Unmasking What Should Be Seen: A Study of the Prevention of Domestic Violence in the London Borough of Hackney
| Published date | 01 January 2000 |
| Author | Elizabeth A. Stanko |
| Date | 01 January 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800000700312 |
Domestic
Violence:
Global
Responses,
pp.227-242
©
2000
A B
Academic
Publishers
Printed
in
Great
Britain
UNMASKING
WHAT
SHOULD
BE
SEEN:
A
STUDY
OF
THE
PREVALENCE
OF
DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE
IN
THE
LONDON
BOROUGH
OF
HACKNEY
ELIZABETH
A.
STANKO,
1
Department
of
Social
and
Political
Science,
Royal
Holloway,
University
of
London,
Egham,
Surrey
TW20
OEX,
UK
ABSTRACT
This
article
reports
the
findings
of a
study
estimating
the
prevalence
of
domestic
violence
for
one
local
area
in
London,
England.
Part
of a
wider
project
exploring
the
financial
costs
of
domestic
violence
to
the
public
purse,
this
article
examines
a
truism
about
domestic
violence:
that
it
is
largely
hidden.
Through
a
trawl
of
key
agencies
identified
by
previous
U.K.
studies
to
which
women
tum
for
assistance,
this
project
estimates
that
approximately
one
in
nine
of
the
population
of
adult
women
in
the
London
Borough
of
Hackney
experienced
domestic
violence
during
1996.
This
paper
presents
the
methodology
we
developed
to
estimate
prevalence
from
the
workloads
of
public
service
agencies.
INTRODUCTION
In most Western countries, there is ongoing debate about how to allocate public
money in the provision
of
social services. Feminist activists have challenged the
welfare state
in
Britain in particular for its failure to provide adequate services
for women and children who face violence in the home. At the heart
of
this debate
is the insistence that the state is negligent when it fails to understand how
domestic violence affects women and children's safety, health and welfare.
Within a welfare state such as the U.K., there are tensions and contradictions in
the approaches to tackling domestic violence. Crime prevention and social
welfare are currently two
of
the main competing discourses.
If
domestic violence
is a crime, then the state should fund criminal justice measures that combat it.
If
domestic violence is a problem
of
health and welfare, then the state should find
ways to allocate money for social service provisions, such
as
income support,
social housing and child protection. The competing discourses
of
crime preven-
tion versus the treatment
of
wounds and other consequences
of
the aftermath
of
violence (such
as
homelessness, poverty, policing, prosecution, or long-term
trauma) are not made explicit in these debates. Studies
of
the costs
of
domestic
violence aim to inform the dialogue between these competing discourses. These
studies, conducted in a variety
of
countries (Day, 1995; Greaves et al., 1995;
Women's Co-Ordination Unit, 1990; Snively, 1994), seem to reach the following
consensus: that, both for women and children and for the public purse, a flexible
228
and
responsive
public
provision
to
those
who
face
domestic
violence
is
the
preferred
option.
Women
and
children
who
experience
violence
in
the
home
need
a
variety
of public services,
from
health
and
welfare
to
criminal
justice.
To
be
flexible, the
argument
continues,
is
even
more
cost
effective,
and
even
more
effective
in
stopping
and
challenging men's
violence.
Consistent
across
nations
and
within
communities,
researchers
now
agree
that
one
in
ten
women
in
the
Western
world
are
assaulted
by
their partners or
ex-partners
in
any
one
given
year
(O'Neill,
1998).
It
is
now
accepted that
domestic
violence
is
common
among
any
general
population
of
women.
Its
impact
goes
beyond their individual
suffering,
involving
their children, their
social
and
friendship
support,
and
the
wider
networks
of
their
(and
their assail-
ants')
families.
Previous research
suggests
that
when
women
fear
for
their
lives
or
the
lives
of their children,
they
are
most
likely
to
seek
help
(Binney
et
al.,
1981).
Indeed,
many
women
who
leave
violent
and/or
abusive
partners
may
return
and
leave
again
several
times
before
leaving
permanently.
Some
never
leave.
But
we
do
know
that
many
women
seek
help
and
advice
at
different
points
in
abusive
and
violent relationships.
In
the
U.K.,
for
instance,
domestic
violence
is
noted
as
a
feature
in
nearly
one
in
three
instances
of
separation
or
divorce
(Hester
and
Radford,
1996).
Research
also
shows
that
even
the
act
of
leaving
can
result
in
escalated
violence,
and
may
be
at
its
most
acute
immediately
after
separation
(Kurz,
1996).
Police
may
have
been
called.
Solicitors
may
have
prepared affidavits
for
divorce.
Housing
officials
may
have
received
a request
for
transfer.
Doctors
and
casualty staff
may
have
treated
wounds.
Each
of
these
attempts
by
women
to
seek
advice
and
assistance
may
be
recorded
in
some
public
record.
Of course,
we
are
fully
aware
that,
methodologically,
public
records
may
distort
the
dimension of
domestic
violence.
Staff
may
fail
to
note
domestic
violence
as
being linked
to
a
request
for
help.
Researchers
may
be
refused
access
to
confidential records.
The
aim
of
this
study
is
to
see
whether
these
public
records
in
the
U.K.
can
be
used
to
estimate
the
prevalence of
domestic
violence
(see
also
Rafael
and
Tolman,
1997).
Women's help-seeking
strategies
become
the
foundation
upon
which
to
build state responses
to
domestic
violence.
Using
public
service
records
of women's help-seeking,
this
study
of
the
prevalence
of
domestic
violence
was
undertaken
to
provide the base data
in
order
to
calculate
the
costs
of
domestic
violence
for
public services
in
one
local
area
in
London.
It
was
the
first attempt
to
calculate
these
costs
in
the
U.K.
The
purpose
of
this
article
is
to
share
the
methodology
we
devised
to
establish a baseline
estimate
of
domestic
violence
in
the
London
Borough of Hackney?
Estimating
the
prevalence
of
domestic
violence
in
any
general population,
most
researchers
acknowledge,
is
fraught
with
difficulties. Data gleaned
from
social
science
or
crime
surveys
are
quite
rightly
treated
as
underestimates of
the
true
dimension
of
domestic
abuse
and
violence.
This
study
does
not claim
to
overcome
this
problem.
It
does
claim
to
offer
an
innovative approach
to
exploring
the
extent
of
domestic
violence
in
local
areas.
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