Challenges Posed by Domestic Violence and How the Police can Tackle It Essay Example
In the United States, domestic violence is among the most prevalent form of violence that the Police have to deal with (Retief & Green, 2015). Domestic violence is among the most common problems that are faced. According to research findings, the problem of domestic violence is affected an estimated 10 million individuals annually (Huecker et al., nd). In fact, one in every four women and one in nine men are subjected to the problem of domestic violence according to research findings (Huecker et al., nd). Virtually, it is evident that all healthcare professionals and workers will, at a given point, attend to a patient who is a victim of domestic violence.
Domestic violence includes sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of children, and economic violence, among others. Various factors can lead to the problem of domestic violence. For instance, financial challenges are among the leading causes of domestic violence, especially in low-income families. In this analysis essay, the focus will be on analyzing some of the effects or challenges posed by the problem of domestic violence in society. Additionally, since domestic violence is a criminal act, the paper will also focus on some of the ways that are adopted by the Police to address the problem of domestic violence across the globe.
The issue of domestic violence poses various problems to different parties that are in a family. For instance, some of the parties that are subjected to the problems of domestic violence include victims, families, children, and the community in general. For example, in the case of the victims, domestic violence may have challenges include death, injury, illness, and disability ((Ribeiro et al., 2008). In this case, it is important to note that domestic violence involves physical confrontation whereby the victim can be physically beaten, leading to injuries that may cause disability and even death in extreme cases. Research has indicated that among women under the age of 45, domestic and family violence is the leading cause of death (Ribeiro et al., 2008). On the victim also, the problem of domestic violence leads to the challenge of emotional and psychological trauma.
Domestic violence has a devastating effect on an individual's physical, mental, and emotional health, especially the victim (Kaur & Garg, 2008). For example, some of these may include subjecting the person to shame, depression, anger, and suicidal thoughts. It is natural that when an individual is constantly being beaten by their partner, they feel shame because other people within the neighborhood begin to view them differently. They, therefore, develop shame which hurts them emotionally. Besides, the people that are constantly subjected to domestic violence can become depressed because of the kind of lifestyle that they are in. it is important to note that nobody enjoys being abused. Therefore, when a person is subjected to such abuses, they become depressed and develop the feeling of wanting to terminate their lives by committing suicide.
Homelessness is another challenge brought about by domestic violence, especially on the side of the victims. In this case, once an individual has been abused by their partners or parents back at home, they begin to think about how to get to safety, especially when no one promptly comes to their rescue. Therefore, such victims often decide to run away from their homes, leading to the great problem of homelessness across different countries. Victims of domestic violence are also subjected to the risk of using alcohol and other drugs that they believe can be helpful when dealing with the pain of suffering domestic violence.
For example, some victims decide to drink alcohol to manage the stress and depression they face from being abused domestically. Such drugs are, however, harmful to their health and can cause various health complications leading to disabilities and death of the victim. Finally, on the side of the victims, another challenge they face due to domestic violence is physical health injuries and other issues that may not have medical treatments. For example, if one has been beaten to being disabled, this situation is unlikely to have medical treatment, leading to permanent disability for the victim of domestic violence.
Besides the victims of domestic violence, the family is also subjected to various adverse effects in cases where it experiences domestic violence. For example, one of the main challenges that such families face is fear and the possibility of destroying the family environment that had previously been created. This can also lead to the breakup of families. Under this, it is important to acknowledge that families can rarely sustain violent situations. Members of families in which violence is regularly experienced will be scared and seek alternatives to help them escape such dangerous situations. Therefore, in most cases, such families break apart, and the victim may decide to walk away with the children leaving the other family members on their own (Walker, 2019).
Another challenge the family may face due to domestic violence is the frequent movement to avoid the perpetrator of the violence or the abuser. Naturally, people would not want to continue staying where they are not wanted or are constantly abused. The best option that the majority will prefer is to move away so that they can avoid the people that constantly abuse them. Therefore, the family will be subjected to this problem because the victims, including children, will be forced to move all the time to flee to safer places without the abuser.
Regular household conflicts are another adverse effect a family will likely face during domestic violence. Once a family is always experiencing domestic violence, there will be a split in the family due to regular conflicts. For example, family members are likely to develop attitudes towards other people, especially the perpetrators of the violence. As a result, this will lead to constant disagreement among the house members, leading to regular conflicts. Police involvement or child protection is another impact domestic violence can have on a family.
In families where domestic violence is frequent, the safety of the children becomes an issue that should be considered. For example, it is possible that the children are unlikely to be safe when the parents have been involved in a fight. Besides, it is doubtful whether their basic needs will be provided for them. This, therefore, compromises the entire situation and their safety. It will call for the involvement of the Police to ensure that the children are safe at all times. This is, however, a risky situation that compromises the development and mental stability of the children. Hence, this is another problem associated with domestic violence, especially for the family.
The community is another party impacted adversely due to domestic violence. One of the adverse effects that the community suffers is when the children grow up without learning about the importance of positive relationships and having respect for other people. When the children are brought up in families that experience domestic violence often, such children develop bad behaviors as they grow up without respect for other people.
For example, before their parents engage in physical fights, they see how they exchange bitter and disrespectful words. Such children, therefore, tend to emulate what they see because, at that age, they learn most of the things through observation, copying what they see from their parents and other elderly people in their surroundings. As a result, the community suffers because it becomes dominated by children who grow up with a lack of respect and positive relationships as they enter adulthood. This means that the community is highly likely to be dominated by people with negative behaviors that can engage in violence and other behaviors such as robbery.
Abusers are also going to prison, which is another way the community is likely to suffer as a result of domestic violence. It is public knowledge that domestic violence is a criminal offense. Once the perpetrators or the abusers have been apprehended, they are charged in court and taken to prison to serve their jail terms. In one way or another, this impacts the community in different ways. For instance, when the abusers are in prison, the community misses part of the population that would otherwise be involved in various economic activities that contribute to the economy of such a society or community (Chan & Cho, 2010).
Additionally, with the abusers serving their jail terms in prison due to the crime of domestic violence, the community also suffers because the parents that are supposed to act as role models to their children are in prison. As a result, the community brings up children that lack moral ethics due to a lack of guidance in their behaviors by their parents or guidance, who would be serving jail terms in prison for being involved in domestic violence crime. Finally, the community also suffers from high rates of alcohol and substance abuse and other related mental problems. As provided previously, most victims of domestic violence seek other ways that they can adapt to cope with their situation. One of these ways is the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs, as they tend to ease the pressure, stress, and shame that come with constant physical abuse by their partners.
As a result, the community suffers because when most people are being abused domestically and seek refuge in alcohol and substance abuse, it means that the larger part of the population of this community will suffer from this problem and other mental-related issues. Additionally, the larger part of the population is involved in alcohol and substance abuse, this means that the community because less productive and this also contribute to the problem of lack of economic growth. Studies estimate that family and domestic violence cost the economy over 44.5 billion annually (Walby, 2004). This is, therefore, a justification for the adverse impacts that domestic violence can have on the progress of a community in terms of economic development.
Another party that also experiences adverse impacts of domestic violence in a family is the children. Out of the women that are subjected to domestic violence, more than half have children under their care. It is important to note that children and young people are not supposed to see violent behaviors. Once they have witnessed violent behaviors from their parents, this is enough to cause emotional and physical harm to them in various ways. For instance, they can suffer from emotional distress, eating and sleeping disorders, anxiety and depression, and low self-esteem. Children are, in most cases, attached to their mothers, and therefore, when they witness their mothers subjected to physical violence, they become traumatized.
This is also likely to affect their performance in school as they keep reflecting on the type of abuse that goes on in their families. Therefore, they become distracted from classwork, and their contribution becomes minimal, leading to generally dismal performance in their academic work. It is the responsibility of parents and guardians to ensure that children and young people grow in friendly environments that are secure and help to nurture them positively. In places where family and domestic violence exist, it becomes unsafe for children and young people because they become scared of what may happen to them and those they love. Therefore, this is another challenge posed by domestic violence, especially to the children subjected or exposed to such incidents.
Since domestic violence is a criminal offense, it is evident that the law enforcement department, especially the Police has an important role in tackling this problem. In other words, the Police can take various actions to ensure that the problem of domestic violence is addressed and minimized as possible. One of the main steps that the Police can take to address this problem is by making arrests of both partners that have been involved. This would include both the male and female partners in the violent domestic engagement. This is mainly done because, in some instances, both parties tend to file charges for violent encounters and counter-charges (Erez, 2002). In other words, when the victim of the violence files a charge against the perpetrator, the perpetrator on the other hand also files a counter-charge in defense.
Therefore, the Police can help in such cases by arresting both parties involved so that it allows for further investigations to establish the cause of the violence, as well as the person that is in charge so that the courts can make a determination on the case. Additionally, the Police can also help in tackling this problem by giving support to the victims as well as those that are vulnerable (Hoyle & Sanders, 2000). In this case, the Police can try to identify some of the individuals highly subjected to domestic violence and take them to safer places where they are unlikely to face abuse.
The Police can also obtain vital information about the families that have previously experienced domestic violence to keep in contact with such families to ensure that the members of such families experience no such instances. For instance, the Police need to have information on the location or address where such families live. They should also know of the possibility of any firearms in such families or kept by any members of such families so that they can confiscate them before they are used against any family member. The Police can also help by knowing the current location of the offenders or perpetrators of domestic violence so that they can handle the situation with the required urgency.
Finally, another contribution that the Police can make towards tackling domestic violence is encouraging community policing. This promotes the creation of a partnership between the Police and the members of a particular community to proactively address the issue of concern, domestic violence. With community policing, the Police can identify some of the communities where the act of domestic violence is common so that they can make frequent patrols in such areas. This will ensure that they identify such cases in a timely manner and prevent them from taking place to an extent that their effect becomes adverse to the victims and other associated members.
Community policing also has the benefit of ensuring the satisfaction of the victim of domestic violence (Martin, 1997). This is mainly because once the Police are operating within a given community largely characterized by domestic violence; the victims may make frequent reports to the Police because they can have quick and easy access to them whenever the perpetrators have displayed the signs of violence. This will also contribute to the fight against domestic violence by the Police.
From a general perspective, it is evident that the issue of domestic violence is of great concern for the criminal justice and law enforcement departments, especially the Police. As the critical analysis essay provides, domestic violence poses various major challenges to the people involved, either directly or indirectly. As pointed out in the essay, some of the partners subjected to domestic violence challenges include the victims, family, the community, and children in those families. Domestic violence has various health impacts that these parties can suffer. For instance, it interferes with a person's physical and mental health, especially the victims and children that belong to the family. Additionally, the victims can sustain severe physical and emotional injuries that can lead to permanent disability or death and related suicidal thoughts.
Children also suffer from domestic violence because they have been subjected to situations that interfere with their self-esteem, which subsequently affects their level of academic performance in school. The community also suffers in terms of economic development because the part of the population that should be participating in various economic activities would be serving their respective jail terms. Therefore, domestic violence is a problematic issue that needs intervention from the law enforcement department and the Police. As provided, the Police can contribute in different ways toward tackling this problem, and one of the ways is enforcing community policing. They can also make arrests in instances that have been reported so that the offenders can face the charges and consequences. Finally, the Police can also track vital information about vulnerable families and more likely to face this challenge and take them to safer locations.
