Using a feminist standpoint to explore women’s disclosure of domestic violence and their interaction with statutory agencies (original) (raw)
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Health professionals’ responses to women’s disclosure of domestic violence
This study explored women’s experiences of their responses from health professionals following disclosure of domestic violence within a health setting. The existence of health based policies guiding professionals in the provision of appropriate support following disclosure of domestic violence is only effective if health professionals understand the dynamics of violent relationships. This paper focuses on the findings from the interviews conducted with fifteen women living in the UK who disclosed their experiences of domestic violence when accessing healthcare. Following thematic analysis, themes emerged that rotated around their disclosure and the responses they received from health professionals. The first two themes revealed the repudiation of, or recognition of and failure to act upon, domestic violence. A description of how the health professional’s behaviour became analogous with that of the perpetrator is discussed. The final theme illuminated women’s’ receipt of appropriate and sensitive support, leading to a positive trajectory away from a violent relationship. The findings suggest that the implicit understanding of the dynamics of violent relationships and the behaviours of the perpetrator of domestic violence are essential components of health care provision to avoid inadvertent inappropriate interactions with women.
Bond Law Review, 2018
At the time of writing, the issue of domestic violence is under the spotlight in Australia. In Queensland, the focus on reducing the incidence of domestic violence has increased since the Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence released the 'Not Now, Not Ever' report. One of the most recent developments in Queensland is the Queensland Law Reform Commission's Review and Report about whether a domestic violence disclosure scheme ('DVDS') should be introduced in Queensland. A DVDS aims to provide potential victims of domestic violence (and sometimes others) with details of their partners' or potential partners' history of domestic violence. This arguably allows potential victims to make more informed decisions about the relationship moving forward. DVDSs exist in England and Wales, Scotland and New Zealand. However, as yet, given their short life span, there have not been comprehensive reviews as to the impact of such schemes upon victims and perpetrators. Further, although New South Wales is piloting a DVDS, a full evaluation as to the success or otherwise of the pilot is yet to be completed. As the empirical evidence about DVDSs is sparse, this article considers analogous schemes targeting sex offenders in Australia, the US and the UK, to better comprehend and evaluate the effectiveness of such schemes. The article argues that, given the results related to sex offender registers and associated notification systems, DVDSs will not be effective in reducing recidivism, nor will recipients of information be likely to take proactive action. Further, while victims of domestic abuse come from diverse backgrounds, and domestic violence encompasses various forms of relationships, the majority of victims are women, and most perpetrators are men. Similarly, most victims of sexual offences are women. This article argues that the use of DVDSs, like sex offender registers, shifts responsibility for avoiding such abuse from the male perpetrators and society generally onto mostly female recipients of the disclosed information. This is a continued manifestation of the patriarchal power underpinning such violence.
Revealing hidden realities: disclosing domestic abuse to informal others
Nordic Journal of Criminology
Little is known about the initial disclosure process when victims of domestic abuse break their silence and tell family, friends, neighbours or colleagues. This study draws on interviews with 21 Swedish women and analyses the interactional and emotional processes of the first disclosure. Shame, perpetrator threats, child custody issues, fear over increased/expanded violence, and how disclosure will affect social interactions were mentioned as reasons for hesitating to reveal the abuse to their social network. Women who had a planned disclosure had decided to tell someone regardless of concerns about potential negative outcomes, referring to the need for emotional and practical support. These women told a person of their choice in a situation they themselves chose. Women also revealed their hidden realities as an unplanned response to a specific situation described as turning points. Unplanned disclosures were also a result of someone in the woman's network noticing the abuse, more or less forcing the woman to tell. This study reveals the dynamics resulting in the interviewed women's first disclosure of being abused. We also discuss the nuances in disclosure decisions and offer insight into what is crucial for making domestic abuse visible to others.
Victim Hierarchies in the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme
International Review of Victimology, 2018
Since its national implementation in March 2014, the UK Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as 'Clare's Law') has enabled thousands of people in England and Wales to seek information from the police about whether their partner has a history of domestically abusive behaviours. Politicians have hailed the policy on the basis that it empowers people to make informed choices about their safety, thus representing a vital part of wider domestic violence reduction strategies. This, of course, is all dependent upon people knowing the policy exists; being able to apply to it; meeting the relevant criteria; there being information to disclose; and this being relayed to the applicant accordingly. Drawing on empirical research into the policy's operation in one policing area, this paper highlights several discrepancies with respect to how the scheme is functioning. The analysis suggests that the hierarchical, two-tier approach to implementation is impacting on displaced responsibility and potential risk enhancement, while the symbolic mobilisation of domestic violence victims for contemporary political gain is also explored. The paper concludes with suggestions for reform to boost the ability of the policy to prevent domestic violence and abuse.
Competing Conceptions of Victims of Domestic Violence within Legal Processes
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Victims of crime are often measured against an idealised standard of victimhood, typically to the detriment of those who are seen to depart in significant ways from notions of the ideal. In this paper we develop this issue further by reference to the multiple and competing conceptions of the victim of domestic violence that emerge in different domains of legal practice. We focus on victims of domestic violence who are mothers as being more likely to be subjected to particular scrutiny and to competing and often conflicting requirements and obligations. We examine three particular legal sites that demonstrate that the battered woman of legal discourse is subject to multiple renderings that reconfigure, reinterpret and re-value her experiences in different legal domains: child protection, criminal law and proceedings for protection orders, and family law.
‘Assessing Vulnerabilities in the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme'
Child and Family Law Quarterly, 2018
The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ('Scheme') is one of a raft of measures that has been spearheaded by the Home Office to tackle violence against women. Since its national implementation in March 2014, thousands of applications have been made to the police for information regarding a person's history of violence. Also known as 'Clare's Law', the Scheme, as a piece of criminal justice policy created by the Home Office, importantly has no specific statutory basis, instead resting on existing legal frameworks. Drawing on both a legal analysis of new Scheme guidance published by the Home Office in December 2016 and early empirical research into its operation, this paper offers a close reading of the Scheme and highlights several persistent procedural and practical vulnerabilities for 'right to ask' victims in the operation of Clare's Law. These vulnerabilities, it is argued, could have significant ramifications for the Scheme's efficacy and for public confidence in the policy in the longer term. The conclusion proposes recommendations for reform to improve the current working of the Scheme and offers insight to those seeking to adopt of this policy in other jurisdictions.
Negotiating and justifying social services’ support for female victims of domestic violence
Nordic Social Work Research, 2016
The social services in Sweden have become key actors in the field of support for female victims of domestic violence. However, knowledge about what kind of support the social services offer is underdeveloped. The aim of this article is to examine social workers' perceptions of the needs they meet among female victims of domestic violence, what kind of support they offer to meet these needs, and how they use their discretion to negotiate and justify their work. The article builds on a qualitative analysis of interviews with social workers. The analysis shows that the social workers have a great deal of discretion, as a result of framework legislation and a high status among local politicians and managers. However, both specialization and a lack of available services limit their discretion. What an abused woman is offered or is entitled to is negotiated and justified depending on, for example, which services are available, whether the woman is considered to have own resources (not only financial but also emotional and practical), and if the social worker is available. Three main strategies for reducing workload are identified: increasing demands for authority decisions, transferring responsibility to others, and placing requirements on the abused women's actions and attitudes.
A Difficult Match Women’s Actions and Legal Institutions in the Face of Domestic Violence
Over the last two decades, the discourse on domestic violence has steadily moved into the legal/institutional domain. Originating in the debates within the women’s movements on structural inequalities in the family, where women’s struggles had a certain centrality, it has become a legal/governmental category. Emblematic of most feminist initiatives about women’s lives in our country, this shift is beset with its own dilemmas and impasses. While naming, categorising, enumerating and measuring violence as well as efforts to make them legally recognisable are imperative to any feminist politics, they also generate their own effects. These effects, while resulting in some well-needed institutional solutions, also bring in their wake, certain conceptual rigidities. There is a need to pay attention to these effects while rethinking the familiar demands in the arena of domestic violence: foolproof laws, sensitive institutions and better awareness among women.