Violence against women is both a legal and cultural problem. What can we do to address it?

By Rosalind Dixon, Emma Buxton-Namisnyk, UNSW Sydney

Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women and what we can do about it.

It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience unacceptably high rates of domestic, family and sexual violence. An Australian woman dies every 15 days at the hands of a current or former partner, and most partner homicides follow a history of male-perpetrated violence.

As part of this conversation, many Australians are asking how we can do better at addressing such a complicated issue. Some suggested solutions are institutional and legal, but others point to the need for cultural change. While everyone can agree on the need for action, what’s the best way forward?

Legal options

Institutional reform to address gendered violence could operate across four broad levels.

First could be criminal justice reforms such as improving risk assessment in bail decisions and appropriately restricting bail. Police-monitored GPS tracking of those subject to an apprehended violence order (AVO) who are identified as posing an especially high risk could also be implemented. Some forms of tracking of high-risk domestic and family violence offenders have been shown to deter violence in the US and Spain.

These reforms would aim to improve the enforcement of apprehended violence orders and the visibility of people who use serious violence. It is clear such orders can work, but they don’t work well enough to protect victims.

https://youtu.be/nBcSqiPflTg?si=DLrcQZ7nwlpNKz0U

Any such reforms would also need to be accompanied by training and support for police responders and judicial decision-makers in the fair but robust use of these powers, as well as a moratorium on police mixing responses to family violence with other forms of enforcement action. In other words, police should not show up with other warrants when they come to protect victims.

Secondly, institutional reforms could include changes to family, property and tenancy laws to give victims greater short and long-term protection.

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