Domestic Violence

I think that my main point regarding this proposed change in the law is that each case needs to be judged on its merits and that perhaps the charge of murder should remain ,but there should be more attention given to the past history of a relationship and a detailed assessment of the man or woman who has killed an abusive partner. Women do need protection, but the best way would be to make domestic violence an automatic crime that is prosecuted by the state. It should also mean an automatic jail sentence as it does in Canada.

Surely if any change in the law is to be made it should be with the aim of preventing both further abuse and a possible consequential murder - rather than altering the charge.

The British Government swings from one end of a problem to the other, at the moment it is suggsting that any killing perpertrated by someone who claims they have been subjected to domestic violence should not be treated as murder.

Protecting Who?

The problem that I think many people have with this is just who is the law designed to protect. Until recently women who killed violent husbands and partners were sentenced to life for murder, one case in particular springs to mind where a woman suffered systematic abuse for years. She killed her abuser while he was sleeping - the court decided that this constituted premeditated murder and gave her a 25 year sentence, which was later successfully appealed.  Some men, on the other hand, have got away with manslaughter when they claimed to have killed their wife or partner in response to persistent nagging - there has been much debate about this, especially among those who believed that the verdict should have been murder.

The Point

My point here is will this proposed new legislation really help women (and occasionally men) who have suffered years of violent abuse from reacting to that violence? In the case mentioned above the woman killed her partner while he was sleeping after another violent attack on her, because she was too terrified to fight back while he was awake. So will it actually protect people who have suffered years of torment and terror, or will it protect the man who beats to death a nagging wife?

If you have read anything about domestic violence then you’ll probably have recognized that women are not permanent victims with a pathological need to be hit, women who have been in an abusive relationship learn about survival, and about retaining a sense of self. In order to deal with what has happened to them many survivors turn to writing about their experiences - sometimes in a poetic form.

Just Another Domestic

Not another knuckle punching its way into my head,

Intruding on my consciousness.

Another bang on the wall,

“Keep it quiet. People need their sleep”

People need themselves,

But others take it away with a right or left hook.

A bunched up fist, stamping out identity

In another domestic

You may wonder why I wanted to write a blog about domestic violence, there are three reasons for choosing this subject area:

1. It is part of my history as I experienced domestic violence during my first marriage.
2. I undertook doctoral research in domestic violence and how it is supported by patriarchal society, culture and religion.
3. To provide information on the subject of domestic violence.
4. I would also like to think that women who are currently in a violent relationship may learn that it is possible to escape the situation and return to the real you.

Self Help and Realisation

One of the things that I found in my doctoral research is that women who have been through the mill do engage in self help and self realisation, and this is possible for women survivors of domestic violence.

Society tends to view women who experience domestic violence as hopeless victims who are in some way responsible for what has happened to them - I want to show women that it is possible to defy this image that is deep rooted in society. Research shows that at least two women a week are killed by the abusive partner that they have already left, it takes a great deal of courage to leave a violent relationship and there needs to be more recognition of this in both the social and religious spheres.

I hope that you find this blog informative and come back for more - thanks for visiting.