Domestic
Violence
Domestic Violence is the mental, physical, sexual, emotional and/or economical abuse of a person by her/his partner, ex-partner or other family member. This includes threats of violence as well as physical abuse and the misuse of power and control.
Violence is always a crime, regardless of where, when or how it is committed and a quarter of all violent crime is domestic violence. It is a crime that results in the murder of two women every week by their current or former partner.
Domestic violence can happen to anyone but is usually perpetrated against women and their children by known men. It is estimated that 2 out of every 5 children have witness or experienced domestic violence.
The statistics below illustrate the level of incidents of domestic violence on the Isle of Wight reported to the Police.
|
|
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
Total domestic violence incidents
|
676 |
592 |
634 |
|
% of arrests for violence |
64 |
53 |
90 |
|
% of arrests prosecuted |
52 |
86 |
46 |
In 1999 the Police had a zero tolerance policy for approximately two months. Also the Magistrates received domestic violence awareness training.
The number of people accepted as homeless due to domestic violence by the Isle of Wight Housing Department is increasing year on year as indicated in the table below.
|
|
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
|
Homeless |
23 |
52 |
55 |
April 2000 to March 2001
Admissions – Women 42
Admissions – Children 52
Unable to accommodate – Women 64
Unable to accommodate – Children 87
Since May 1991
The Refuge has accommodated 403 women
570 children
Since May 1991
The Refuge has been unable to accommodate* 448 women
700 children
Where accommodation is not provided, this is primarily due to either space or security and the Refuge provides assistance in finding alternative accommodation in all cases.
The Domestic Violence Forum established professional inter-agency guidelines and launched them in November 2001. The guidelines covered items such as: -
In April 2000 courses were
instigated by the probation service, with multi-agency funding, for
perpetrators of Domestic Violence. The perpetrator’s group, managed by the
Stonham Housing Association, has a programme that consists of 30 sessions and
the offenders are expected to complete the whole course and to attend 6 monthly
relapse prevention sessions. The survivor’s are offered support from the
voluntary Domestic Violence Support Worker within Victim Support.
Isle of Wight Objectives
·
To improve safety for
abused women and their children
·
To support and develop services
for women and children experiencing domestic violence and continue the Islands
inter-agency co-operation with agreed methods and procedure for referral to and
from agencies
·
To inform and educate
the public about domestic violence
·
To increase the consultation
and involvement of service users
·
To continue to support
the perpetrators course
Targets
1.
Hold a development day
by July 2002, for the Domestic Violence Forum to identify skills base, training
needs and terms of reference.
2.
Review and evaluate the
perpetrators course by September 2002.
3.
Provide domestic
violence training to Magistrates by November 2002.
4.
Develop a signposting
package for victims by December 2002.
5.
Carry out an audit of
current educational programmes that link to domestic violence by Dec 2002.
6.
Identify new educational
programmes to be developed over the subsequent 24 months by April 2003.
7.
Deliver two training
sessions to raise awareness of domestic violence by October 2003..
8.
To develop an Island
wide media campaign and raise awareness and encourage reporting of domestic
violence and raise awareness of domestic violence and the available support for
victims and their families.