A Critical Analysis
1 Title
Everton-Moore, K. (2006). Anna's Story - Law's response to domestic violence. Griffith Law Review , 15 (1), 196-266.
2 Topic
The article is based on the importance of laws and regulations in controlling domestic violence in Australia. Domestic abuse can have a severe and lasting mental, emotional, physical as well as financial impact on a victim. Considering the prevalence of the issue in the Australian society, the laws pertaining to domestic violence will play a crucial part in not only controlling the rise of its incidence but also checking the recurrence of pre-existing cases. In order to explain the ramifications of domestic abuse, the author relies on a fictional person named Anna who is abused by Chris, her husband. The socio-psychological effects and socio-cultural implications relevant to Anna’s case are discussed through a review of literature in addition to the laws, civil as well as criminal, that would be applicable in this case in Queensland. Through this process, the author seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the law to addresses domestic violence cases that are similar to Anna’s. The message that is being conveyed to the reader is that the law needs to be amended in order to effectively combat the rise in numbers and severity of domestic violence.
3 Context
Domestic violence has been a part of the Australian society from times unknown. However, the issue has been in the limelight for over 2 decades, with researches on the abuse that women face at the hands of their intimate partners. Although studies have shown that women are more likely to be victims, domestic violence is not necessarily always committed against women. Studies have shown that cases of abuse against men are grossly unreported . Despite the awareness that millions of Australian men and women suffer from domestic violence during their lifetimes, the occurrence of such acts has not witnessed a decline over the past few years. This would indicate that, measures taken by the government as well as NGOs have not been successful in checking the prevalence of domestic abuse.
Further, there seems to be lack of a clear and comprehensive definition of the term ‘domestic violence’ and what acts should fall within its purview. Traditional definitions link it to mainly physical injury. However, modern day women’s welfare organizations include sexual as well a psychological abuses, which mostly go undetected even by victims, as part of domestic violence. Hence, it is crucial to understand the depth and breadth of domestic violence if we are to effectively evaluate the laws that are created to protect against it. It is in this context that Everton-Moore has written this article and seeks to attain these objectives through the imaginary yet realistic case of Anna.
4 Structure
The article begins with an introduction that provides the reader with a quick overview of the current situation of domestic violence in Australia, its effect on victims and the role of law and order in curtailing this problem. This is followed by Anna’s story, which is written in the form of a firsthand account being given by Anna herself to her psychiatrist, Dr. Davina. Using this example, the author goes on to highlight the various points that would be considered in the diagnosis and treatment of the psychological affects that domestic abuse may have had on Anna. In this segment, several applicable psychological theories are discussed with the purpose of providing an in-depth understanding of the nature and history of domestic abuse.
Next, the author lists the different laws that would ideally cover several aspects of domestic abuse. Facets of domestic violence that are not covered by the law and its impact on victims are also discussed. Having introduced the reader to all these psychological and legal concepts, Everton-Moore moves on to a critical analysis of the laws pertaining to Anna’s case. She uses this segment to provide a detailed understanding of the role that the law, including civil, criminal and family laws, should, but often do not, play in the control of, protection against and implication in cases of domestic violence. In the following short segment, the author provides a list of recommendations of what the laws should be doing in order to help Anna out of her misery.
5 Style
While the abstract and introduction of the article as well as Anna’s story itself give the initial impression that the article will be concise and to the point, the extensive review of psychological theories pertaining to domestic abuse is exhaustive. While the use of medical terminology is understandable, the language used by the author does not make it easy for the reader to grasp what is being said. Further, the author fails to provide a clear link between the discussion of the psychological theories and their connection to domestic violence laws. Considering that the author intends to use all these points to persuade the reader, it is crucial that the reader understands the message being conveyed by the author. While an understanding of Anna’s emotional and mental state will help understand the need for better laws, the lengthy discussion on how Dr. Davina should diagnose Anna’s condition seems irrelevant. The author gives equal coverage to the socio-psychological analysis and the law, although, considering that article is aimed at discussing the laws, it would be expected that this section would be given more focus. Everton-Moore does attempt to provide links between the socio-psychological and socio-cultural concepts and the treatment that the law would give to Anna’s case. However, the length of the discussions provided earlier take away from the focus of the reader on the subject at hand.
6 Argument
The main argument that the article makes is that there is a gap between the prevalence of various forms of domestic violence and laws to curb them, and that this gap needs to be addressed. The identification of these gaps is necessary in order to create laws that will provide comprehensive protection to victims for not only physical abuse but sexual and psychological violence as well. It is difficult to formulate effective laws as the very definition of domestic violence and its victims is highly complex given the nature of intimate relationships in an Australian society .
7 Evidence
In order to give an overview of the incidence of domestic violence in Australia, the author provides statistics from surveys conducted by agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics as well recent studies conducted by commentators such as Seymore in 1996 and McCloskey and Grigsby in 2005. Considering that the article itself was written in 2006, the author has provided evidence as recent as a year old. A similar approach is followed when introducing Australian laws pertaining to domestic violence. For the psychological diagnosis of Anna’s condition, the author provides in-depth discussion of various theories such as the socio-psychological model, antecedents such as childhood abuse, ITRV, learned helplessness and the cycle of violence and the social exchange theory. The author lists several acts such as the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 1989, Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, Family Law Reform Act 1995, in addition to citing various cases of domestic abuse.
8 Evaluation
While the author strives to provide a well researched and comprehensive look at domestic violence and laws to protect against it, the article is based solely on a feminine perspective. The matter of men being abused in cases of domestic violence is not given much importance and the abuse of women retains the main focus. Anna’s story, although fictional, could easily be the story of a majority of domestic violence victims. The author’s argument against the adequacy of laws to address the plight of women suffering from such abuse is supported by the circumstances conveyed in the story, for example, the childhood abuse that both, Anna and her husband, have faced, the gradual growth of violence, the different forms of violence being practiced by the abuser as well as the methods applied by Anna to defend herself and her children. However, it can be argued that the story presented is highly generalized in nature and address only the most common and well known aspects of domestic violence, albeit in-depth. Instead of giving a lengthy coverage t psychological concepts, the author could have focused on unconventional cases to highlight facets of domestic violence not touched by earlier studies and researches. Finally, while the article relied on the most recent data available at the time, the statistics contained therein are about 7 years old now and may have changed for the better or for the worse. As such, the article cannot be considered an updated research or commentary on the current scenario of domestic violence in Australia.
9 Conclusion
After having evaluated the contents of this article, it can be said that the author has provided an extensive review of literature and has successfully highlighted several gaps in Australia’s civil, criminal and family laws to address this problem. However, the article could have been more comprehensive in its coverage of the issue and, today, cannot be considered a current commentary of the issue of domestic violence.
Works Cited
ABS. (2009). Conceptual framework for family and domestic violence, cat. No. 4529.0. Retrieved July 27, 2012, from Australian Bureau of Statistics: Conceptual framework for family and domestic violence
Everton-Moore, K. (2006). Anna's Story - Law's response to domestic violence. Griffith Law Review , 15 (1), 196-266.
Heady, B., Scott, D., & de Vaus, D. (1999). Domestic Violence in Australia: Are Women and Men Equally Violent? Melbourne: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.
