ACR203 Crime Victims and Justice Management

Introduction

Family violence is a major problem arising now days which lead to many criminal cases. It is better to stop such activities in the budding stage itself. The beginning of family violence happens when the dominant person of the family tries to oppress the feeble person and others are unable to raise their voices. Oppression and suppression are nothing just the mentality of the person suffering from it. One shall always stand for their rights and never tolerate any kind of misbehavior even if it is happening in their family itself. There are many reasons of family violence like, depression, excessive drinking, esteem need, tradition in family. Violence can be of many types like emotional/psychological, physical, sexual violence etc.

Female violence in victoria

Female being thought of a weaker section of the society is being suppressed by many. But this thinking I totally wrong, it is about the ego need of a male who is dominant and cannot bear to see a women standing shoulder to shoulder with him, therefore he feels that beating women is a way to make them realize her place and to fulfill his esteem needs. In Australia 1 out of every 5 women faces sexual and physical abuse and 62% of women experienced physical assault by a male perpetrator (Liberty victoria, 2017). On an average around 58% of women have never contacted the police or shared her situation with anyone, women who have children also face such assault and its data is 61% (Australian institute of criminology, 2017).

Family incidents in victoria (January 2012 to December 2016)

(Source: crime statistics, 2017)

In victoria the ratio is very depressing as the age group of 15-44 faces the problem of family violence; with the end of 2016; 78628 family incidents were recorded by the victoria police which rose by 5.7% from 2015. Female abuse is practically seen that it affects to one person but in person, that abuse also affects to other people of the family. The data of that indirect abuse to other members of the family is:

(Source: crime statistic, 2017)

By looking at the data it is assumed that the rate of abused has been regularly. Even after taking many initiatives there has been increase in this rate because the victim herself is not trying to take a stand herself. And they are even not trying to come and face the situation instead they are just dealing with it alone. As the data shows that rate of victim reports has not increased in last five years but it has maintained a continuous pace. As it is seen in above analysis that the crime is increasing rapidly but the cases filed rate has not increased (crime statistics, 2017).

Proportion of all victim reports by offence category, January 2012 to December 2016

(Source: Crime Statistics, 2017)

Women suffering from abuse are not only of one category that is rural or indigenous but all community of women whether they are working or homemaker or from remote areas; all of them are suffering from the cause of violence (Vic, 2017). Some of the major risk factors that influence violence in the society are masculinity, tradition in family, alcohol and drugs.

Masculinity relates to the male ego that resides mainly in the head of the family who thinks that he is superior and everybody else will do work according to his will only. Such person does not believe in gender equality instead they feel that women are the weaker section of the society who needs protection and support of male. A toxic masculinity encourages violence as it is their chauvinist nature which makes them rigid due to which they are unable to adapt changes. This also leads to domestic rape or sexual assault as the ego of the chauvinist cannot bear rejection which makes them angry thus leading to such cases.

It has been noticed from earlier times that people do believe in hitting women as a practice. So this culture of female has become a culture in such families. It is a cultural myth that men are the superior gender in the society and is allowed to practice any kind of behavior with women. They feel good by suppression women because it fulfill their ego needs. Such kind of people do not receive any kind of social learning in their growing age which make them believe that whatever they see their parents doing is right. In fact in such cases women does not even get to acknowledge this fact they their husband, father, brother etc. (dominant person) is doing wrong to them, they assume that whatever is happening happened with their mother and sister as well so this the right of male to beat her and obligation female to get beaten by him (Parliament of Australia, 2011). This stereotype nature is inherited by some people in their growing age only as the teachings they receive are not right therefore, the oppressor and suppressor both shall receive social learning in order to decide themselves that what is right and what is wrong for them.

The people in taking toxics like alcohol and drugs tends to be more aggressive and abusive as compared other people generally it is reported that 25 to 85 percent of people batter or assault their spouse due to excessive consumption of such toxics. A person after drinking alcohol has a totally different nature from the sober person he was (Vichealth, 2017). Alcohol and drugs makes that person’s thinking capacity null due to which he is unable to understand things. This makes him do illegal activities because of his nervous breakdown. Studies tell that men who are unable to control their drinking are prone to do illegal activity because of their imbalanced state of mind. However not all people who drink perform such and not all people who perform such acts drink but this is considered as one of the major risk factor due to which female violence happen (crime statistics, 2017).

From past 15 years victoria has been on front in the cases of family violence to which certain provision have also been taken to give such activities a stop. Such as family violence protection, commonwealth act etc. which were made for the protection of victims from the abuse. For women the government (COAG) initiated various reforms such as amending the national domestic violence order scheme and criminal charges in order to prevent the victims from perpetrator’s abuse and also established a position of Coordinator-General for Domestic and Family Violence for the purpose of monitoring the laws and protecting the rights of the victims (Council of Australian Governments (COAG) 2017). The aim of this practice was to increase the safety for all the victims and share information as much as possible. Also they aimed to provide support to AFM (affected family members) to stay safe at their places. For the victims residing in victoria the commonwealth government also funded 24/7 counseling help telephonic as well as online. The Victorian police also initiated party safe program to minimize the risk happening in the parties (Victoria police, 2015).

The COAG endorsed national plan to reduce domestic violence against women and their children in 2011. Under which the office for women (OfW) worked together with federal department of social services (DSS) to implement the nation plan. The National Plan aimed following policies; free and safe community; respectful relationship; strengthen indigenous communities; services provided shall meet the needs of victimized women and their children; perpetrator shall stop their violence and held liable for their actions; justice shall be effective (Commonwealth, 2009).

The VP also initiated emergency services for victims by calling at 000 in case of urgent need. Section 13 of family violence act gives power to the police to direct and detain their powers and ensure safety of affected family members. A warrant maybe issued under section 50 of this act to arrest the perpetrator. The government also begun Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria for the common people in order to counsel them, save them from domestic assaults and educate the for their rights and laws made for them (Legislation, 2008). For domestic violence to women both civil and criminal laws are applicable. Family Law Act 1975 the court works on its proceedings. Commonwealth and the state government are working on the same to provide assistance to the victims and implement the Nation Plan 2010-22 to reduce violence against women and their children (ALRC, 2011). This national plan includes certain action plans initiated for the accomplishment of specific purpose like prevention from sexual assault, providing greater support to children and women who are affected etc. different communities like Vichealth initiated surveys to understand the state of victims and find the fact ad figures of victoria family violence (ABC, 2016).

The victoria government also aims to provide living facility to the victims who have accommodation issues also they announced Women Safety Package of around $15 million to provide legal as well as health support to victims located in high alert and remote areas. They have stay safe care facility which provide such services. For accommodation services the government initiated National Partnership on Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) for delivering their services to victims in crisis. For 2015-16 the government prepared the budget of $230 million to help homeless victims (Human rights, 2012).

The Victorian government is working had to solves the problem of female domestic violence but such issues will only resolve if the victims would get proper social learning about their rights and remedies. Even after originating such norms for the cases, still the ratio is not decreasing but increasing. So the government shall work on to find the causes due to which there has been an increase in such figures. The reasons due to which there has been a high rate of family violence are negligence in the nature of women, societal pressure, ignorance of their pain and many more.

Female violence is a crucial issue which needs focus by the country. The WHO international illustrated that instead of focusing on providing the support services the government need to focus more on prevention of such services in their country. For the purpose the prime minister stated that he will try to elevate the issue of national consciousness and will clear the fact that domestic, family and female violence is intolerable in any kind of circumstances and strict actions shall be taken for the same. The opposition labor party also provided fund of $ 70 million in National Crisis Summit to ensure legal assistance and safety to victims (World Health Organization (WHO) 2013). 

Reference

ABC, 2016, Fact file: Domestic violence in Australia, viewed from, < https://www.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/2016-04-06/fact-file-domestic-violence-statistics/7147938>

ALRC, 2011, Family Violence and Commonwealth Laws—Improving Legal Frameworks, ALRC Report, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdfs/publications/whole_alrc_117.pdf

Australian institute of criminology, 2017, Key issues in domestic violence, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/1-10/07.html

Commonwealth, 2009, Domestic violence laws in Australia, The National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

Council of Australian Governments (COAG), 2017, National plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010–2022, Department of Social Services (DSS), retrieved from, < https://www.dss.gov.au/women/programs-services/reducing-violence/the-national-plan-to-reduce-violence-against-women-and-their-children-2010-2022>

Crime statistics, 2017, Data released: Victorian Family Violence Database, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/data-released-victorian-family-violence-database

Crime statistics, 2017, Family Violence, viewed on 19 may2017, from https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/research-and-evaluation/publications/family-violence

Human rights, 2012, Consolidation of Commonwealth Discrimination law - domestic and family violence, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/consolidation-commonwealth-discrimination-law-domestic-and-family-violence

Legislation, 2008, Family Violence Protection Act 2008, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubStatbook.nsf/f932b66241ecf1b7ca256e92000e23be/083D69EC540CD748CA2574CD0015E27C/$FILE/08-52a.pdf

Liberty victoria, 2017, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://libertyvictoria.org.au/lv/themes/criminal-justice

Parliament of Australia, 2011, Domestic violence in Australia—an overview of the issues, viewed on 19 may 2017, from < https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2011-2012/DVAustralia>

Vic, 2017, Family Violence the Plan for Change, viewed o 19 may 2017, from, https://www.vic.gov.au/familyviolence.html

Vichealth, 2017, Alcohol Culture Change Initiative 2016-2019, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/programs-and-projects/alcohol-culture-change-initiative

Victoria police, 2015, Code of Practice for the Investigation of Family Violence, viewed on 19 may 2017, from https://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=43361

World Health Organisation (WHO), 2013, Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and South African Medical Research Council.