Family violence is mostly men making a choice

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24199 White Ribbon Day OKBy ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Some 300 people marked White Ribbon Day at lunchtime with a march down the Mall and a rally on the council lawns where police Commander Michael White spelt out the ghastly reality of domestic violence.
 
“Men are predominantly the perpetrators of domestic violence against women and children.
 
“As a community we all are responsible for making a difference to that. We all pay a cost for family violence.
 
“We cannot continue to face 42 women a year dying because their husband or their partner has made a choice to take the power away from them and to make them second-class citizens.
 
“Domestic violence is the biggest cause of injury or death to women between the age of 18 and 45.
 
24100 Emily Ings OK“One in three women will experience physical, sexual or emotional violence in their lifetime – one in three.
 
“Have a look around, how many women are here today? Every third has suffered that, or is suffering that, potentially in silence.
 
“Indigenous women and girls are 35 times more likely to be assaulted. That is horrendous.
 
“And why is that? Because men make the conscious choice to hit them or abuse them. Home is meant to be safe for them – and it is not.
 
“Alcohol is a big cause of that, bit it is not the only cause. The cause is the person who commits the violence. They make a choice. It’s the person,” said Commander White, pictured leading the march, nearest to the camera. Emily Ings (at left) from Tangentyere Council was selling white ribbons.
 
 
 

1 COMMENT

  1. One of the choices is the one we as a community make when dealing with domestic violence offenders.
    Domestic violence programs in prison have been an unmitigated failure.
    If they were scrapped tomorrow there would be no change in the recidivism rate for domestic violence offenders.
    And millions of tax payer money would be saved.
    Corrections do not keep data on the success or failure of their programs despite prison review recommendations that they do this.
    It would be too embarrassing to do so.
    The jail programs do not resonate with the real issues in Aboriginal men’s lives.
    The staff administering them do not have the cross-cultural background to understand what these issues are.
    The reduction of the numbers and roles of Aboriginal staff within the jail has not been helpful.
    One outcome is that many Aboriginal men have spent 10 years or more in jail with just a short time between sentences.
    They offend and go to jail, hear stories about their wives and become jealous, get out and assault their wives, go back to jail etc etc.
    Along the way they graduate through domestic violence programs.
    A few wives deliberately offend to try to head off this cycle by offending so they are in jail when their husbands are there.
    Some go and live with their husband’s family.
    Focussing on this cycle and how wives and husbands can be supported would be a positive step.
    It would also be helpful to employ program staff who know about Aboriginal society and culture and are empowered within the prison system to deliver programs that make sense in the lives of the perpetrators.

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