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Notes from the Kapiti line #3

11/9/2015

A man with glasses reading a book. My book cover fingerless gloves. The moon of my thumbnail. This carriage. Its window an O of surprise and through it the carriage in front and then the one in front of that. I am always unnerved by seeing the string of carriages. The way they swing. Their little alien worlds.

A line of people all in a row with laptops open like the mouths of hungry birds.

Two men who don't know each other with matching white earphone wires that curl like some growing tendrilled thing.

The red and white fire extinguisher sign with its bold arrow that points to two screws on which a fire extinguisher must once have hung.

A glorious woman with a turquoise handbag and a red and black skirt. A woman with a very long loose plait of black hair down her back and an old vinyl bag with red and pink ladybirds on it.

A bridge over which many white cars are traveling. The inlet, which holds the reflection of a city that isn't there.

Help create better domestic violence laws

11/9/2015

There's a consultation on New Zealand's Family Violence Laws. It closes on 18th of September. You can submit anonymously if you want.

Fill in the form or you can email [email protected]. Put your name and email address in there if you want to hear back from them.

If you' do email - putting the question number beside your comments will help when results are tabulated.

You can just answer one of the questions or just make one point but if you're using the form you'll need to scroll through to the end to submit.

I have three sections in this post:

three key messages if you're in a super hurry and want to help
some more detailed messages if you have a tiny bit more time
why I think it's a good idea to submit and where the key messages come from

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Three Key Messages

Question 5, 16 and 22

Improve and implement domestic violence training and the use of family violence specialists across the board in dealing with domestic violence including in family courts, police dealing with protection orders and those dealing with parenting decisions

Question 10

As recommended by the UN and the World Health Organisation create a nationwide and integrated violence against women and children policy framework. Domestic violence needs to be dealt with as part of this framework.

Question 24

Make a perpetrator's history of violence an aggravating factor at sentencing

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Some more detailed Key Messages for consultation

Question 5 What changes to legal tools and powers would ensure the law keeps pace with advances in understanding of family violence and how to address it?

Simplify the process of applying for protection orders
Don't put the onus on those applying for protection orders to provide all the evidence about their safety concerns
Train police to deal with all protection orders consistently
Train and license all judges and lawyers dealing with family violence cases should be trained and licensed - a licensing scheme will need to be established.
In parenting decisions, parents who have been violent to their partners must be assumed to be unsafe parents until proven otherwise. Assessments on safety of parents should be made by family violence specialists.

Question 7 Does the current legal framework for family violence address the needs of vulnerable population groups, in particular disabled and elderly people? How could it be improved to better meet the needs of these groups?

Acknowledge that women in all population groups are a vulnerable population group as well.

Question 10 What changes to the current definition of ‘domestic violence’ would ensure it supports understanding of family violence and improves responses?

We need the definitions of domestic violence to acknowledge the gendered nature of much violence.
There needs to be a nationwide and integrated violence against women policy framework dealing with 'domestic', 'sexual' and other forms of violence against women and children. Domestic violence needs to be dealt with as part of this framework.
A violence against women and children framework is recommended by the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
A violence against women and children framework will have flow on effects supporting the ending of all violence.

12 How would guiding principles affect how the Domestic Violence Act and other legislation is implemented? What principles would you suggest?

Recognise the gendered nature of Domestic Violence, that is that most perpetrators of domestic violence are men and most victims are female.
Address domestic violence as part of an integrated national policy framework addressing violence against women and children.

Question 13 How could including principles in the law reflect the nature and dynamics of family violence?

Develop policies that focus primarily on men's violence against women.

Question 16 What changes could enhance the effectiveness, use and enforcement of protection orders?

Simplify the process of applying for protection orders.
Don't put the onus on those applying for protection orders to provide all the evidence about their safety concerns.
Recognise that serving protection orders is a high risk time, those serving orders need to be trained in techniques to: de-escalate the situation, provide support; and explain what the protection order means.

Train police and create guidelines to ensure consistent practice in dealing with protection order breaches and subsequent prosecution.
Ensure police do not minimise what they consider to be low level breaches, and train them in understanding all breaches are a risk factor for further harm and require swift consistent action.

Question 22 How should risks to children and to adult victims be reflected in parenting arrangements under the Care of Children Act 2004? How could parenting orders and protection orders be better aligned?

Assume parents who have been violent to their partners or ex-partners are not safe parents unless otherwise proven.
Have specialised staff with training and expertise in domestic violence assess whether parents are safe.
Consider and give weighting to the risk to the safety of both children and any adult victims when deciding parenting arrangements.

Question 24 What changes, if any, could be made to the criminal law to better respond to family violence, including the cumulative harm caused by patterns of family violence?

Make the history of violence an aggravating factor at sentencing

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Why I think you should (if you can) submit

I think it's worth submitting because if enough of us say some sensible things about how to stop people getting hurt by family members the government might just listen. Or if they don't then we can make it really embarrassing for them. I won't even going into the harrowing statistics about violence in this country, because you probably know them. There's some statistics on the consultation pages.

Many of the agencies who support survivors and victims of violence have to distance themselves a bit from this sort of advocacy work because it can threaten the government funding. That's funding which helps them get victims to safety. Most of the agencies are horribly underfunded and don't have time or resources to do this advocacy work even if they could.

The key things are suggestions made by friends of mine in the who have been working for survivors and victims of violence for many years (decades!). They think these things could make a real difference.

If you do submit by email, use the numbers from the form (which I've provided) as this will help those tabulating the results put your comment in the right place.

This is pulled together quickly, misses lots of questions and others may have many other pointers for you. If you want me to link to some other submissions or pointers put it in the comments so others can see. I'll delete if I don't like them.

I know for all of you this takes time and for some of you great bravery. It's fine if you can't do this and I hope those who are able will do it to show their support to you.

I may add more suggestions along the way.

Notes from the Kapiti line #3

Help create better domestic violence laws

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