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| Women's Aid calls for Programmes for Perpetrators of Domestic Violence![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Women's Aid Presentation to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights Women's Aid today (Thursday, February 21st 2002) called for funding for programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence as a matter of urgent priority, in a presentation to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights. Denise Charlton, Director of Women's Aid told the Joint Committee: “Civil and criminal justice systems fail to provide adequate safety and protection for victims and deliver inappropriate sanctions in cases of domestic violence. Safety and Sanctions (1999) revealed that only an extremely small proportion of perpetrators received a prison sentence after breaching a court order. If we are to encourage victims to escape violence through the civil and criminal legal system, we need to be able to demonstrate that we will keep them safe. Domestic Violence is a pattern of abuse, rather than a one-off incidence. If there are no sanctions, there is no reason for the perpetrator to stop. For the sake of the women and their children who live with such violence every day, it is imperative that we act, and act now.” The perpetrator programme requires inter-agency co-operation of the Gardai, the Judiciary and support services for those experiencing violence to ensure that perpetrators can be mandated to attend the programme as part of a graded system of sanctions which monitors the perpetrators behaviour. According to Ms Charlton: “The Government has said it is committed to the establishment of programmes for perpetrators of violence. Research has already been conducted into the viability of operating the programme on a pilot basis – it is time to make good that commitment.” Women's Aid also raised concerns about the manner in which custody and access issues are being dealt with by the courts, where domestic violence has taken place. According to Ms Charlton: “There is a serious need to differentiate between regular access cases and those where there is a history of domestic violence. The prevailing notion is that domestic violence is only an issue for the direct victim, usually a woman, however research, Women's Aid’s own experience, and recent tragic cases highlight the fact that children are also greatly at risk.” She continued: “Even where children are themselves not directly the targets of abuse, research indicates that children are affected as much by exposure to violence as to being involved in it. Research by Women's Aid reported that in 64% of cases of violence to the mother, children were present or witnessed the violence. Even in cases with a history of domestic violence, there tends to be an automatic assumption that child contact is in the child’s interest.” She called for the implementation of UK Guidelines on Parental Contact Where There is Domestic Violence which include consideration of the effect of the violence on the child and the resident parent, the motivation of the parent seeking contact, and the likely behaviour of the parent seeking contact during contact and its effect on the child concerned. Women's Aid also supported the proposal by the Courts Service for the limited lifting of the “in camera” ruling. Ms Charlton said: “Family law cases are presently held “in camera” to protect the anonymity of those involved. Whilst Women's Aid recognise the importance of confidentiality, we also recognise that it does not allow for transparency within the civil legal system. There is no statistical information relating to the ways decisions are made, which means there is no accountability for decisions made. A limited lifting of the “in camera” ruling is essential to get an accurate sense of how and why certain decisions are made.” For further information, please contact Teresa O'Donnell at 087 919 2457 or Denise Charlton at 087 243 8603 |