domestic violence at some point in his life.
Domestic violence is defined as any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between adults who are or have been in a relationship together, or between family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.
Domestic violence against men is a taboo subject that is rarely aired in public because often men are too ashamed to admit it’s happening or they lack proof that the attacks have taken place.
Victims of domestic violence suffer on many levels from health and housing to education. They lose the freedom to live their lives how they want and without fear.
An exhaustive and comprehensive support system exists for female victims of domestic violence. However, male victims often feel isolated and more worryingly embarrassed due to a lack of social support for their plight. We aim to provide sympathetic and helpful advice to male victims of domestic violence.
Please contact us at familyandrelationships@glazerdelmar.com if you would like more information about dealing with domestic violence.