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Male Domestic Abuse: The Continuing Contrast Between Women's Experiences and Juridical Responses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Rosanna Langer
Rosanna Langer
Affiliation:
Department of Women's and Gender Studies, University of Saskatchewan School of Human Justice, University of Regina
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Abstract

Women's perceptions of abuse differ deeply from official characterizations of them and are largely absent from legal discourse on male domestic abuse despite two decades of reform initiatives. This article traces the enforcement of male domestic dominance and violence through the failures of the criminal justice system to incorporate women's perspectives in systemic responses to male spouse batterers. I argue that it is factors such as official labelling of abuse by the juridical system, including police, which determine whether abuse is ‘officially’ recognized as such and whether the male violent family is stabilized by policies, practices, and non-intervention. This interaction between definitions and institutional responses makes it crucial to understand how women define their own experiences of abuse. The article concludes that male domestic abuse remains a contested area of juridical understandings and practices. Insofar as the ‘official’ definition of her situation impacts on the abused woman's self-perception, and on her access to resources she might use to get out of danger, it determines the organization of ‘domestic abuse’ as well.

Résumé

La perception qu'ont les femmes de la violence conjugale diffère largement du “portrait officiel” de la victime et leur point de vue est pratiquement ignoré dans le débat juridique sur la violence conjugale en dépit des efforts de réforme des 20 dernières années. L'auteure de cet article fait état du maintien, au sein du couple et de la famille, de la domination et de la violence masculines et ce en raison du défaut du système judiciaire criminel d'intégrer la perspective des femmes dans la réponse «systémique» à la violence conjugale. L'auteure soutient que ce sont des facteurs tels que la définition officielle de la violence conjugale, établie par la machine judiciaire—dont fait partie le «corps policier»—qui déterminent s'il y a effectivement violence conjugale et si la famille est maintenue dans cette violence par les politiques, les pratiques et l'absence d'intervention. La compréhension de l'interaction entre les définitions et les réponses institutionnelles est importante afin de saisir comment les femmes définissent leur propre expérience de la violence conjugale. Dans cet article, l'auteure conclut que la violence conjugale demeure un terrain de débat des conceptions et des pratiques juridiques. Dans la mesure où la définition officielle de sa situation influence l'image qu'a d'ellemême la victime et le choix des diverses ressources auxquelles elle recourt pour se mettre hors de danger, cette définition détermine de la même manière la façon dont est gérée la violence conjugale.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Spring/printemps 1995 , pp. 65 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 1995

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References

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45. Ibid. at 31.

46. Ibid. at 56, table 4.12.

47. Once again, I wish to thank the external reviewer who encouraged me to develop the assertion that the juridical construction of the charge or accusation is implicated in the discrepancy between women's experiences and the official determinations of abuse.

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51. Saskatchewan Justice Report, supra note 43 at 42.

52. Case synopses in ibid. at 42–45.

53. Ibid. at 99.

54. Tearmann Report, supra note 49 at 58.

55. Voices of Aboriginal Women, supra note 16 at 16.

56. Saskatchewan Justice Report, supra note 43 at 65.

57. Ibid. at 66.

58. Tearmann Report, supra note 49.

59. Ibid. at 22, 23, 29.

60. Responses to Peace Bond questionnaire from various provincial transition house staff, file material, Provincial Association of Transition Houses Saskatchewan, December 1990–January 1991, Saskatoon, Sask.

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63. Ibid. at s. 8. Those who can make an application include designated mobile crisis unit staff, co-ordinators of victim assistance programmes, and police officers. Victims of Domestic Violence Act, ibid., s. 3.

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65. Tearmann Report, supra note 49 at 87.

66. Quotations by police force members from the Saskatchewan Justice Report, supra note 43 at 65-66, include: “They are sometimes respectable people who have a problem … a well-off white couple and things get out of hand and if you charge the husband the police look bad.” “Everyone complains about assault because they want their husband out and the next day they don't have a complaint. Also in 90% of recent cases she hits him first and then they fight.”

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73. Quoting from a Judicial Council of Manitoba decision inquiring into the conduct of Judge Kenneth B. Peters, 14 November 14, 1989 in Brown et al., eds., supra note 37 at 3:31.

74. Saskatchewan Justice Report, supra note 43 at 123.

75. Atkinson, supra note 69 at 2.

76. Mahon, supra note 49 at 131.

77. Saskatchewan Justice Report, supra note 43 at 131.

78. Ibid. at 132.

79. Ibid. at 140, case 300.

80. Ibid. at 134, table 9.2.

81. Ibid. at 141.

82. Buzawa and Buzawa observe, for example, in Domestic Violence, supra note 48 at 115, that the availability of emergency protection orders and their use or disuse by a victim herself is one way for women to assert control over their own situation.

83. Tearmann Report, supra note 49 at 12.

84. Ibid.

85. R. v. Moore, [1987] N.W.T.R. 47 at 51 (Terr. Ct.). See also McGillivray, supra note 30 at 34.

86. Ibid. at 55.

87. Saskatchwan Justice Report, supra note 43 at 77.

88. Ibid. at 78.

89. Ibid. at 79. A 1994 provincial initiative to develop second-stage housing in Saskatoon and Swift Current, in addition to existing secure units in Regina should hopefully help to alleviate this barrier for some women in transition.

90. Tearmann Report, supra note 49 at 14.

91. Ibid. at 14.

92. Ibid. at 17.

93. Mahoney, supra note 35 at 16.

94. Similarly, in the Literature Review of the Manitoba Spouse Abuse Project, supra note 41 at 18, it is reported that “[o]n the basis of combined victim survey and police observational studies, we can estimate that for 100 wife assaults about seven are detected by police and about one arrest is made.” [citing Dutton, 1987]. These statistics must be applied with caution: anecdotal reports in Saskatchewan indicate that things have improved, at least in the cities. Likewise the statistics are not applicable to other areas of the country, particularly larger cities where municipal initiatives have been taken directly like Vancouver, London, Ontario, metropolitan Toronto and metropolitan Montreal.

95. See Mahoney, supra note 11.

96. Tearmann Report, supra note 49 at 34.

97. E.g. in Wilkins v. Wilkins (1987), 7 R.F.L. (3d) 199 (Ont. Fam. Ct.) [hereinafter Wilkins] an ex-husband was found in contempt of a non-harassment order under the Family Law Act, S.O. 1986, c. 4 for sending his ex-wife dozens of derogatory letters and cards, being seen repeatedly in the building where she worked, and phoning her repeatedly both at work and at home until she was forced to resign from her job. Recent stalking provisions introduced into the Criminal Code may provide some recourse for these types of behaviours. Likewise, the Victims of Domestic Violence Act, supra note 61 at s. 3(d), provides for an order restraining the respondent from communicating with the victim or other specified persons.

98. A woman student left her abusive spouse at the beginning of the school year; when she returned for her belongings, he had taken her computer and hidden it in another city. (Oral account by student, biographical details on file with author.) The Victims of Domestic Violence Act, ibid., addresses this issue as well by providing for an emergency intervention order for police escort to remove belongings from the home within a specified time.

99. See Wilkins, supra note 97 at 201. “The father telephoned the Children's Aid Society and insisted on an investigation of the apparent lack of care given to the child by her mother …[The worker] stated that she really ended up being apologetic to the mother … when she found that the child was well cared for, in good health, and in a well-managed, tidy home environment.”

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102. Voices of Aboriginal Women, supra note 16 at 7.

103. Geller, supra note 100 at 19.

104. Tearmann Report, supra note 49 at 93.

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106. Brown et al. eds, supra note 37.