Domestic Violence

Posted: September 3rd, 2013

Domestic Violence

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Domestic Violence

Introduction

Domestic violence has made a profound effect on the victims, the violators and the members of the family close to both parties of domestic violence in Australia. In the majority of the cases, the most affected people as far as close family members are concerned are the children. The most pressing issue is the implementation of strategies, which will stop domestic violence and prevent its recurrence. Domestic violence orders (DVO) have been put in place to prevent domestic violence and is recurrence. They are court orders restraining the aggressor from coming close to the victim or contacting the victim. Flouting these orders warrants for an arrest amongst other court reactions that come with court order defiance (McNiel & Binder, 2010). This paper dwells on the DVOs due to their efficacy as far as reducing/eliminating domestic violence is concerned. The hypothesis and the research questions will be analyzed in order to evaluate its efficacy. The data sampling, the sampling approach, the collecting methods and the evaluation design will also be explored. The drawbacks and the loopholes will also be indicated in the brief summary discussion.

Research Question

            Domestic violence orders have said to be efficient as far as eliminating or preventing its recurrence is concerned. It has been found to be more effectual on female domestic female victims as compared to other parties likely to encounter domestic violence (Logan, Jennifer, Shannon & Walker, 2007). In this research, the research question is “Do domestic violence orders prevent domestic violence recurrence?”

Hypotheses

• Domestic violence is likely to fall in households with victims obtaining restraining orders.
• Resurging of domestic violence will not take place in households where the victims have acquired restraining orders
• Victims feel a sense of security when they have domestic violence orders.
• Domestic violence orders are more effective on female victims as compared to other parties likely to experience domestic violence.

Evaluation Site/Subjects to be Studied

            Domestic violence is common in both rural and urban areas. However, this research will concentrate on the urban areas due to the high population and the diversity of people. The Research will be carried out in the people living in Sydney. In order to be more specific, the research will be carried out in Zetland. This is because it is not far away from the city (approximately four kilometers), it is a metropolitan area and it has a diverse population. Although the research will concentrate on specific areas due to the limitation of resources, it will mainly dwell on this area.

Although it might be hard to acquire, I will make contacts with the police department in order to know the people that may have issued DVOs within the past one year. Other social facilities such as domestic violence groups will play a major role in helping me with such kind of information (Dobash & Dobash, 2000). Making contacts with lawyers and the district attorney will also enable me to acquire the information on domestic violence order issuance.

In order to narrow down my research, I will focus on victims of domestic violence who have been given domestic violence orders. This is because talking to the offenders might be more challenging as opposed to talking to the victims. Additionally, there are many facilities that one might access the victims as opposed to the offenders. They include counseling facilities, hospitals, places of work and their homes.

Evaluation Design

            The research will use both secondary and primary sources. The secondary sources will incorporate previous researches that have been done concerning the topic. The primary sources will be acquired by field researching and analyzing the acquired data. In order to avoid being biased amongst other inadequacies that come with doing a research single-handedly, a control group will be put in place. The group will comprise of fellow classmates (2) other people in a higher level of education than I am (2) and one professional researcher, especially in the social field.

The research will start by analyzing the secondary sources. The research will then be carried out and then the data will be collected. The outcome will be measured in the pre and post intervention. The survey will conducted over a period of two months. This is because of the limitation of resources. The survey will be conducted twice in a week so that we (my group and I) might be able to capture as many participants as we can. The purpose of the survey will be to identify whether the domestic violence orders had a positive effect on the victims (Spitzberg, 2002).

Population and Sample

            The people in Zetland will be the study sample. In order to make work easier, the places with the highest likelihood of accommodating domestic violence victims will be visited. These include domestic violence counseling centers, hospitals and people’s homes (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). The names of the people can be acquired from the respect authorities such as the police departments or the counseling centers. This survey will be carried out over a period of two months.

Some of the anticipated problems regarding generalizing the entire population from a given sample include making a wrong conclusion, elimination of some facts such as there are areas that have a higher likelihood of having domestic violence as compared to the others, amongst other problems. Additionally, it might be difficult accessing particular parties such as male victims since most of them are not as open as the females are. In other levels, the personal and social trauma that comes with going public about domestic violence may also hinder us from acquiring the right samples.

Variables and Data Collection Methods

            Data will be collected by interviewing the participants and the answering open-ended questions in questionnaires. The dependent variable is the falling of domestic violence, the reoccurrence of domestic violence, the sense of security in the victims and the effectiveness of the restraining orders on the party. The dependent variables include the victims (male or female), the offenders and the restraining orders. The method used by Logan, Jenniffer, Shannon and Walker (2007) will be used to measure the variables.

In order to collect the data effectively, we might engage in the domestic violence counseling groups in order to create a rapport with the victims. By talking with the counselor in session, we can ask/him or her to incorporate some of the questions into the sessions. Interviews can be conducted through the phone, text messages or through emails in order to avoid eye contact for those who want to be discrete. Personal face-to-face interviews will also be carried out.

Conclusion

            The survey may encounter more challenges than the professional researches due to the limitation in such resources as time, funds and professionals. It may also be a challenge due to the lack of experience in the field of research. However, the professionals in the control team and the available resources will be interviewed to the maximum. The results will be compared with the other previous researches that have been carried out about the same topic. The research should be able to answer the question on whether DVOs prevent the reoccurrence of domestic violence.

References

Benitez, C. T., McNiel, D. E., & Binder, R. L. (2010). Do Protection Orders Protect? Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(3).

Dobash, R. E., & Dobash, R. P. (2000). Evaluating Criminal Justice Interventions for Domestic Violence. Crime & Delinquency, 46 (2), 252–270.

Logan, T., Jennifer, C., Shannon, L., & Walker, R. (2007). Relationship Characteristics and Protective Orders Among a Diverse Sample of Women. Journal of Family Violence, 22(4), 237.

Spitzberg, B. H. (2002, October). The Tactical Topography of Stalking Victimization and Management. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 3(4).

Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (1998, April). Stalking in America: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey. National Institute of Justice Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/169592.pdf