The Police Response To Domestic Violence

ABSTRACT

Domestic violence is one of the most frequent forms of violence in which the police themselves must deal constantly. My assignment describes police officers' experiences, tactics, and changes in policing to deal with different types of domestic violence. Recommendations about the most effective way to train police officers to cope with unexpected situations of integral risk to domestic violence are suggested.

INTRODUCTION

In this essay, I will have the opportunity to assess how social policy responds to the social issues of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a multidimensional problem that worries the perpetrator, the survivor and their families as such indicate that many agencies need to be in connection. Domestic violence prevails in all situations regardless of wealth or poverty in society, religion, ethnicity or geographical position and violent crimes take into consideration an estimate of 15% (Home Office, 2009)

The calculation of the state expenses is about £23 billion per year for domestic violence (Women’s Aid, 2007d). It is not only men who tend to commit domestic abuse, but also some women are violent against men and within same-sex relationships. However, most events are committed by men against women - with a greater threat of abusive repetition and offense of brutality - the soul of this essay will take that into account and how the police respond to the victims of those events.

To acknowledge the situation, in this essay I will explore the origins of domestic violence, considering the situations that gave rise to it and other strategies for change that may be needed to improve

I will explore the changes made in legislation and how this affects the powers of the police and their work. Next, I will explore the criminal justice response such as the Specialized Courts against Domestic Violence and incorporate Domestic Abuse Programs, calculating their effectiveness. Survivors affected by domestic violence may report their incidents to the Police Training Units and can receive support such as housing depending of their circumstance also the support services, child protection, sanctuary schemes, etc.

In addition, the police focus on working strategies to detect future victims of domestic violence. The current importance of response in the criminal justice is pressing the police and, at the same time, may unduly harm black women and other ethnic minority communities who are afraid to deal with the police for lack of confidence.

Historically domestic violence has no concept. Carlson Brown (1994) stated that the reason why male society existed also contributed to the development in which it was reflected in religious texts. It was a principle that man had the responsibility to punish them if he seemed appropriate, because the men believed that the woman and the children were their property.

Feminism has grown over the past ten years and ideology has been challenged. The existence of contraceptives as a pill in 1960 gave women the free choice and self-esteem of the option in case of their reproduction, therefore, in other parts of their lives. In addition, only physical abuse was considered domestic violence and only in 1980 did the government begin to take in account sexual abuse as domestic violence.

Despite this, revaluation of marital rape was not considered a crime until 1991 in England and Wales (Rape Crisis, 2008). Currently, the explanation for domestic violence is amplified. The government interprets any occurrence related to misconduct of abuse or violence as psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults in intimate relationships, partners or family, without gender or sexuality (Home Office, 2009).The term 'domestic violence' in many countries mentions marital violence, but the word may also include child abuse or elder abuse, or abuse to any member of a family within a household. The mode of abuse can be austere 'battering' and spreading through various forms of violence, such as threatening and dominating additional control behaviour.

The survey did a superb study of several citizens based on IPV frequency, intimate partner violence and most notably the World Health Organization (WHO) established the multi-country study for more than 24,000 women in 10 countries on women's health and domestic violence in which they collected IPV data demonstrating various cultural, geographic and urban / rural sites.

The study established that IPV is not a single country issue but, above all, it is a comprehensive issue in all countries.

• 13-61% reported having experienced physical violence by a partner;
• 4-49% reported experiencing severe physical violence by a partner;
• 6-59% reported that the partner abused them at certain times of their lives
• 20-75% reported having previously experienced abuse of their partners' emotional acts during the time they were together. (WHO, 2010)

The Refuge protects women, advocating on their behalf promoting and enforcing progressive legislation.

They suggest to other agencies in the best way and debates to have more awareness about DV by stimulating education, training, and research. DV should be taken in account: 80% of women were victims of various types of abuse, including physical, sexual, financial and emotional violence. 55% of shelter-priority women were strangled by their partner and 55% received death threats (Refuge, 2014).

Michelle's former partner attacked her with a crowbar that she remained in a coma for thirteen weeks, but the children watched the scene.'(Refuge, 2014, page 6) Another case is 'Ayla,' who suffered many years of abuse and suffered a serious risk of violence but managed to flee with her daughter and report to the police. Her husband was arrested, and Ayla took counselling in Kurdish to help her manage her depression and increase her confidence. In the hiding place, where she was placed, she had some black marks on her face and right ear. Later, it came to be confirmed by hospital examinations that she was deaf in the right ear due to ill-treatment for several years. (refuge, 2014 page 6)

For weeks, even months, the shelter functions as a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. In fact, in every three residents, two are traumatized children who need help from specialized people. (Women's Aid, n.d.) In all shelters, we can find workers who give specialized support to children traumatized by domestic violence.

HMIC has found that emergency room 999, the police officer who answers the victim's call, is generally aware of domestic abuse and determines cases according to their reporting methods. They confirm that, in most cases, an officer responds as quickly as possible or within an hour. New strategies to help high-risk victims include a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference 'MARAC' involves social workers, service management for children, police and parole officers and police officers as well as drug workers and alcohol. They also involve housing authorities, mental health authorities, physicians, GP staff, and domestic abuse specialists. The idea arose in Cardiff after the death of a child whose diagnostic detected domestic violence ‘’DV’’ as result of his death. As a result, there are 288 MARACS throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey and Scotland where they meet once a month normally (Home office,2013).

Save your time!
We can take care of your essay

• Proper editing and formatting
• Free revision, title page, and bibliography
• Flexible prices and money-back guarantee

Place Order

The probability that some of the factors derived from men committing violence against the partner (s) are most often derived at young age; low level of schooling; witnessed or suffered violence when they were children; use of drugs and alcohol, personality problems; history of ill-treatment. The main role of the police is to defend people from crime and avoid disorder, but domestic abuse for causing so much damage is part of a considerable number of crimes in general 15.7 billion per year is an estimate in the society budgets (Walby,S. (2009).

Police, as part of a social institution, is forced to deal with incidents of domestic violence. Providing vital help and support to victims of domestic violence as well as helping them make decisions regarding domestic violence resources (Corcoran, Stephenson, Perryman & Allen, 2001). Glanz & Spiegel, 1996). The police have a great responsibility in the prosecution process, as well as providing support and services to the victims of a community. In the UK, young people aged 10 to 24 gave details about the abuse of domestic violence they experienced during childhood. (Radford L., Corral S, Bradley C et al. (2011)

Thus, as guardians of the criminal justice system, the Police Service plays a very important role in the initial situations in which domestic abuse occurs. It is the first point of contact when an incident occurs, as there may be alternatives to rectify and improve situations in which many women suffer primarily because they are victims of domestic violence. In addition, information around the world related to police responses to domestic violence, police practice is paramount. (Berk & Loseke, 1981;Buzawa, Austin, 1993; Worden & Pollitz,1984). Some local research reports have shown great dissatisfaction with the way the police respond to victims of domestic violence (Pretorius1987, Van der Hoven 1989).

International studies (Corcoran et al 2001, Finkelhor,1988; Gelles & Strauss, 1999) indicated that interference in domestic violence is a very difficult and controversial process, since the victim may have doubts beyond the normal scope of the law Sometimes imposes various approaches and strategies of involvement by police officers, for example, other external support as social workers. Some studies describe and analyse the police explanations of their practices in attending to domestic violence occurrences and the response.

According to Sinden and Stephens (1999), knowledge about police practices is essential for understanding the response to domestic violence events. Subsequently, the purpose of the trial is to see the actions of police officers involved in cases of various forms of domestic violence. The way that police confront the occurrence, their action, and the issue response.

According to (Radford L., Corral S, Bradley C et al. (2011), the Home Office instructed HMIC in September 2013 organized a screening to verify how police respond to domestic violence.

• A description of the effectiveness of how the police approach victims of domestic violence, focusing on the consequences and risks of victims, and assisting them adequately.
• Recognize instructions and be aware of how police report domestic violence and abuse.
• Set up advice on these findings when you consider the current practice together. (Home Office,2004)

To answer the questions, HMIC collected data from the archives of the 43 forces funded by the Ministry of Interior. They had a conversation with 70 victims of domestic abuse who were part of central groups throughout England and Wales (and several victims were interviewed in particular). More than 500 victims were interviewed online, plus 200 who worked with victims of domestic abuse, were also surveyed to check the level of efficiency in dealing with domestic.

All police forces in England and Wales were examined by HMIC, senior and operational leaders, and held focus groups with the front-line staff and partners. HMIC made visits to police stations (which were not notified) to analyse the reality of the officer's effectiveness in diligence action. Another measure initiated by the government to reduce domestic violence abuses is the Integrated Domestic Abuse Program (IDAP). (Home Office, 2004). This program requires a lot of effort, dedication and above all training of the team as well as a strong control. (Home Office, 2004).

Legislation is one of the most important means of addressing the problem of domestic violence. The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act of 2004 was established to address the issue of domestic violence in different ways.In 2006 another government response was to create Specialized Domestic Violence Courts (SDVC), the SDVC program of the greatest protection for DV survivors and summon the attackers to be questioned and accountable in various interventions.

However, when the partner is the parent of their children, the victim generally does not want to incriminate the (Women’s Aid, 2007a). The purpose of the act was to provide more protection to RV survivors, enabling the police and the courts to act against criminals. (Home Office, 2008a). Enhancing police powers was to make the common attack an offense to harassment, which could allow the survivor a period of reflection to help him decide whether to proceed with the prosecution or not.

Some of the methods used in SDVCs involve specially trained judges for domestic violence cases with rapid access to Independent Domestic Violence Counsellors (IDVAs) for providing specialist support (Women's Aid, 2008a) Thirty percent of domestic violence begins during pregnancy and 'domestic violence is one of the causes of abortion, the victim loses the baby or even dies when giving birth to a child' (Woman's Aid, 2005b). Another measure taken by the government is how to identify victims who are at risk and provide specialized training of midwives and other health identities that support and encourage pregnant women who experience domestic violence. The victim should report the problem, which is difficult because of the way the perpetrator controls the victim (Jeanjot et al., 2008).

Main results

The general response of the police to victims of domestic abuse is insufficient. This is independent of significant progress in service over 10 years, in the commitment and dedication of many efficient and essential police officers in many forces, there are many weaknesses in the service provided to victims of domestic violence.

There are many policies that demonstrate weakness and victims are at constant risk because some of them are terrible, which makes the victim undecided and at unnecessary risk. Domestic abuse is a priority. Almost all police commissioners acknowledged it as a crime and identified domestic abuses as an urgent issue in criminal strategies.

The reality is that determined intent does not bring the results that people expect. The police to combat domestic abuse does not see that it is as important as dealing with serious organized crime, such as gangs, terrorism and so on.

Organizational issues to combat domestic abuse well is essentially important. It is a complex and delicate subject. Two environments of domestic abuse are not the same, and some victims have been harmed by lack of communication for a few years or for a few decades. Some tools also resources, training and partnerships in place are relevant for the police to develop their work well and get better result.

Conclusions and recommendations

Domestic violence is a multidimensional problem that worries and shocks our society. Women who have survived domestic violence are more concerned about security for themselves and their children and decisions to contact the police, whether to file complaints, and whether to continue their involvement with the criminal justice system. Women should contact the police immediately to avoid violence and receive long-term police support. The victims expected the prosecution and the judicial process to punish and restrict the behaviour of the perpetrators, but the outcome was not always what they expected. As mentioned above the support was needed to help women get involved with the criminal justice system, and possibly the accusations to the perpetrators were dropped. Criminal justice in England is increasing with changes that result in practice and begin to take in account the experiences and concerns of women. This was mainly ostensive to the police. Women saw the police more than ever before as a positive and helpful entity, where they faced 'lower-level' violence. However, where the courts were involved the survivors, female victim / felt abandoned and unhappy, therefore, the long time and emotional 'speculation' vital for the women to follow, was not repeated in the findings for the perpetrators. It gives the impression of a greater need for positive interference and multiple agencies with usual male perpetrators since the criminal justice system is less likely to work in such cases. Data collected on domestic abuse needs to be consistent, comparable, accessible and accurate so that it can be used to monitor progress. This requires the Home Office to develop national data standards in relation to domestic abuse data. The data should be collected by police forces and provided to the Home Office, for example as part of the annual data return.

In addition, the views of victims are a key factor in monitoring evidence of police efficiency. The Ministry of the Interior must ensure that the responses of victims of domestic abuse are always firmly involved in national monitoring measures

References

1. Berk, S. & Loseke, D. (1981) Handling family violence: situational determinants of police arrest in domestic disturbances. Law and Society Review, 18,479.
2. Buzawa, E. & Austin, T. (1993) Determining police response to domestic violence victims. American Behavioural Scientist, Vol.36(5) pp 610-623
3. Carlson, B. (1997) Domestic violence. In: Gitterman, A. Handbook of Social Work Practice with vulnerable populations. New York: Columbia University Press.
4. Corcoran, K., Stephenson, M., Perryman, D. & Allen, S. (2001) Perceptions and utilization of a police-Social work crisis intervention approach to domestic violence. Families in Society, 82(4), 393-398.
5. Dobash, R, and Dobash, R, (1979) Violence against wives: A case against the patriarchy. New York: Free Press.
6. Finkelhor, D. (1988) Stopping family violence: research priorities for the coming decade. Newbury Park: CA: Sage Publications.
7. Glanz, L. & Spiegel, A. (1996) Violence and family life in a contemporary South Africa: research and policy issues. Pretoria: HSRC Publishers.
8. Gelles, R. & Straus, M. (1998) Intimate violence. New York: Simon & Shuster.
9. Jeanjot, I., Barlow, P. and Rozenberg, S. (2008) Domestic violence during pregnancy: survey of patients and healthcare providers. Journal of Women’s Health Vol. 17, No. 4, 557-567.
10. Padayachee, A. (1989) Wife abuse: an investigation among South African Indian women. KwaZulu-Natal: University of Durban Westville. (Unpublished DPhil dissertation)
11. Pretorius, R. (1984) Die vrou as slagoffer van geweld binne huweliksverband: ‘n viktimologiese ondersoek. Pretoria: University of Pretoria. (D. Phil-proef)
12. Radford L, Corral S, Bradley C et al (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC.
13. Sinden, P. & Stephens, B. (1999) Police perceptions of domestic violence: the nexus of victim, perpetrator, event, self and law. Policing: An international Journal of Policing Strategies and Management, 22(3), 313-327.
14. Tickle, L, (2014) Domestic Violence; how services come together to support high risk victims. http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2014/nov/25/day-elimination-violence-women-domestic-abuse. [Accessed December 2018]
15. Van der Hoven, A. (1989) Die mishandelde vrou se belewing van geweld. ‘n Viktomologiese ondersoek. Pretoria: Universiteit van Suid-Afrika. (D. PhilProefskrif)
16. Walby, S, and Allen, J (2004) Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Findings from the British Crime Survey. London, Home Office.
17. Worden, R. & Pollitz, A. (1984) Police arrests in domestic disturbances: a further look. Law and Society Review, 18, 105.
18. WHO/LSHTM. Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence. Geneva/London, World Health Organization/ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2010.
19. http://www.caada.org.uk/marac/Toolkit-MARACRepresentative-Mar-2012.pdf
20. http:/www.cps.gov.uk/legal/assets/uploads/files/joint_cps_acpo_evidence_checklist_for_domestic_violence _cases.doc 35
21. http://www.dashriskchecklist.co.uk/uploads/pdfs/DASH%202009.pdf
22. Crown Prosecution Service (2015). Domestic Violence
23. Home Office (2004) Crime Reduction – Domestic Violence. Available online at: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/domesticviolence/domesticviolence43.htm. [Accessed December 2018]
24. Home Office (2008a) Crime Reduction – Domestic Violence: National Plan for Domestic Violence. Available online at: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/domesticviolence/domesticviolence51.htm. [Accessed December 2018]
25. Home Office (2009) Crime Reduction – Domestic Violence Mini-Site. Available online at: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/dv/dv01.htm.[Accessed December 2018]
26. Home Office (2013) Guidance: Domestic Violence and Abuse. Available at https://www.gov.uk/domestic-violence-and-abuse [Accessed December 2018]
27. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_352362.pdf Office for National Statistics (2013). Focus on violent crime and sexual offences 2012/13 – Chapter Intimate Personal Violence and Partner Abuse.
28. Rape Crisis (2008) Rape in Marriage / Rape by Partner. [Online] Available from http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/rape/maritalrape.html. [Accessed December 2018]
29. Refuge (2014) Annual Report. Available online at http://www.refuge.org.uk/files/Refuge-annual-report-2013-2014.pdf
30. Office for National Statistics (2013). Focus on violent crime and sexual offences 2012/13 – Chapter Intimate Personal Violence and Partner Abuse. Retrieved from: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_352362.pdf
31. Women’s Aid (2005b) Statistics – Pregnancy and Domestic Violence. Available online at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence articles.asp?section=00010001002200010001&itemid=822. [Accessed December 2018]
32. Women’s Aid (2007a) Domestic Violence Crimes and Victims Act 2004: Two New Sections Implemented. Available online at:http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violencearticles.asp?section=00010001002200070001&itemid=1039&itemTitle=Domestic+Violence+Crime+and+Victims+Act+2004%3A+two+new+sections+implemented.[Accessed December 2018]
33. Women’s Aid (2007d) What is Domestic Violence? Available online at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles.asp?section=00010001002200410001&itemid=1272&itemTitle=What+is+domestic+violence. [Accessed 23th December 2018]
34. Women’s Aid (2008a) Action Plan for Tackling Domestic Violence 2008-11. Available online at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles.asp?section=00010001002200430001&itemid=1548. [Accessed December 2018]
35. Women’s Aid (n.d.) Topic: Children. Available online at: www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220002 [Accessed December 2018]
36. World Health Organisation (2002) World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: World Health Organisation. Available online at: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap.pdf?ua=1 [Accessed 23th December 2018]