newsletter - Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearing House

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8 NEW RESOURCES & INITIATIVES Victorian Family Violence Database (Volume 3): Seven Year Trend Analysis Report Measuring Family Violence in Victoria, third in this series of reports, was released in January 2009 by the Department of Justice Victoria. It is the most recent update of a project begun in 1999 which analyses family violence incidents reported in that State. The database, now administered by the Victims Support Agency in the Department of Justice, incorporates data from Victoria Police family violence incident reports, Victorian Magistrates’ and Children’s Court finalised intervention order applications and the Victorian Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP). The seven year analysis (1999-2006) includes three new data sets: statistics from Victorian Public Hospital Emergency Departments, initial snapshot data from the Department of Justice Victims of Crime Helpline and the Department of Human Services Integrated Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The report’s three appendices provide police data, VEMD data and court data according to local government area (LGA). VEMD is the Victorian public hospital system category identifying human intent injuries caused by a family member. Victorian Public Hospital emergency presentations for family violence (VEMD) figures are recognised as an important inclusion in this kind of data collection, as two per cent of all injuries to women presenting to a hospital emergency department are considered to have been human intended and caused by domestic partners. The VEMD data also allows limited analysis of family violence among Indigenous and CALD persons and, for the first time, analysis of family violence among women with a disability is included. The Victims of Crime Helpline has also contributed one year of data to the report. This free service is confidential and information collected is voluntary and limited to the type of crime, gender of client, type of assistance provided and any other services already involved. Family violence (including child abuse) is the second most commonly reported crime and constitutes 9.5 percent of all calls to the helpline. In the past four years family violence incident reports to the police have levelled off at around 28,000 incidents and the ratio of male to female victims has remained consistent throughout the seven year collecting period. The steady increase in the number of children recorded as witnesses to family violence is seen as validating the increased training of police members in the awareness of the impact of family violence on children. There continue to be significant gaps and limitations in the data collection and there is an awareness of the need for data collection agencies to provide information in a way which is comparable across the various agencies, to better implement integrated responses to family violence. System reform over the past four years has seen an increase in the reporting of family violence and in the accountability of perpetrators, and it is hoped that a more complete picture of family violence reform will be illustrated at the end of 2009, once the new Family Violence Protection Act and Victorian Police Safety Notices have been in place for 12 months. New Clearinghouse issues paper: Better Policing, Better Outcomes This latest Issues Paper from the Clearinghouse explores the ways in which three police agencies have better realised their capacity to keep people safe from domestic and family violence. In the paper, three senior police from different jurisdictions comment on the positive changes their organisations have made to address the issue of domestic and family violence. Some key themes emerge across the different jurisdictions about the elements essential to making change happen within police agencies and in public perceptions of police work around this crime. The paper is based on presentations on policing practice made by the authors at a Clearinghouse forum held in December 2008 in Sydney. Its publication follows the release of the Australasian Policing Strategy on the Prevention and Reduction of Family Violence, in November 2008. That document sets out priorities for action and performance measures for success in a framework to be taken up by each state and territory in Australia and New Zealand. Issues Paper 18 - available now Campbell G, Steendam W, Little C & Marcus G 2009, Better Policing, Better Outcomes: changing police culture to prevent domestic violence and homicide, Issues Paper 18, Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, Sydney New international journal calls for papers A new international journal Partner Abuse published by Springer Publishing is calling for submission of papers. Partner Abuse wants to promote new work, research, interventions, policies, etc. pertaining to any aspect of family/intimate relational violence. www.springerpub.com/journal.aspxjid=1946-6560 Changed your address If you’ve changed your address, email or other contact details, let us know so that we can update our mailing list. Please phone (02) 9385 2990 or email: clearinghouse@unsw.edu.au newsletter 36
Unique new website ‘HURT’ tells real stories 9 HURT is an online interactive virtual house containing embedded video clips of women, children and men describing their experiences of domestic and family violence. This one-of-a-kind resource hopes to raise the curtain on the hidden devastation and turmoil of domestic and family violence, breaking the barrier of shame and silence that so often surrounds women’s and children’s experiences. The stories in HURT are true stories re-told by actors. Actors were used to preserve the privacy and safety of the survivors, perpetrators and service providers who shared their experiences. The website invites users to explore a virtually constructed house from the perspective of any one of 27 characters linked to more than 100 video clips. A DVD and training guide have been produced to facilitate the use of the HURT video clips in a training setting. The training resources are available from the Women’s Council: $25 for members, $50 for non-members, plus $2.50 postage and handling. To obtain a copy contact Nicole or Janette on (08) 9420 7264 or policy@womenscouncil.com.au The Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services (WA) launched HURT in November 2008 in conjunction with the State’s White Ribbon Day activities. The project was funded by the Office for Women, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. www.hurt.net.au www.adfvc.unsw.edu.au NEW RESEARCH Criminal law and breaches of domestic violence protection orders by Dr Heather Douglas, Senior Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland Scholars and activists have long campaigned for domestic violence to be recognised as criminal offending. At the same time, however, they have consistently demonstrated how criminalisation of domestic violence and the processes associated with criminalisation frequently impose further harm on women. This research draws on a study of 645 criminal prosecutions of breaches of domestic violence protection orders in south east Queensland magistrates’ courts in 2005. It explores the process of criminal intervention in this context. This study found that although criminal breach charges are laid, criminal responsibility is often minimised by police prosecution authorities in terms of the type of charge applied. For example, breach charges were preferred even where the offence was identified by police as assault or criminal damage. Furthermore, the research found that defendants minimised their responsibility in the offending conduct, often by blaming the victim. This study reveals several key findings: •that defendants charged with breach of a domestic violence order are less likely to plead guilty than defendants charged with nondomestic violence matters •defendants are more likely to be legally represented in breach matters •criminal prosecutions of domestic violence matters will take longer to finalise than other criminal matters heard in the Magistrates courts, and •overwhelmingly breach charges will result in fines, usually under $200. In most cases sentencing justices fail to tailor an appropriate sentencing response that takes into account the particular background of the offence and the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. In many cases examined in this study, the victim was drawn into the prosecution process to assist in withdrawing charges or to support mitigation of penalty. The approaches of respondents, police, lawyers and magistrates in colluding in the minimisation and trivialisation of violence and the shifting of blame to the victim in the course of applying criminal justice responses were recognised in this study and have been recognised elsewhere. The impact of this approach is that it inflicts further harm on women. The research explores whether there are shifts and changes that can be made in this area of criminal law so that it better embraces the three principles of justice that have been identified by Barbara Hudson: discursiveness, relationalism and reflectiveness. For discussion of this research see: Douglas H 2008, ‘The Criminal Law’s Response to Domestic Violence: What’s Going On’ Sydney Law Review, vol. 30, no 3, pp. 439-469 Douglas H 2007, ‘Not a Crime Like Any Other: Sentencing Breaches of Domestic Violence Protection Orders’ Criminal Law Journal, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 200-233 newsletter 36
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