The
social problem being explored is domestic violence and violence against women.
While women are directly impacted so are their family units. The children in
the home are generally exposed to, witness and many times are abused themselves.
Extended family and friends can be affected as they watch a loved one suffer
and many times either feel, “it’s not their place, it’s a family affair” or
reach out to help only to have the victim return to the abuser. They are
impacted physically, emotionally and financially. The women in the house may
face physical abuse and sexual abuse, verbal abuse, humiliation, degradation,
financial abuse and find her relationships being controlled by the abuser. This
results in, low self-esteem, depression, suicidal ideation, feelings of
worthlessness, failure and other mental health related issues. Physical and
sexual abuse can turn into serious medical issues such as losing sight in an
eye, chronic genital issues, internal bleeding, organ failure, the list goes
on.
Children
witnessing this can experience the same mental health and emotional issues as
well as PTSD, having an inability to make friends, suffering grades in school,
drug and alcohol abuse and sexual promiscuity. Both groups experience trauma
symptoms akin to PTSD even if they are never officially diagnosed. For those
directly affected it means living in a situation that historically can become
deadly if not by the hands of the abuser by other means meant to end the
suffering such as suicide and risky behavior such as drug abuse.
Current
laws protect children through DCF and therefore children affected may be
removed from the home and put into foster homes. However foster children face
many related issues including mistrust of the new family and an inability to
let go of one family of origin. While current laws do protect the victim it is
still in need of work. Men who commit violence against women, specifically
domestic violence may be removed from the home over night only to be returned
the next day. Once a case is built against them if the victim chose to move
forward they could gain an order of protection, divorce papers and try the
abuser for the crime.
However,
social policy based around this issue is fairly new compared to other laws and
in so steeped in gender inequality that many times justice is not served
despite the legal backing. The biggest issue is that victims do not have a say
in the laws or their protection, they are not being listened to in terms of
what laws could do to better serve and protect women. This is because the
government, (made up of mainly older, white, men), are defining what the issues
is and how to solve it.
The
Federal response to domestic violence or violence against women as a whole,
came in the form of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. Vice President Joe
Biden recently released an excerpt in Time Magazine this past Tuesday
discussing the Act and it’s primary concerns for the future, which is for, “the right of every woman in America to be free
from violence and free from fear.” This is an exceptional start to
another lengthy battle that is continuous, inescapable and affects women
everyday.
On a state
level from the early 1980s people started to truly pay attention to the violent
and intimidating actions being taken against women. In 1984, Sherman and Berk
contributed to the turning point of this subject in recognizing violence
against women as a real issue. In this study they saw that when the abuser was
removed from the home via a legal arrest the domestic violence in that
household and family unit decreased and was less likely to occur again. This was
part of their six-series study, which was summarized as, “the arrest
intervention certainly did not make things worse and may well have made things
better (Doak, 2007, p. 157).” What was
exhibited in the study was that many times the victim did want to abuser out of
their home and law enforcement generally took that into consideration during
house call. “The victim’s
desire to have the offender arrested (of victims who expressed such a desire,
arrests were made in 44% of the cases; when the victim did not want the
offender arrested, arrests were made in only 21% of the cases.” (Doak, 2007). While
this is true and many times the best intervention for these cases is to remove
the abuser and get the victim help before they return. Current federal laws are
harsher on theft and non-violent crimes then that of a husband who abuses his
wife daily.
Reference
Biden,
J. (2014, September 10). 20 Years of Change: Joe Biden on the Violence Against
Women Act. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from
http://time.com/3319325/joe-biden-violence-against-women/
Caldwell, Phyllis. (2014). Understanding
How Policy Charnges Affect Women in Poverty. How to Help Women Facing the
Realities of Poverty. http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/news.aspx?id=4a283578-aa22-4b69-9c6d-3e9e80c21167
Doak,
M. (2007). Domestic Violence, Law Enforcement, and Court Responses to Domestic
Violence. In Child abuse and domestic violence (pp. 147-165). Detroit:Thomson
Gale.
