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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
December-January 2014 35
A
POIGNANT vigil was held outside Leinster
House to mark the start of Women’s Aid’s ‘16
days of action against domestic violence’.
The empty shoes of the 78 women murdered in
Ireland by their partners or ex-partners since
1996, and the ten children murdered alongside
their mothers, were lined up along Kildare Street.
We stood silently alongside, to remember and
commemorate the tragedies of those lost lives.
The seriousness, frequency and pervasiveness
of the violence labelled ‘domestic’ is often played
down or denied. It is all too often explained away by
external factors such as alcoholism or unemployment.
It is often wrongly regarded as being particular
to disadvantaged communities. It is sometimes
portrayed as a reaction to provocation from the
victim. Even where victims are not directly blamed
for provoking the violence, they are often regarded as
complicit in it because they stay with their abusers.
Research has contradicted these problematic
myths and shown that domestic violence is not a rare
or isolated event within otherwise happy families.
It has found that apparently ‘passive partners’,
who stay with their abuser and endure violence
against themselves and their children, may have
undergone serious personality changes as a result
of the abuse. Many may have nowhere else to go.
An increasingly vocal group of activists has in
recent years challenged the evidence that most
domestic violence is carried out by men against
women. Research has established that women make
up the vast majority of victims of domestic abuse. The
2005 National Crime Council report, for instance,
found that about one in seven women, compared
to about one in 16 men, have experienced severely
abusive behaviour of a physical, sexual or emotional
nature from a partner at some point in their lives. The
study found that women were nearly twice as likely
as men to require medical treatment for their injuries
and ten times more likely to require a hospital stay.
The inadequacies of legal responses to domestic
violence were highlighted by interviewees in this
report and have been emphasised in other research.
High attrition levels and low conviction rates
back up these perceptions of legal inadequacy.
A core problem with the criminal law is
that few acts of domestic violence are isolated
events. The criminal law is generally designed
to deal with once-off incidents, and to attribute
liability for those isolated events to particular
offenders. It can be difficult to apply it in the
context of an ongoing abusive relationship.
It is actually difficult to ascertain how effective the
criminal law is, given the well-established evidence
that most domestic violence goes unreported.
This year, during hearings into domestic and sexual
violence conducted by the Oireachtas Justice and
Equality Committee, we heard extensive evidence
about these issues. In October, we published our
report, recommending significant legal change, for
example to provide for a specific criminal offence of
‘domestic violence’ or ‘domestic abuse’. Currently,
abusers are prosecuted
under assault laws, or for
breaches of barring orders.
We recommended the need
for emergency barring orders,
so that the abuser and not
the injured party should be
required to leave the family
home. We called for the
establishment of a ‘domestic
violence register’ to catalogue
details of convicted abusers.
Comprehensive review of
the law on domestic violence is
long promised. We are hopeful
that our recommendations will
feed into codifying legislation
that we anticipate will be
brought forward in 2015.
Susan Edwards, a leading researcher in domestic
violence law in Britain, wrote nearly 20 years ago
that: “Domestic violence until the 1970s was regarded
as a rare phenomenon. Criminal law was rarely, if
ever, invoked to prosecute aggressors. A far wider
range of remedies is now available. But stereotypical
attitudes and expectations of woman and men persist,
these inform the law and militate against the justice
and protection victims receive. The law, whilst it
makes claims to offer remedies and protection to
victims, is replete with obstacles and difficulties
for the applicant or complainant seeking safety and
protection”. These words still have resonance in
Ireland today for victims and survivors of so-called
‘domestic’ and other forms of gender-based violence. •
Provide for:
crime of ‘domesic
violence’ or
‘domestic abuse’,
emergency
barring orders
requiring the
abuser to leave
the home and
a ‘domestic
violence register’
Stereotypes underpin abuse
IVANA BACIK
One in seven
women,
compared
to one in 16
men, have
experienced
severely
abusive
behaviour from
a partner
“
