The Australian Legal System is frequently amending legislation to reduce offences and to parallel with the changing societal views and attitudes. Domestic violence is highly prevalent in today's growing society and is one of the most committed but least reported incidents.It is shown through this as ,”on average at least one woman a week is killed by a partner or former partner in Australia.”.There are legal and non legal structures in place to either aid and help those affected or actions to prevent and stop this.Legal responses like Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) and criminal charges are in place for immediate protection for the victim, whereas non legal responses such as, The media's role and NGO’s like White Ribbon are more in place to address awareness and provide support to those affected by this significant issue impacting our society. These actions are moderately effective in dealing with issues of domestic violence, this is because with any legislation there has been breaches from persistent perpetrators failing to obey requirements.Furthermore, both legal and non legal responses have been effective, to a particular degree, in dealing with issues of domestic violence.
Through, The Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), Domestic violence is defined as: “personal violence committed against someone with whom has or had a domestic relationship with” for say , a marriage, de-facto or child and parent relationships are all considered. Violence is not only the physically slapping, punching and forcefull abuse, theres wide range such as social restrictions, emotional abuse, economical control, sexual abuse, stalking/ harrasmet and the creation of fear all contribute to conculding the defintion of domestic violence. Violence and abuse against others are under the jurisdiction of the states whereas violence in family relationships are determined by family law. Legislation also recognises that domestic violence predominantly perpetrated by men against women and children, but in some cases men are the victim. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence was Founded, 22 Sep 1978 before this time it would be socially acceptable to beat women to either show dominance in the family of represent the power withheld. Written online in a TIME article, it states that “50 years ago doctors were describing beating a women as ‘Therapeutic”. Now days the expectations of behaviours have diversley changed in that ,more support areas are in place, more awareness is being shared and it’s rightfully frowned upon to abuse someone in anyway.
Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders are legal structures made by the courts in place to provide somewhat of immediate protection for a victim.An ADVO is exemplified as a court order that aims to protect the victim from violence by restricting the behavior of the defendants for a period of time an example of this is, if an ADVO has been taken out against a partner and the guidelines state that the person is not allowed to visit the home, they must abide by this, if failing to obey may result in criminal charges.In order to obtain an ADVO the victim must show on the” balance of probabilities” that they are reasonably apprehended fear, violence or harassment by the defendant, and once granted the order remains in force for 12 months unless specified.
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If an ADVO is breached or violated this may result in a criminal offence. These orders are highly required as shown by a statistic from” BOCSAR, stating that from the period of July 2018 - Jun 2019 rate per 100,000 population, that 200.7 orders were breached alone in NSW,”.
This represents that our society are requiring these in order to feel some safety or security but are not being policed enough, these orders are moderately effective as they are quicker , cheaper, more accessible and are flexible in that , the court can order that the defendant restrain themselves from doing a range of activities. On the other hand it's argued that for consistent perpetrators these will not fase them and they will be persistent to offend.Many victims either don't report domestic violence or apply for an ADVOs as they develop fears for either themselves or family, threats from the perpetrator or hoping the violence will stop. Another common issue surrounding ADVOs mention n a Sydney Morning Herald article, “is that society’s views are growing in that apprehended domestic violence orders are little use in stopping violence against women.Also reffered to as 'just a piece of paper'”.This article also brings highlight to, every law has been breached from time to time but if these orders did not exist women and children would not be safer so its best to keep ADVOs in place.
Another legal in response to domestic violence is criminal charges and legislation. Legislation is in place to aid the government in organising society and protecting citizens. It determines amongst others the rights and responsibilities of individuals.
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