excusable violence
According to get Reading:
“She then fled downstairs and tried to call 999, but he grabbed the phone off her and punched her twice in the face. She began screaming so he put his arms around her neck so she couldn’t breath” she was “in fear of her life†and “honestly believed she might dieâ€,
This behaviour is reported as ‘out of his normal character’ and he says
“He is dreadfully upset about what has happened,â€
Whether ‘in’ or ‘out’ of character he chose to stop her seeking social support (calling the police), punch her in the face two times and throttle her when she tries to get support locally by screaming. He could have chosen to ignore her or do a silly dance. It was his choice and he did choose extreme violence. Evidently he ‘lost it’ (self-control?). Lost it appears to be part of a socially acceptable storyline to excuse violence. Psychologists label loss of control as a psychological disorder and use it to explain the curiously termed domestic violence.
“perpetrators of domestic violence rarely receive adequate psychological treatment, because they are viewed as criminals, rather than individuals with psychological problems.“
In the above case the offender got a suspended sentence and fined the cost of a good night out, 60 quid. No requirement for a psychological assessment or treatment with the fine hardly touching the actual expense of the social services his behaviour drew upon (e.g. Police, NHS).
How safe do I feel in a society where the legal system thinks I can be justifiably (for 60 quid) be repeatedly punched in the face and throttled when I try to call for assistance if the agressor claims its not habitual and they regret it?
June 24th, 2008
Not safe at all. But all is not gloom and doom. There still exist several extremely useful laws such as the Town Police Clauses Act which forbids the public singing of profane ballads, the law banning the firing of canons from residential dwelling houses (£1,000 fine) and the prohibition of use of obscene language in public lending libraries (£200). On the positive side, several of our major public schools have laws on statute; for example, the growing of beards by Head Boys and the keeping of goats. However, this has not yet been extended to Head Girls. I am afraid that Great Britain is still in the dark ages when it comes to equality of the sexes. Cordially etc Mrs P PS Do not even THINK about visiting the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour. A custodial sentence could await you.
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June 24th, 2008
No, you aren’t safe. And I completely disagree with the whole psychology thing behind this. Stopping her from picking up the phone and calling for help required reasoning and thought. He had to identify what she was doing and how she was doing it and then make the decision to act in a preventative way.
This man should be jailed, not catered to. The response from the authorities (60 quid) was nothing more than a “let’s close this case and move on to something more interesting.”
JamesNT
P.S.
I found your blog by way of The Old New Thing.
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June 28th, 2008
As I understand it, sometimes violent acts like these are barely even considered criminal – that they are a “private” matter. I wish I had a reference handy, but I have heard that U.S. police deparments have to do internal training to teach their officers to categorize these incidents as criminal, and not to ignore them as mere “disputes” within families.
It is astonishing that simply because the perpetrator and victim are intimately acquainted, choking and punching, etc., somehow become understandable, ignorable, natural? If a stranger punched and choked me, or if a co-worker did so, I’d expect to prosecute that person for assault and I suspect I would have broad support from law enforcement and society in doing so. It’s distressing that we have to revise our expectations of justice downward as our familiarity with the criminal who attacks us increases…
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June 28th, 2008
That 25% of murders in London are ‘Domestic Homicides’ made this problem a rather expensive one for the Judicial system, investigation, presecution, incarceration. I suspect this lead to a change in that law in the UK. The victim no longer has to request police intervention and approve prosecution if they are beaten-up
http://www.met.police.uk/dv/
quote:
‘We are no longer reliant upon the victim’s statement to do this and will pursue abusers independently’
Luckily I am not married or recently parted from a domestic partner, it looks like this significantly reduces my likelihood of being beaten-up or murdered….
If your domestic partner is a Police person you could be in a high risk category because in response to terrorism, including domestic viloence, the UK Police have a ‘shoot to kill’ policy.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-are-given-shoottokill-powers-in-domestic-violence-and-stalking-cases-512405.html
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