Introduction to Spousal Abuse
Spousal abuse is a highly underestimated offence that continues to remain hidden between the law and justice. This controversial type of violence is a serious crime that is not directly penalized through today's law system. Instead, it is the individual's actions that must be charged through the Canadian Criminal Code. On average, a Canadian woman is murdered every six days by a current or previous partner. Many cases of domestic violence portray the husband physically and/or emotionally abusing their wife. However, domestic violence can also affect men. Two out of three reported spousal abuse victims are women and the other 33 percent are male. Typically, men are victim to emotional abuse, whereas women more frequently experience physical abuse. Domestic spousal violence is an indirect criminal act that physically and emotionally impacts victims, and negatively influences the dynamic of family kinship within Canadian Society.
A). Exploring the Legal Issue of Domestic Violence
The Criminal Code and Spousal Abuse
Although domestic violence is against the law, individuals are prosecuted under the Canadian Criminal Code, not for domestic violence directly. Since victims cannot press charges against the abuser themselves, they must receive aid from the police force. Some
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To compare, other violent crime offenders receive a prison sentence 29% of the time in comparison to the 19% of spousal abusers. http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jr12/p5e.html Three out of four of convicted spouses receive probation as the most serious sentence. This statement shows the lack of severe prosecution being used to date.
Victims and the Lack of Confidence in the Justice
Intimate Partner Violence Fatalities: Prevention and Intervention Intimate partner violence is considered the most life-threatening and distressing family issue on a societal platform (Hamilton, Jaffe, & Campbell, 2013). The term family is utilized loosely as familial depictions vary, but to be certain the family has two partners that can be diversified roles and gender. By definition intimate partner violence illustrates a pattern of behaviors that are deliberate and intended to gain power and control over another person (Hamilton, Jaffe, & Campbell, 2013). Intimate partner violence does not need to be necessarily violent actions, but can be verbal threats, isolation, neglect, and disempowering tactics. The series of behaviors and violence can hastily escalate and the probability of homicide increases in those relationship dynamics.
Domestic violence, a critical issue that has a negative impact on the Native Americans in the United States. Domestic violence, also known as spousal abuse, can take several different forms, including physical, emotional, verbal, as well as sexual abuse. One in every three native women will experience some sort of domestic violence in their lifetime and most will have nowhere to seek help. Furthermore, men are victims of domestic violence and more often than not, get laughed at and ridiculed when they reach out for help. When people think of domestic violence, most think of physical fighting, black eyes, broken nose, and holes punched in the walls of the house.
Canadian Laws and Processes for Sexual Assault Committing rape, sexual attack, and child sexual abuse are indicted illegally. This is according to Canadian laws. Victims may be oblivious that they also can file a case against assaulters and their bosses civilly to claim reimbursement for their damages. The request for payment does not always have to go to court. Most of the time, these lawsuits are determined outside of the courtroom.
In reality, one in fifteen children have been exposed to this type of violence, and almost 90% of them have seen this violence happen in the past (http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics). Women may be the majority of people who get domestically abused because of their weak persona, but men and children can be affected by these things as
In addition to physical violence, however, domestic violence may also include economic, emotional, sexual or verbal abuse, according to Colorado’s Domestic Violence Program. As such, any behavior that is meant to blame, frighten, humiliate, hurt, injure, intimidate, terrorize or wound a person with whom the accused is currently in, or was previously in, an intimate relationship with may qualify as domestic
(n.d). Family violence affects all and everyone. According to statisticians, about 6% of women in Canada in 2013 suffered from intimate violence in the past five years and “80% of intimate partner violence were against women and 97% of spousal murder-suicides were against women”. Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16. Family violence is not reported in majority of cases.
Spousal Abuse People often turn away from issues that do not affect them, but this only lets the issue grow further until there is nothing left to do but deal with it. This could be why domestic violence has been taking place for centuries now. One issue that comes with domestic violence is spousal abuse- a problem that only seems to be getting worse, with ten million victims being beaten by an intimate partner each year (“Domestic Violence”). Although spousal abuse seems to be an ongoing issue in the United States, efforts are being made at both national and local levels to suppress the violence.
Domestic Violence in the Native American Culture When mentioning the term domestic violence, physical violence usually comes to mind for many people, including things such as a broken nose or a black eye. While these things are frightening and true forms of abuse, there is far more to domestic violence than what meets the eye. Domestic violence can present its self in several other forms including emotional, verbal, and even sexual abuse. 1Domestic violence can be a critical issue that has a negative impact on four out of five Native American women and men in the United States in their lifetime according to indianlaw.org ( Walker 1).
“Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture.” - Charlotte Bunch. Domestic abuse is a hostile dispute involving the use of violence among household or family members. It is a universal phenomenon that occurs in all races, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, occupations, and genders (“What is Domestic Violence?”).
Nowadays domestic violence can happen to anyone, regardless of race, sexual orientation, income, gender, or ethnicity. Currently 3 million victims of physical assaults in the USA are men (Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts, 2015). One in four women will be exposed to domestic violence during her lifetime (Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts, 2015). Women between 20 years old to 24 years old are more likely to experience domestic violence (Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts, 2015). Around 4 million women experience rape and physical assaults by their partners (Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts, 2015).
Sadly, victims sometimes do not come forward, research shows that the lesser the violence the less response from authorities which can result in either a minor charge or no charge at all. This is a case where if evidence was collected this might have gotten a stronger conviction, therefore more protection for the victim (Bialo-Padin & Peterson, 2012). In addition, women face injustices within the court system for a copious amount of reasons. First, society is blinded by popular television shows such as C.S.I. or Law and Order; they expect a certain type of case in court.
The Impact of Domestic Violence on the Aboriginal Community Domestic violence in Aboriginal community is a cause for concern regarding Aboriginal women 's health and safety. According to Kubik, Bourassa, and Hampton (2009) “In Canada, Aboriginal women have faced destruction in their communities and families as a result of multiple forms of oppression. Aboriginal women experience the highest rates of violence and abuse of any population in Canada”(p.29). Domestic violence is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary (2015) as “ the inflicting of physical injury by one family or household member on another; also: a repeated or habitual pattern of such behavior”. The objective is to look at the cause of domestic violence aimed at Aboriginal
Domestic violence has been around for many years. Domestic violence however wasn’t considered a major problem or crime until the highly publicized court case in 1972 of Ruth Bunnell. Bunnell was killed by her husband after the police failed to intervene. In the years before Bunnells death, since the police failed to intervene even though Bunnell had called them twenty nine times prior to her death about her husband’s abuse of her and her daughters Bunnell was eventually killed by her husband. The police department was sued because of this and the suing party won.
Domestic Violence has always been a problem in society; the act has gone back since the beginning of time. When people think they have authority over another individual, or several people, they get what they want by intimidation. Men have had authority over women for centuries; women were trained to act weak and live powerless, and they were taken advantage of by men, especially by their spouses. However, the sense of power doesn’t always run through men. Women can also be the abuser towards their significant other.
Jacquelyn C. Campbell defines intimate partner violence as “physical or sexual assault, or both,” of a spouse or sexually intimate partner. She speaks about how damaging this type of violence can be to women. Campbell provided information from past studies to explain why interventions and assessments should be increased in health-care settings to identify more of these situations. The author looked at information from the past decade and used only the surveys that were in English.