Direct Involvement in a Domestic Violence Case
Domestic violence calls to the police became popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s. History indicates that these calls were considered “family matters” that should be handled by its family. Following the landmark case of “Thurman vs. The city of Torrington”, that garnered a severe financial penalty for the police for failure to respond, changes occurred. In this case, Tracy Thurman was awarded $2.3 million when she sued the city of Torrington, CT police department for their failure to arrest her abusive husband.
The role of a Law Enforcement Officer is to respond and address problems of domestic violence against another to prevent harmful actions by its perpetrator. According to NCJRS (n.d.), “the mission is to investigate domestic
…show more content…
Its purpose is to ensure that judges have the necessary skills to address various areas of domestic violence in an efficient, fair and equal manner”.
In conclusion, the implications of failure to collaborate in response to domestic violence, has the potential to increase numbers in the loss of life for a victim, a perpetrator, or others.
References
American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section - Criminal Justice Standards (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.americanbar.org/publications/criminal_justice_section_archive/crimjus
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.ncjfcj.org/our-work/domestic-violence
THE ROLE OF POLICE IN COMBATING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/policing/role161.htm
BLS.gov (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2016, from
]Deputy district attorney Keith Watanabe started his presentation describing domestic violence from his perspective. He began by giving the example of a case of jealousy and the knife attack by the 40-year-old virgin actor Shelley Malil. Shelley Malil believed his girlfriend was cheating on him so in retaliation he stabbed her 23 times. The importance of this case was the brutality that it inhabited and the recent news that the actor was up for parole but struck down by governor Jerry Brown. After the example of a high-profile case he prosecuted, he gave some definitions of what domestic violence involves and the frustration of recanting victims. He described that victims out of multiple reasons involving the close relationship that they have
Domestic violence, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on
Working with victims of domestic violence can be an extremely rewarding and fulfilling endeavor. One of the most crucial aspects for a paralegal working with victim of domestic violence is adequately engaging in the task of educating oneself to understand the commonalities of such victims and the ordeals that they have been through. Such clients are drastically different from other individuals who have suffered other physical and violent crimes. Understanding the background of someone who has lived through domestic violence is absolutely central to being able to provide adequate and sensitive legal care. Most victims of domestic violence are women (95%) though domestic violence can have an impact on ever age, class, race, ethnic, cultural or religious group (purplerainfoundation, 2012). "In the United States, nearly one in three adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood (American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family 1996 Report)" (purplerainfoundation, 2012). These women are often terrified of their partner's temper, apologize when they are abused and often in the most extremely controlling and isolated environment where the abusive partner will control who the partner sees and where the partner goes outside of the home, jealous of outside relationships (purplerainfoundation, 2012). In these abusive relationships the women are hit,
Despite the fact the physical effects of domestic violence could be the similar as for other forms of violent crime, the emotional effects can be much worse. Domestic violence happens when a crime is committed against a victim by someone with whom the victim is or has previously found, in a close relationship or somebody living in the same household as the victim. Domestic violence regulations differ from state to state. These variances range from conceptualization to the requirements under required reporting laws. Because of all these differences, the entire process of avoidance a domestic violence situation rest on each state. The Violence
For centuries domestic violence has been perceived as a private matter private of which the government has not been concerned about nor was it considered the government’s business to intervene on behalf of a battered spouse. The unlawful nature of this failure for state or federal government intervention against this crime contributed to the systematic abuse of women in the family. The traditions, customs, and common law found in both British and American societies continued right up until the last decade of the 20th century and left the battered wives and very frequently, her children, at the mercy of the husband. It wasn’t until the 1990’s when the government began to do something to protect mothers, wives, and lovers from intimate
235). Despite the fact that there were laws initially created to treat intimate partner violence as a serious problem, cases involving these types of disputes were being transferred to civil courts, which reduced the rate of domestic crimes during the 1960s and 1970s, but also called into question the constitutionality of certain laws regarding domestic abuse (Barner & Carney, 2011, p. 236). However, cases involving intimate partner violence eventually transferred being a criminal matter after Thurman vs. City of Torrington, in which the decision stated that police officers need to be more involved with crimes involving domestic disputes (Barner & Carner, 2011, p. 236). The court case had a profound impact as several laws on both the state and federal level have been pass that focus on the issue of intimate partner violence, which lead to increase arrests and convictions for these types of crimes (Barner & Carney, 2011, p. 236). One type of law passed in 1994 regarding intimate partner violence is the Violence Against Women Act, which addresses several key concerns about domestic abuse ranging from increasing assistance for abused women from several social service sources to increasing penalties for crimes regarding spousal abuse (Modi, Palmer, & Armstrong, 2014, p. 254). Although several laws have been created in
Academically, Domestic violence is “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and emotional or psychological abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence varies dramatically.” However, in Washington State Domestic Violence includes a more limited definition. In Washington State Domestic Violence is defined as (a) Physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury or assault, between family or household members; (b) sexual assault of one family or household member by another; or (c) stalking as defined in RCW 9A.46.110 of one family or household member by another family or household member. This statutory definition is similar to that of many states in that it omits the “systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against the other” otherwise known as “coercive control.” The omission of this provision in the statutory language creates difficulty in obtaining domestic violence protection orders, when the victim cannot describe instances of physical violence, stalking, or sexual assault, yet lives in very real fear of their partner. In this literature review, I will analyze the phenomenon that is now known as
The Desmond Ellis, research at La Marsh Center on Violence and Conflict resolution, use data from field-experimental study to test hypothesis that family court can play an important part in prevention and reducing domestic violence. In the field- experimental study, the researcher used non-adversarial proceedings, providing mandatory risk assessment, and mandatory education and training. Desmond Elis discovered adversarial proceeding escalate the level of conflict, and the estranged partner used court proceeding and court order to harass and abuse each other. The research group develop DOVE (Domestic Violence Evaluation), and DOVE purpose is to provide essential to ethical and effective promotion of safety for the separating and divorcing partner.
The problem of domestic violence is too weighty, both as public health and social issues, to be content with
According to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), in 2003 to 2012, domestic violence accounted for almost a quarter of all violent crimes committed. According to the same survey conducted, only 55% of those domestic violence crimes were reported to the police. Based on a study that was conducted on past domestic violence crimes, there was a decline of domestic violence from 1994-2003 but in recent years, depending on the type of intimate partner violence, each either had a small increase or stayed the same (Truman, 2014).
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I’m appointing the indefinite laws of domestic violence and what partners go through when they suffer from domestic violence. I believe that no one should go through a time in their life where their life is in danger and fall into the danger of domestic violence. Abusive matters don’t resolve any situation, and becoming a target to your partner should be handled properly and that takes the victim but most importantly, the law.”
The number of cases involving battered woman was finally brought to the forefront during the 1970’s. As a result, numerous mandatory policies and procedures have been put into place by law enforcement agencies in attempts to rectify the criminal justice systems failed attempts to respond to domestic violence issues. However, these new policies and procedures have also become criticized for their unintended negative consequences on victims of intimate partner violence.
In the past, there has been a great deal of police inaction involving responses to domestic violence. Swartz (2013) explains in his article, “The Myth That the Best Police Response to Domestic Violence Is to Arrest the Offender," the beliefs that affected the amount of arrests in domestic violence calls. “Certainly paternalistic, patriarchal, and masculinist individuals and societies have always believed (and still do) that men should be in charge in relationships, and that the state should not interfere, except perhaps to prevent fatal injury” (p.193). This mindset has been troublesome because it causes police inaction for domestic violence calls. The idea that what happens behind closed doors
Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes.
Domestic violence is a prevalent issue that has enormous consequences for both the victimized individuals and their families. There are many injuries, deaths, rapes, and separation of families, and other fatalities which can all be interconnected to domestic violence. Which raises the question who are the perpetrators? why are they violent? Were they also abused? The answers to these questions may shed some insight on what goes on inside the mind of an abusive and violent individual.