Five major findings emerged from the CRC study which looked into the measurement of the extent of domestic violence (Ferrante et al, Measuring the Extent of Domestic Violence).
1. The rate of domestic violence will depend on how it is defined and how it is measured.
We know that not all incidents of domestic violence are reported to the police, consequently, statistics based on police figures will grossly underestimate the true extent of domestic violence in the community.
Estimates of the extent of domestic violence depend on how a definition is formulated. For example, if we just look at acts between a man and his partner that lead to injury, the figures will be much smaller than if we consider all forms of violence (including things like verbal abuse and emotional abuse) from partners and/or other family members.
2. The risks of domestic violence in Western Australia
Based on the result of a special survey, the study found that every year in Western Australia between 1 and 2% of adult women will suffer an assault of some sort from their partner. Some of these victims will also be the victim of repeated assaults - on average, victims are likely to be physically assaulted twice every year. More than half (about 62%) of these women victims of domestic violence will suffer some injury as a result of the attack.
3. Women are by far the most common victims of domestic violence.
Although some men are the victims of domestic violence, this is much less common and all the indications are that 9 out of every 10 domestic violence victims is a female.
4. The consequences of domestic violence are serious, particularly for women.
Generally, domestic violence results in a greater degree of actual injury than violence that is not domestic violence.
Domestic homicides accounted for one in four homicides between 1992 and 1994. Half of the women homicide victims in Western Australia in 1994 were killed by their partner or ex-partner. In comparison, only 5.7% of male homicides were the result of domestic violence
5. The risks of domestic violence are much higher for the young, the poor and Aboriginal women.
The study found that domestic violence is not spread equally throughout the population. Some groups suffer much higher rates.
Age
Police, survey and hospital data all indicated that the risks for women below the age of 40 were much higher than for older women.
Aboriginality
The rates of domestic violence amongst Aboriginal women were staggering. Although these women make up only about 3% of the adult female population in WA, they accounted for half of all the domestic violence incidents reported to the police in 1994. Based on police figures, Aboriginal women are more than 45 times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to be a victim of domestic violence.
Poverty
The study found that women in lower socio-economic areas were more likely to be the victims of domestic violence than those from more affluent areas.
Implications
The study points to three areas of particular need in the fight against domestic violence:
Better information on the extent and distribution of domestic violence.
If intervention and programmes are to effective they must be targetted on the areas of highest need and their impact must be evaluated - otherwise we could be throwing away money in ineffective programmes. There is a need therefore for thorough and comprehensive data on the true rate of violence in all sectors of the community. These measures need to be continued regularly to allow for the proper evaluation of programmes.
Interventions need to be carefully designed and managed.
As the study found, the rate of domestic violence is much higher amongst Aboriginal, rural and poorer women. Intervention strategies need to be designed that are approporiate for these high risk target groups. In particular, men and women from poorer and Aboriginal communities need to be closely involved in the development of strategies designed to address the problem.
Intervention strategies need to be informed by a proper understanding of violence in marginalised groups.
The higher rates of domestic violence in Aboriginal and poorer communities, are, unfortunately, not surprising. These groups suffer much higher rates of all other forms of violence as well. It is likely that all this violence can be attributable to similar factors. A greater understanding of the relationship between disadvantage needs to inform domestic violence intervention programmes so that money is not wasted on simplistic or quick fix solutions.
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