Domestic Violence Project
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059904600314 |
| Date | 01 September 1999 |
| Published date | 01 September 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
court and be fixed by the judiciary; the
The Service-users - Over a period of
sentence and release stages of all life
32 months DVM
worked with 1,236
sentences should be open and judicial
people in relation to 1,542 incidents,
rather than secret and executive.
providing crisis intervention follow-up
He
16 hours
argued that by demonising those
a day, seven days a week.
who kill, we only inflame public opinion,
Interestingly, over a third of cases
confuse
involved women
our attempts to understand and so
already separated from
abusive
prevent offences, and create an artificial
partners, confirming that leaving
them does not ensure a woman’s safety.
sense of security in those of us who feel
we
could never do something so heinous.
Crisis Intervention - Two-thirds of
Any strategies for intervention must start
referrals were received outside of normal
from the principle of valuing all human
office hours. Most of those using the
life and from the realisation that everyone
service valued the immediacy of DVM’s
benefits from working constructively with
responses, identifying it as a major factor
all life sentence prisoners. This could only
increasing their safety and accelerating the
be done through programmes of proven
process of change. Such change included
efficacy run by competent and committed
ending relationships and continuing legal
staff. He was adamant that opportunities
action. Women were particularly helped by
had to be offered to the most recalcitrant
the clear message that violence is
to begin to review their lives within a
unacceptable and that they were not to
context of therapeutic safety.
blame. The project also saw a reduction in
A
well-attended event, the conference
repeat calls from the same victim.
highlighted major problems in the system,
Law
Enforcement - The project was less
resolution of which will need considerable
successful in improving the law
effort by all concerned. (3.6.99)
enforcement response, commenting on a
lack of...
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