Innovative Community Approach to Ending Domestic Violence

• Author: Jo-Ann Della-Giustina
• Pages: 224-237

224

CRIME, DELINQUENCYAND JUSTICE

Domestic violence is widely recognised as a

serious public health problem with grave

implications for a woman’s physical and

psychological well being (Ellsberg, Caldera,

Herrera, Winkvist and Kullgren 1999).

Statistics show that women all over the world

are being abused and killed by their intimate

partners (husbands, ex-husbands, common-

law husbands, ex-common-law husbands,

boyfriends, and ex-boyfriends) (Ellsberg et

al. 1999, United Nations 1995, United

Nations 1996). It affects the lives of women

regardless of race, ethnicity, class,

educational status, or geographic location.

Since the social, economic, and political

structure of a society is crucial in establishing

and perpetuating the social order, a societal,

system-wide paradigm is necessary to fully

understand domestic violence. Woman

battering is a systemic form of domination

and social control of women by men.

The most common policy approach is

through the criminal justice system. This

paper presents an alternative approach to

using the criminal justice system as the first

responder to domestic violence situations.

After discussing the history of

criminalisation of domestic violence, the

policy approaches of various Caribbean

nations and Nicaragua are examined. Finally,

a broad-based holistic paradigm, including

possible programmes, is suggested.

Historically, in societies all over the

world, domestic violence was a private

family matter. No one intervened. Women

were told to not air their ‘dirty linen’ in

Innovative

Community

Approach to

Ending

Domestic

Violence

Jo-Ann Della-Giustina

Ten