As yet another NFL player stands accused of domestic violence, it is beginning to look as though the sport is riddled with wife-beaters and child-abusers. By apparently sweeping such behaviour under the…
Homicide-suicides are usually perpetrated by men who murder a current or former intimate partner.
Lukas Koch/AAP
Last week’s tragic deaths of the Hunt family, in what police are treating as a multiple homicide-suicide incident, have left a close-knit community in shock. It is always hard to understand why such events…
One in five Australians believe violence can be excused if the offender later regrets it.
craigsmith0423/Flickr
The latest National Community Attitudes Survey on Violence against Women (NCAS), released today, shows that most measures of community understanding and attitudes on violence against women have not improved…
Some parents still use physical punishment to control or change their child’s annoying or unacceptable behaviours.
Melle V/Shutterstock
Children endure many forms of violence, from slapping and pushing, to fatal assaults; almost one in five of the world’s homicide victims in 2012 were under 20. The recently released UNICEF report on violence…
Violence that happens behind closed doors and within families is finally being recognised as a crime – not just a “domestic”.
Jaybird/Flickr
She showed me the cigarette burns on her arms. Her eyes seemed empty as she slumped in the chair, answering questions with defeated shrugs. Finally she explained that her stepfather had held her down and…
Theresa May is leading a review of government policy on domestic abuse.
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/Press Association Images
This week’s no-brainer award goes to the UK Home Office - an accolade it has surely won many times before. A new consultation has been launched to see whether the law on domestic violence should match…
Reducing family violence requires targeting all forms of abuse.
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The term “domestic violence” typically conjures images of physical assaults perpetrated by men against women and children in the home. But beneath the tip of the iceberg of severe violence lie a myriad…
Breaches are one of the weakest links.
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Protection orders form a central plank of the various state and territory governments’ response to domestic violence. First introduced in New South Wales in the 1980s and known by a different names across…
Women who’ve lost touch with family and friends, or have no access to funds, turn to emergency accommodation in women’s refuges.
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“Why doesn’t she just leave?” is the common question people ask when trying to understand domestic violence. The answer is far from straightforward. Central to domestic violence is an ongoing pattern of…
Debate surrounding the law’s response to lethal domestic violence has led to significant law reform activity over the last 20 years.
AAP/Dave Hunt
The law’s response to lethal domestic violence in Australia raises complex issues. It requires a delicate balance to be struck between ensuring a just response to those who kill in response to prolonged…
Until recently, violence against women was not reported prominently or consistently by mainstream media. Why not?
Dave Malkoff
Did the grim story of dapper real estate agent Gerard Baden-Clay’s calculated murder of his wife Allison in April 2012, played out recently in a Brisbane court with a life sentence, make you feel afraid…
Fron Jackson-Webb, The Conversation; Michael Courts, The Conversation e Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
Gerard Baden-Clay’s murder of his wife Allison has helped put the spectre of domestic violence firmly back in the national spotlight. How prevalent is it?
AAP/Dan Peled
Once a hidden crime, domestic violence has in recent years emerged as a mainstream criminal justice issue in Australia. Cases such as Queensland man Gerard Baden-Clay’s murder of his wife Allison and the…
Why did the Baden-Clay domestic homicide case in Queensland grab so much media and public attention?
AAP/Dan Peled
When Brisbane man Gerard Baden-Clay rang police to report his wife Allison missing on April 20, 2012, he set in motion a series of events that would lead to his arrest, trial and ultimately his conviction…
Rolf Harris’s conviction on 12 charges of indecent assault came at the end of a long trial. The case put sexual assault victims in the spotlight once again – only the latest high-profile example of a growing…
Reforming Victorian homicide law has been a long process, but a bill introduced today is a significant step forward.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Victorian attorney-general Robert Clark today introduced a bill into parliament that repeals the offence of defensive homicide. The bill signifies a significant step forward in ensuring just responses…
Football can be a violent game. While this year’s World Cup has not been marked by serious violence on the pitch, games are hard fought and there have been a handful of red cards already. Off the pitch…
Pistorius trial has kept violence against women on the frontpage.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
Who is responsible for violence towards women? This question runs like a thread through some of the public discourses swirling around the trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius. In some ways he represents an…
Clare’s law will allow people in Scotland to view their partners’ domestic abuse histories
jurgenfr
Following UK Home Secretary Theresa May’s announcement that England and Wales are bringing in a “Clare’s law” that will allow people to check whether their partner has a history of domestic abuse, Alex…
More complex than the bottle.
Fight by Shutterstock
A recent study by researchers at Cardiff University claimed that the number of people who attended hospital for injuries caused by violence has fallen by 12% in the past year. But to what extent can the…
Director Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, CI ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence against Women (CEVAW), School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies (SOPHIS), School of Social Sciences (SOSS), Faculty of Arts, Monash University