intimate partner violence

intimate partner violence

The film private violence examines the kind of life the main actor Deanna Walter underwent through the hands of an abusive husband.  Robbie, the husband to the victim, kidnapped Deanna and beat her inside the trunk of the car for four days in the presence of her daughter.  This was a horrific journey for Deanna, but it ended when the police officer pulled over the car and rescued her from this painful journey.  Deanna was taken to hospital, but despite the evidence depicted by the injury all over her body, her husband was never arrested by the police.  The officers allowed Robbie to drive home instead of taking action and putting him in bars.  It was clear that the state prosecution was very reluctant on the case, but with the help of Kit, an advocate who seeks justice to women who are faced with private violence, help Deanna through the corridors of courts seeking justice for the victim.  Kit seeks help from the right authorities who understands the process taken in private violence cases.  The film resolved the question, “why didn’t she leave?” to most viewers.  From Deanna’s experience, Kit commended that the victims should not be judged when they return to their abusers.

The question “why did she leave” is the common and famous question most of the people ask themselves when they meet an IPV victim.  This question seems to be very easy to most of the people, but according to Kit, it is technical experience that most of the abusers undergo.  It is not easy to leave.  This complex question has been addressed in most of the TV programs and fiction films.  Following Deanne’s case in the film Private Violence, it is clear that the question was not answered differently from other cases.  However, the film added more examples in which it depicted how hard it is for the victim of private violence to leave.  The question has remained problematic, especially to the victim has they feel judged by the society, which encouraged them to seek love ends up showing no sympathy when the same love turned sour.

In most cases, abused women fear to leave an abusive marriage as they fear for great harm once thy leave.  Also, the victim does not receive any help from either the courts and the family, and this makes them feel helpless.  In the end, the abused person feels compassionate once the abuser apologizes, hoping that the situation will be better and the abuser will change.  This makes it difficult for the victim to leave as the justice system, and the public does not support their cry.

The courts all over the provinces in Ontario provide DVC programs.  DV actions program in Ontario handles a larger area of services in connection with the ministries, which interconnect with IPV controlled by the steering committee (Cassell et al., 2015).  This program includes principles that are spearheading the right for safety among the women, equality, holistic responses, personal accountability, and helps in balancing the approach which addresses the needs of the victims and the abuser.  This makes the victims get a channel that supports them and handles the cases according to the law.  The plans indicated in Ontario continuously improves and evaluates the programs providing support to the victims and correcting the abusive partners.

Most importantly, police in Ontario employ a risk assessment checklist to tackles the IPV cases.   In addition, this assessment can be used parallel with PAR programs with the committee who runs and evaluates the high-risk offender working under the court.  Such programs are the measures that are taken by the Ontario criminal justice system to look keenly on the issue concerning IPV.  These programs, such as PAR works considering the response of the accused and the committee.  The most challenging factor affecting this process is the funding of the 54 courts across the provinces and the committee under the system (Cassell et al., 2015).  However, more stakeholders have been involved in improving this system. Also, this system can be enhanced by developing a private body to oversee these issues closer to the community.

References

Cassell, J., Green, V., and MacGregor, N. (2015). Intimate Partner Violence and the Scales of Justice: Monitoring the Specialized Domestic Violence Court Program in Toronto, Ontario

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1f3PIajxyEey8agFYVrS4XVvOOW8Rc8l0