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Domestic Violence And The Criminal Justice Policy Process The Domestic ...


Domestic Violence and the Criminal Justice Policy Process
The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004: A Lost Opportunity?
The development of domestic violence as an important criminal justice policy issues is of relatively recent occurrence. In the past, a wife was seen as a chattel, essentially owned by her husband who could treat her as he chose. In fact, until 1874 it was a legal right that husbands could beat their wives. Remnants of this past still exist in our language such as the phrase, rule of thumb which originally referred to the rule by which a husband could beat his wife with a stick as long as it was no thicker than his thumb. Clearly, in modern Western societies such behaviour is no longer tolerated, however putting a stop to domestic violence is an extremely resource intensive task which involves encroachment by government agencies into what is still regarded in some sectors of society as a private matter between a husband and a wife.
The new century has seen a new approach unveiled by the government towards criminal justice in general and domestic violence offences in particular. This new approach towards domestic violence culminated in the introduction of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (the Act) which brought the law into line with modern concepts of relationships and also introduced what many commentators see as a big stick approach to dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence with breaches of non-molestation orders now punishable by criminal sanction. However an increase in punishment (the big stick approach) on its own cannot address the underlying issues which cause domestic violence to occur, is often a reactive rather than proactive solution, suggests a lack of new ideas and unfortunately is often a policy option taken when policy makers intend to decrease the amount of resources allocated to services in other areas.
As with any policy issue, it is important to ensure that the issue is clearly defined. The official government definition of domestic violence since the introduction of the Act is:
"Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality." This includes issues of concern to black and minority ethnic (BME) communities such as so called 'honour killings'.
(An adult is defined as any person aged 18 years or over. Family members are defined as mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, and grandparents, whether directly related, in laws or stepfamily).
As is evident from that definition, domestic violence is defined in much broader terms than general members of the public might expect. Not only does it include physical abuse, which most people equate with domestic violence, but it also includes the perhaps less well understood psychological, financial and emotional abuse.

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