One of the major reasons given by victims of domestic violence not to flee their offender is the lack of emergency housing options.
Familyviolence.com.au is calling for anyone who has accommodation, such as a spare room, to contact us so we can put them in touch with those victims requiring housing.
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A national review of 2013-14 hospital admissions by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare found:
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1. Lack social support.
2. Limited financial resources.
3. Limited work experience.
4. Child custody and support factors.
5. Unable to take a pet with them.
6. Afraid of being alone.
7. Family or community pressures.
8. Guilty for believing they caused the abuse.
9. The relationship may seem healthy at times.
10. Fear of provoking additional violence.
Domestic violence is one of the top issues affecting women’s health in Australia with International surveys showing that roughly 33% of adult women will experience abuse caused by a male partner. Therefore there is a paramount need for programs that can help to reduce the risk of women having to experience domestic violence.
The paper “Integrated responses to domestic violence: Legally mandated intervention programs for male perpetrators” was published in “Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 404” and is a study that was undertaken by Day et. al. in order to explore the results of an Australian program which was designed to deal with men that are perpetrators of domestic violence. These programs were required by law as part of a treatment program. The data demonstrated that there were some positive benefits in men that had participated in the program. However more research needs to be done in order to determine just how much change would come from the programs to see if they actually result in real change for the men’s lives and problems with domestic violence.
Domestic violence is a broad term that typically refers to abuse among intimate partners. Domestic violence may also extend to family violence in which the perpetrator causes similar abuse to the children or to other family members. In addition the abuse can also cause what is known as secondary victimisation in which the other members of the family witness the violence and suffer psychological damage as a result of being involved with the situation.
Domestic violence can have significant other consequences. Two thirds of women that are killed are actually murdered by their husbands or other live-in partner. Recent statistics from Australia on homicide rates demonstrate that out of 113 incidents with victims that are female, nearly two-thirds of them reported that they had been involved in a domestic disputes.
Programs for men who are the perpetrators of domestic violence began in Australia around the late 1970s. These programs were developed in the context that the victim was the centre focus of the treatment. However the programs have also done great deal in trying to get men to change their attitudes towards relationship issues and women in general in order to get them to stop the domestic violent acts. This paper aims to review the data from analysing these programs and in the paper the data with regards to community based services in Queensland is being reported. As the weeks of the program progress and the perpetrators go through the trials of the program, the risk of reoffending dropped. In addition, the data also noted that the perpetrators perceptions about reoffending changed as the weeks of the program progressed. Since the program also worked with the victims, the study was also able to track the thoughts of the victims on whether the perpetrator was likely to reoffend. The study data indicated that there was a significant drop off there as well.
Research out of Lancaster University found that domestic abuse increases during England World Cup football matches, especially if the team one is following looses. Domestic abuse rose by 38% in Lancashire when the England team played and lost and increased by 26% when the England national team played and won or drew compared with days when there was no England match. A carry-over effect was also found with incidents of domestic abuse 11% higher the day after an England match. The average number of incidents of domestic violence on the days when England played was 79.3 compared with 58.2 on the days the team did not play. The researchers said there could be several factors behind these findings including games being played in warmer temperatures, increased alcohol consumption and individuals being in closer proximity to others.
According to past research published by the Australian Institute of Criminology 44% of all intimate partner homicides involve alcohol. During 2012-13 in Victoria police were called to 60,829 family violence incidents and laid charges in 25,574 of the cases. In NSW in the 12 months to September police recorded 27,808 domestic assaults. In Victoria in 2012-13 there were 45 homicides in family settings.
While much is said about the consumption of alcohol in public places or while driving a motor vehicle little is said about the effects of the consumption of alcohol in the home resulting in domestic violence.
A study in California conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health which interviewed more than 1,500 married or cohabitating opposite-sex couples found that men who regularly drank at parties away from their home were more likely to be violent toward their partners. The study found that in general men who drank often were more likely to be violent toward their partners.
In Australia during 2014 one woman died every week from domestic violence and one woman was hospitalised every 3 hours across the country as the result of domestic violence. The official estimation is that about 1.6 million Australian women have experienced domestic violence and it is suggested that less than half the such abuse is reported suggesting this figure could be over 3 million. Fear of social ostracism & economic desolation are reasons often given by women as to why they do not report their abuse. The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in 2013 revealed that the primary barrier to reporting amongst female victims in refuge was police treatment of the issue. Also of concern is research that shows the children of families that endured domestic violence are more likely to offend as adults.