Family Violence: Gendered Crime Analysis, Myths, and Policies Review

This assignment explores family violence, framing it as a gendered crime and analyzing its manifestations. The paper examines the disproportionate impact on women, citing statistical data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Human Rights Commission. It delves into societal myths surrounding domestic violence, contrasting them with insights from socio-psychological, feminist, and other relevant theories. Furthermore, the assignment traces the evolution of policies aimed at preventing family violence, highlighting governmental initiatives like the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, as well as the role of law enforcement agencies such as the Victoria Police. The analysis underscores the shift from past practices to current approaches that prioritize victim support and legal action, reflecting a broader societal commitment to addressing family violence.

Running head: FAMILY VIOLENCE
FAMILY VIOLENCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1FAMILY VIOLENCE
Answer to Question 1:
The statement "Family violence is considered a gendered crime" is a very deep statement
referring to gender inequality. Gendered crimes are specific crimes committed against people
irrespective of their gender as a result of their gender roles that are socially constructed. These
crimes are not only related to sexual violence but can also include non-sexual attacks on both
women and men. Family violence is one such instance that depicts the instances of coercive,
threatening and controlling behavior and abuses in the form of physical, psychological, financial
and sexual nature. Violence in most cases is directed towards women, who are affected
disproportionately and hence it is a gendered crime (Freiburger & Romain, 2018).
The family element refers to people who are very closely related to each other and family
abuses take place mostly from the age of 16 and above. In most situations, it has been observed
that percentage of family violence in greater in the case of women as compared to men. The most
shocking fact is that women experience sexual assault almost five times more than men. There
are many cases of women's injuries and hospitalization because of abuses by partners. Children
are also being abused by narcissist parents and in that case, also graphs are higher for the
women. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one out of every four women
experiences emotional abuse by their partners since the age of 15 (ABS.gov.au, 2017). Around
85% of women in Australia are harassed sexually (Humanrights.gov.au, 2020). This states that
family violence is not of course gender neutral and it is a gendered crime.
Answer to Question 2
To answer the question, it is first important to know about the myths of domestic
violence. Several researchers have done since the 1970s focused on increasing family violence

2FAMILY VIOLENCE
especially on women. Several theories explain family violence and gendered crimes, which are –
Socio-Psychological theories, Social Learning and Conflict Transformation theories, Feminist
theories, Family System, Perversion, Frustration-Aggression, and Self-Attitude theories. This
paragraph will discuss certain myths along with what these current theories suggest on the same-
It has been a long myth that only a few women in Australia are affected by violence.
Theories state that violence by intimate partners is one of the main reasons for injuries and the
death of women between 18 to 45 years old (Perry et al., 2020). Violence is caused greatly
because of frustration, anger, attitude and socio-psychological issues of the men.
The myth also states that most people who abuse their children and women in the family are
under the effect of drugs and alcohol. Theories suggest that several people consume alcohol and
drugs but are not abusive or violent. Instead, those who generally abuse people may become
more violent or even become physically abusive when their judgment gets impaired because of
alcohol consumption. The truth is that committing violence is just one's choice of doing the same
and not the effect of alcohol or drugs.
Answer to Question 3
In the past even though the women were beaten by husbands in front of the police, yet the
policemen would ask the husband to keep calm. There were hardly any cases that came to the
court. The beating wife was a joke and doctors suggested referred it as underclass pathology.
Things are not the same now and there are a number of policies currently aiming in the
prevention of abuses and violence against children and women. Government Policy like the
National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children is one such example. It is a
central initiative that addresses domestic violence. The Women’s Safety Agenda is another

3FAMILY VIOLENCE
policy that took effect since 2005. This policy aims in decreasing domestic violence and
reducing sexual assault in collaboration with the ideologies of Partnership against Domestic
Violence initiative and the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault. This agenda also funds
the Australian Domestic and Family Clearinghouse. All these policies keep the provision of
providing safe and secure housing as well as crisis and post-crisis supports (Diemer et al., 2017).
They provide support to women and children that are responsive, sensitive and non-judgemental
in nature. Counseling and health assistance is also being provided. Victoria Police also acts in
protecting any individual who is harmed in family violence. They actively take reports on family
violence and respond immediately (McEwan, Bateson & Strand, 2017). They make reports and
take notes from every family member and neighbors to assess the situation genuinely and take
the matter to the court for justice.

4FAMILY VIOLENCE
References
ABS.gov.au (2017). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 4906.0 - Personal Safety, Australia, 2016.
[Online] Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4906.0
Diemer, K., Ross, S., Humphreys, C., & Healey, L. (2017). A ‘double edged sword’: Discretion
and compulsion in policing domestic violence. Police Practice and Research, 18(4), 339-
351.
Freiburger, T. L., & Romain, D. (2018). An examination of the impacts of gender, race, and
ethnicity on the judicial processing of offenders in family violence cases. Crime &
Delinquency, 64(13), 1663-1697.
Humanrights.gov.au (2020). AHRC. [Online] Retrieved from
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/
AHRC_WORKPLACE_SH_2018.pdf
McEwan, T. E., Bateson, S., & Strand, S. (2017). Improving police risk assessment and
management of family violence through a collaboration between law enforcement,
forensic mental health and academia. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and
Practice.
Perry, K. J., Ostrov, J. M., Shisler, S., Eiden, R. D., Nickerson, A. B., Godleski, S. A., &
Schuetze, P. (2020). Pathways from Early Family Violence to Adolescent Reactive
Aggression and Violence Victimization. Journal of Family Violence, 1-12.