NCJ Number
126719
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the development of State and Federal government policies in Australia relating to domestic violence that emphasize the current focus on public education. Four issues are discussed which raise ideological and practical difficulties for professionals working in this field.
Abstract
Beginning in the mid-1970's, women's groups in Australia were successful in placing the issue of domestic violence on the public agenda; by 1990, there were 315 services throughout the country for battered women and their children. However, most services that cater to these women have inadequate budgets and cannot meet that demand. Since 1983, all Australian jurisdictions have passed legislation designed to protect victims of domestic violence. Similarly, policing policies have been revised to encourage officers to treat victims of domestic assault as seriously as victims of other types of assault; however, practices have lagged behind policy changes. The Federal government initiated a public education campaign in 1987 with the objectives of changing attitudes about domestic violence among all components of the population and reducing the incidence of assaults. The four issues that need to be addressed by professionals in the field include the collection of statistics, the finding that wives hit husbands as often as husbands hit wives, programs for perpetrators, and arrest or imprisonment of perpetrators as police policy. 23 references