with the full co-operation of the London Borough of Hackney ... team together; to Jacque for emergency computer support; and to Rosa and Webbie for putting up ...
COUNTING THE COSTS: ESTIMATING THE IMPACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF HACKNEY
by
Elizabeth A. Stanko, Royal Holloway University of London Debbie Crisp, Royal Holloway University of London Chris Hale, University of Kent Hebe Lucraft, Middlesex University
1998
Published by Crime Concern Funded by Hackney Safer Cities and the Children's Society with the full co-operation of the London Borough of Hackney
Further copies of the report are available from either: The VRP Administrator, Social and Political Science Department, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX Or Crime Concern, Signal Point, Station Road, SWINDON, SN1 1FE
1
Acknowledgements During the course of this project we have drawn upon the expertise and relied upon the help and support of many people. We would like to take the opportunity to express our appreciation to a small number of these: thanks to our Steering Committee of Roger Smith, Jan Kimber, Sandra, Mary and Ruth; thanks to Joyce Moseley for kick-starting the project, and to Elaine Sedgwick and Agnes McCormack for their help on the fieldwork. We were very lucky to get excellent access to a number of different agencies within the Borough, but especial thanks are due to those who let us crawl all over their files and cheerily answered our endless queries: to Joyce, Natasha and the other Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service staff, to Denise and everyone else at Hackney Women's Aid- to Andrea, Haley, Amanda and Paul of Hackney Domestic Violence Unit; and to Bonnie, Tony and other Social Services staff. Many thanks also to Gene Feder and Jo Richardson and their staff for letting us piggyback onto their work in Hackney GP surgeries: weld have been lost without you! We were also very grateful for the help we received from Rebecca and Amanda at Bridge Housing, Yvonne at Hackney Law Centre, Hilary from Hackney Women's Unit (as was), Pauline from Hackney Housing, and Heather and Pat of Health Visitor fame. Finally, thanks to Tom E, Sharon, and Tom B for their help in putting the research team together; to Jacque for emergency computer support; and to Rosa and Webbie for putting up with us throughout the study.
2
Foreword This study was commissioned to identify the costs to a local authority of responding to domestic violence. This has been done by an examination of service provision and an estimation of levels of prevalence. Every Local Authority is unique, but we do not believe that what makes Hackney special detracts from the relevance of this study to every Local Authority, Police Force and Health Authority in Britain. What is significant about 'Counting the Costs' is its pertinence to the current debates surrounding domestic violence. These centre on the issue of responsibility. This research highlights the need for all of the agencies covered in the study to share that responsibility. Women who are victims of domestic violence seek help from a range of agencies and the research highlights the economic costs to those agencies of providing the service. It is imperative that the agencies "get it right' both for the sake of the individual women and children who require their assistance, and for the public at large who pay for the service. The level of domestic violence identified by the research should also be of great concern to service providers, policy strategists, campaigners and politicians alike. Very little work is conducted to prevent domestic violence from starting. A purely reactive service will never reduce the number of women and children who experience violence within the home for the first time. Greater emphasis can have a significant impact, and where efforts in Hackney are currently being concentrated, is in improving the gaps between early victimisation, seeking help and achieving a satisfactory and safe resolution to an individual woman's situation. This approach may not prevent her from being abused or beaten in the first place, but we believe it will help prevent the violence escalating to a life threatening level. For the Children's Society and other child care agencies, the important message of this research is that the costs of domestic violence are social as much as they are economic, and are bome as much by the children as their mothers. Our task is to pay attention to children's experience, and to provide direct help to them, in refuges and elsewhere, so that they too, can begin to put their lives back together. They must not become the forgotten victims of domestic violence. Methodologically, 'Counting the Costs' offers us a far more relevant and manageable way for individual Local Authorities to estimate the costs of domestic violence than was possible before. It breaks new ground in Criminology and also significantly contributes to policy debates around domestic violence at both local and national government level. Jan Kimber Hackney Safer Cities Project
Roger Smith The Children's Society
3
CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements
2
Foreword
3
Contents
4
PART I Background and Study Remit
5
Structure of Report and Study Methods Key Findings
6 7
PART II PART III Calling into Account: Can Pubic Service Providers Estimate the Costs of Providing Assistance in Situations of Domestic Violence?
8
PART IV The Findings - General
11
Diversity and Helpseeking: Reflections on Case Studies from Hackney in 1996
41
Innovative Developments in Hackney
46
Summary and Recommendations
48
The GP Waiting Room Survey
51
Designing Methodology for the local context
52
The Composite Case Studies
54
PART V PART VI PART VII Appendix I Appendix 2
Appendix 3 References
67
About the Authors
70
4
PART I Background
There is little doubt that domestic violence is a significant social problem. Local and central governments have launched a number of initiatives and convened public hearings over the past twenty-five years to explore its impact in the UK. To date, there has been little research into the economic costs of domestic violence here. Such work focuses largely on the costs of domestic violence to adult women. We extend this work by e where possible, its impact on children. The year of study is 1996. We have no reason to believe that 1996 was any different than any others in the past few years. Study Remit
1.
To approximate the costs of domestic violence in one local authority, with an eye to the consequences and costs of domestic violence to children during 1996;
2.
To examine in particular the public provision of services for domestic violence through the pathways of victims' requests for help;
3.
To estimate the prevalence of domestic violence in one local authority;
4.
To recommend ways forward to improve strategies for public intervention in domestic violence to better disrupt its longer term damage.
5
PART II Structure of this Report This report presents a detailed account of the methodology of estimating the impact of domestic violence in a local context. We provide detailed calculations on the prevalence of domestic violence and estimates of the financial costs of providing public service to victims of domestic violence. We illustrate the findings with 26 composite case studies compiled from the case records on file in a variety of agencies in 1996: these are set out at Appendix 3. Study Methods Our methodology includes: 1)
An Agency Postal Survey: We asked agency representatives whether they were able to estimate the costs of providing advice and service to those who are experiencing domestic violence. We explore the service providers' view of whether it was possible to estimate the costs of their involvement with domestic violence.
2)
Records searches: We trawled key agency files and records in order to find the proportion of cases relating to domestic abuse and violence. This exercise served as the basis for estimating the prevalence of domestic violence within a London Borough. These data also provided the substance from which to calculate costs of public provision of domestic violence assistance.
3)
A Survey of Women: We conducted a survey in one GP surgery's waiting room of 129 women, gathering information concerning the incidence and helpseeking for women reporting domestic violence (see Appendix I for methodology).
4)
Composite case studies: We generated composite case studies of domestic violence situations from key agencies' records during 1996 (see Appendix 3). These case studies serve as a salutary reminder of the range of abuse and harm many Hackney Residents confronted in that year. The key agency files made harrowing reading, considering that domestic violence continues to be a feature in the lives of at least one in nine women in Hackney. Our hope is that these case studies will be used as training tools for service providers both within the Borough and also elsewhere.
5) Feedback with service providers: We met on a number of occasions with those whose records served as our basic data. These feedback sessions acted as sounding boards for us as the researchers to test our familiarity with the kinds of typical situations those working in Hackney encountered. We checked the validity of these case studies and found that the sessions enabled us to protect further the anonymity of individual clients.
6
Key Findings •
We estimate the prevalence of domestic violence to be one in nine women in Hackney in 1996.
•
The selected costs to the public sector for domestic violence in Hackney were calculated to be over £5 million. Previous research suggests these selected costs represent two thirds of the agencies women contact for help in situations of domestic violence. If our costing formula is applied to all women's formal contact for help, the costs for providing services for women and children facing domestic violence would be approximately L7.5 million.
•
If we calculate the possible cost to each Household in Hackney, these selected costs represent roughly 160 per year. Using our formula to estimate global costs, the resulting rise totals approximately L90 per Household per year.
•
The number of children directly affected by domestic violence in Hackney we estimate to be approximately 5,000. Few services exist to address their specific needs.
•
If we were to estimate the costs to Greater London, we calculate these costs of domestic violence to be over f. 1 89 million for the selected agencies in this study. The estimated total costs in providing advice, support and assistance for those facing domestic violence in Greater London are £278 million.
Summary of selected financial costs of domestic violence during 1996for the London Borough of Hackney (rounded to nearest £10k) Key agency Police* Civil Justice Housing** Refuge Social Services Directorate Health*** Total of selected costs of key agencies
Selected estimated cost of domestic violence £ 540,000 £1,000,000 £ 240,000 £ 410,000 £2,360,000 £ 580,000 £5,130,000
*Excludes the costs of investigating and prosecuting one domestic murder ** Excludes the costs of repairs to council property, preparation for new tenants, moving and furnishing flats; indirect costs ***Excludes hospitalisation and medicines. These represent selected costs only and are by no means comprehensive. Previous research suggests that the above services represent approximately two-thirds of women's formal contacts for help. If we calculate these additional service costs, we estimate the costs of providing assistance, support and advice for domestic violence in Hackney to be approximately £7.5 million in 1996.
7
PART III Calling to account: can public service providers estimate the costs of providing assistance in situations of domestic violence? Hackney: a brief description According to The Hackney Poverty Profile (Griffiths 1996), Hackney is a local area which has more of its share of poverty, ill health, unemployment and poor housing conditions. The average income in Greater London was 66 percent higher than that within the Borough. Approximately 65 percent of the Borough fives in social housing accommodation. The above report estimates that over 46 percent of Hackney's population receives Income Support. Between April 1990 and February 1996, the official unemployment rate in Hackney rose steeply from 13.2 percent to 21.7 percent. The above suggests that the reliance on public service provision for many Hackney residents is likely to be great. While not all those who face domestic violence will be poor or under/unemployed, the fact that the Borough is one of the poorest in Britain will have a special impact on the need for public service assistance in times of crisis. We contacted 107 public service providers (including branch services within social services, housing and education) to establish whether agencies could state the amount of resources they devote to domestic violence. With notable exceptions, the agencies were unable to calculate the annual costs of providing service to those who experience domestic violence. Neither could they estimate the proportion of clients who present themselves to the agency in search of assistance as a result of facing domestic violence. We anticipated that this request, in many respects, would be specially problematic. Aside from Women's Aid and the Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service [DV(MAS], most agencies' funding is not dedicated to serving the need of individuals experiencing domestic violence. Many of the replies noted that domestic violence may not be the primary "presenting problem". Public services - such as, for instance m education or housing - largely acknowledge that domestic violence is "a problem". Indeed, many of the agency representatives who replied were aware that domestic violence was a prominent background feature of people's, especially women's, lives. Yet, few incorporated such monitoring into the everyday practice of assessing clients' needs. Using the education services as one example, we might have been able to calculate the number of children who have been identified as 'troubled' by school staff, other children who had been excluded could have been counted. But without careful analysis of detailed documentary evidence indicating domestic violence as related to children's troubles and probably without skilful discussions with a parent or guardian - we would not be able to estimate the number of disruptions to children's lives nor their schools which might be related to domestic violence. As a result of many difficulties, we were not able to include education as one of the key agencies in this study, as the time and effort involved in generating any usable data was too great. Nonetheless, when we soon realised that we would have to generate local estimates, we turned to key agencies identified from a number of studies of women seeking help and advise for situations of domestic violence in order to gauge prevalence ourselves. We further recognize that our postal survey is small scale, and that we should not draw too many conclusions from it. We did have contact with 77 percent of the service
8
providers who had been identified - either through previous research or our discussions with key informants - as relevant to our study. These were identified in our initial meetings with our advisory group; reiterated through our discussions with key agencies in the Borough- and checked against those agencies noted as crucial through previous studies. Not all these agencies saw themselves as relevant to us. One service provider, identified in an earlier work as vital in its domestic violence-related work, suggested that "we should contact the police" as the respondent assumed that their agency could not assist us in our quest for information. Further in some cases where there was only a limited response, we were able to confirm that data was not available to answer our questions. Some agencies indicated that while they did not currently record domestic violence cases, in the future they might be interested in doing so. We are convinced that there is a real need for agencies to begin to monitor how clients use their services if they are to deal with the impact of domestic violence responsively and effectively. This has a direct impact, we believe, on the ability of agencies to demonstrate in a more powerful way the use of their services and the persistent demand for help in situations of domestic violence. What we now present is a detailed account of how we estimated the costs of providing services in situations of domestic violence for selected agencies.
9
PART IV The Findings - General These findings are broken down in eight parts: (A)
defining domestic violence;
(B)
calculating its prevalence via agencies' own case records;
(C)
estimating the ways in which children are involved in situations of domestic violence;
(D)
producing selected costs to agencies' service delivery for victims of domestic violence;
(E)
examining the kinds of injuries women tell agencies about-,
(F)
reflecting about diversity of women, children and their need for assistance for domestic violence;
(G)
highlighting some innovative practice;
(H)
drawing recommendations for future study and initiatives.
10
PART IV (A) Defining domestic violence Domestic violence is a generic term which refers to abusive and assaultive behaviour between intimates, among members of a household, and/or between former partners. Its most dominant form is man to woman within a partnership or former partnership. It is for this reason why, for the purposes of this study, we focus on the experiences of women aged 16 and over in Hackney. Domestic violence also exists within some same sex relationships. Psychological abuse (for example, constant criticism, domineering or threatening behaviour), physical and sexual assault, as well as acting in controlling ways over household decision-making and finances, all intertwine with family and sexual intimacies. What constitutes domestic violence varies from individual to individual, as do the legal, economic and psychological consequences which serve to keep people entangled within abusive and violent relationships. Not all domestic violence constitutes criminal offences; many criminal behaviours are prominent in situations of domestic violence. Being slapped, locked, threatened with weapons; sexually abused; locked inside flats and houses; cut or stabbed with knives, machetes, swords, or razor blades; beaten with iron bars, baseball bats, walking sticks, or bare hands, all fall within the definition of criminal behaviour. Being under constant and severe criticism, belittled and demeaned, given no money to feed and/or clothe oneself and one's children and made to feel worthless may have no 'criminal' referent, but are debilitating nonetheless. Each of the above appeared, some with alarming regularity, in our trawl of key agency files. What is common to all domestic violence is fear: fear of being harmed further; fear of death; fear of having the children taken away if assistance is sought; fear of not being able to find any place safe to live; fear of being without a loved one (even if he is the one who is doing the frightening)fear that leaving will not remove the threat of retaliation; fear of being seen a failure by not keeping intimate relationships happy and healthy. It is now accepted that domestic violence is common amongst any general population of women. Its impact goes beyond the suffering of individual women, and also involves that of their children, their social and friendship support, and the wider networks of their (and their assailant's) families. Previous research suggests that when women fear for their lives or the lives of their children, they are most likely to seek help (Binney et al. 1981). Indeed, many women leave violent and/or abusive partners, may return and leave again several times before leaving permanently. Some never leave. Lifetime incidence figures, available from large scale surveys such as that in Canada (Johnson and Sacco 1995) and Australia (McLennan 1996), show women's histories of violence in current and past relationships. In the UK, domestic violence is noted as a feature in nearly one in three instances of separation or divorce (Hester et al. 1996). Research also shows even the act of leaving may result in escalated violence, and it may be at its most acute immediately after separation (Kurz 1996).
11
PART IV (B) Prevalence of Domestic Violence for Women in Hackney Estimates of the extent of domestic violence are always partial. Research continues to verify the often lengthy period of time those who suffer violence and abuse at the hands of their loved ones stay silent (Dobash and Dobash 1979). Studies also suggest that when women seek assistance to stop domestic violence, help is not always forthcoming (Glass 1995). Nonetheless, the cumulation of information about domestic violence demonstrates that, domestic violence is one persistent reason why people (mainly women) seek help from public services. Despite continued efforts to uncover the extent of the problem, estimates of the prevalence of domestic violence vary. The 1993 Home Affairs Select Committee's Report on Domestic Violence concluded that 'domestic violence is common' (1993:vii). The Association of Chief Police Officer's evidence to the above hearings characterised police reports of domestic violence as not based on either reliable or accurate data'(l 993:vii). It is accepted that police reports gravely underestimate domestic violence, as many victims refuse to involve the authorities in their 'personal matter' (Dobash and Dobash 1979; Dominy and Radford 1996; Gartner and Macmillan 1995; Mooney 1994; Smith 1989). The extent of domestic violence has been estimated through victimisation studies, which are designed to capture incidence of crime. Crime survey respondents are asked about incidents over the previous twelve months which include, amongst other criminal events, threatening situations, common assaults and attacks which involved more serious injury. They are also asked to indicate whether or not the police were informed of these events. In general, the crime surveys in the UK find that personal threats and attacks of women differ from those of men. The most recent 1996 British Crime Survey found that: • •
•
nearly one in two (46%) of all violent incidents against women were domestic; 60 percent of domestic violence incidents involved current partners and 21 percent involved former partners; four out of five incidents of domestic violence against women took place at home. Half of reported victims suffered more than one attack (with a third attacked three times or more Mirrlees-Black et al. 1996).
The previous 1992 British Crime Survey reported that: • •
one in ten women (ll%) reported some degree of physical violence in their relationships; those most at risk of domestic violence were divorced and separated women (Mayhew et al. 1.993 -, Mirrlees-Black 1995).
The 1996 Survey also reported that victims were more likely to be injured in a domestic setting than by other kinds of assaults. Injuries were most usually bruises and/or scratches: 13 percent reporting cuts and the same number having broken bones. Nearly a third of all incidents resulted in the victims receiving medical help three percent seeking hospital attention.
12
The BCS examines recent experiences of violence. Some local surveys have also tried to estimate lifetime incidence of domestic violence. Mooneys crime survey in Islington found that 37 percent of women reported some form of mental cruelty from partners; 27 percent received threats; nearly one in ten reported an attempted strangulation; one in three indicated being punched, pushed or slapped; and nearly one out of four reported being injured from domestic violence in their lifetimes. One in eight reported that they had experienced such violence within the past twelve months (Mooney 1994:30). In a survey exploring the extent of rape in marriage, Painter (1991) found of the I 000 women interviewed, one in eight had been raped by a partner or former partner at some time. McGibbon et al.'s (1989) study of women's experiences of domestic violence in Hammersmith showed that for the 281 respondents: • • • •
109 (39 percent) had experienced verbal or physical threats from a male partner-, 75 (27 percent) experienced such abuse repeatedly; 47 (18 percent) reported they had been beaten by their partners; 24 (10 percent) reported being attacked with a weapon.
In general the research suggests that many women may experience threats or assaults from partners during their relationships, while a small number (two to five percent) report serious, frequent attacks. Not all women classify the abuse they experience as domestic violence. For example, Dominy and Radford's 1996 report on domestic violence in Surrey included a survey of 484 women. Thirty-one percent of this sample reported that they had at some time in their lives experienced what they termed 'domestic violence'; yet another 15 percent reported forms of abuse similar to that which other women label as 'domestic violence' but did not label them as such. As noted above, regardless of jurisdiction and using the most conservative estimates, all research consistently suggests that as many as one in four women report experiencing some form of domestic abuse or violence in their lifetimes; between one in eight and one in ten during the past year alone. This study found similar proportions. Our work echoed the findings of other research which concluded that police, Women's Aid, housing, social services and health services have a special role in assisting recipients of domestic violence (Dominy and Radford 1996- McGibbon et al. 1989; Mooney 1994- Morley and Mullender 1994a). Estimates from this study By exploring the records of key agencies, we have gathered estimates of the proportion of cases in the records of these service providers to calculate their involvement in women's search for assistance in domestic violence situations. Other studies have shown that the majority of women experiencing violence tell someone of their experiences. Yet some women do not always approach the relevant agencies about their ordeals, or feel sufficiently comfortable to tell friends or family. It must be assumed that studies of prevalence of domestic violence remain underestimates. From their research in Hammersmith and Fulham, McGibbon et al. (1989) estimated that 57 percent of such women would tell friends or family and/or approach more formal networks for support. Those women who reach for help make an average of 4.4 contacts, with some women indicating they had been in touch with twelve or more different individuals or service providers. Dominy and Radford (1996) found that one sixth of women who had told someone about their experiences had made ten or more different contacts.
13
We used the above studies along side others (see, for instance, Hammer and Saunders 1994; Hague and Malos 1993) to come to an understanding of the patterns of finding help for women who are being, or have been, abused by their partners. We were then able to identify the key agencies to approach as part of our project. It also allowed us from the number of contacts made with these agencies to extrapolate estimates of the number of women currently or recently experiencing violence in Hackney. Family and Friends Although it was not possible for us within the bounds of this study to contact women's informal networks of support and help, it is important for us to begin here. Roughly half of the contacts recorded by McGibbon et al.(1989) involved networks. Mooney concurs: forty-six percent of women who experienced domestic violence at some time in their lives told friends; and roughly one out of three informed relatives of their situations (Mooney 1994). Dominy and Radford's study (1996) backs up these findings: friends and family were the first people approached for over half of those who chose to tell someone about the domestic violence. Perhaps more disconcerting is the number of women who continued to maintain their silence about their experiences, or those who, when they spoke to someone, were not heard. This report does not try to put a price tag on these hidden costs. Clearly, many women make attempts to deal with the abuse without recourse to formalised help networks. The importance of the support family and friends provide is significant and continues to be undervalued. Clearly, family and friends assume the costs of providing temporary housing or assisting in the safekeeping of women and children when social housing building was halted for so long under the previous government. Increasing demands to social service budgets also constrain the provision of public services. Finding help from public agencies McGibbon et al. (1989)'s Hammersmith and Fulham study, and Mooney's (1994) Islington study provide us with some rough estimates of the proportion of women who experience domestic violence who tell someone about their situation. We recognize that these report findings are based on surveys of under 500 women: McGibbon et al.'s survey received 281 responses; Mooney's 430; Dominy and Radford 484. Only Mooney's questionnaire was randomly distributed throughout the study population. However, these figures are amongst the ones currently available which are relevant to this country. The proportions of these women approaching certain key agencies indicated by the two studies on which we rely the most - McGibbon et al (1989) and Mooney (1994) - are set out in Table 2 below. Note the categories above are not mutually exclusive, neither are they comprehensive. For example, contacts shown in column one (the McGibbon et al study) represent 68 percent of the formal contacts made by women. Other agencies contacted include advice agencies (such as the Citizen's Advice Bureau), women's groups and counsellors. Dominy and Radford (1996) also identified the above agencies as playing a key role for women who were looking for assistance. Using McGibbon et al. (1989), we estimate that the 57 percent of women who tell someone about their experiences would on average, make at least two contacts with service providers, in addition to seeking informal support. Informed by the above research, we focused our efforts on key public service providers who are consistently found as crucial links in women's challenges to violence. Through our trawl of these key
14
agency files, we are able to generate the proportion of women who are experiencing domestic violence in 1996. Table 2: Proportion of those experiencing domestic violence who contact key agencies Percent of women who contact key agencies at any time Legal Housing SSD Health
Police Solicitor Housing Dept Women's Aid Social Services GP Hospital Health Visitor
McGibbon Mooney 24% 22% 12% 22% 10% (not included) 6% 5% 6% 9% 14% 22% 7% (not included) 3% (not included)
Our formula for estimating prevalence of domestic violence Before we could come to an understanding of the resource implications of domestic violence, we first had to reach a sustainable estimate of prevalence. To do this, we drew upon McGibbon et al.'s findings to develop the formula set out below, and applied it in turn to data connected from police, housing and social services respectively. We generated the number of women in Hackney we estimate experienced domestic violence during 1996, the [C] in the formula below.
Prevalence formula Number who contact agency about violence
Proportion of A who contact individual agency
Total prevalence estimate
[A] divided by [B] equals [C] [our agency trawl] [based on McGibbon et al.'s study] [our estimate] Its application can perhaps be best explained by way of an example. McGibbon et al. estimated that six percent of women experiencing violence would contact Women's Aid. If we assume that 500 women got in touch with Women's Aid during the course of 1996, then we can say this represents six percent of the women in the Borough who are experiencing domestic violence. The Office of National Statistics give the 1996 mid-year estimate of the female population in Hackney aged 16 and over to be 75,903. Prevalence of domestic violence would be calculated by dividing the number of women experiencing violence by the total number of women in the local population: 8333 women in this hypothetical example. The hypothetical example is as follows: [A] divided by [B] equals 500* divided by 0.06 equals *Estimates only, these data are presented solely for illustration.
[C] 8333
15
We derive prevalence by calculating the proportion of women aged 16 and over in Hackney. Using the above hypothetical example as an illustration, we would divide 8333 by 75903. We would then conclude that the figure derived from our formula represents one in nine women over 16 in Hackney experienced domestic violence during 1996.
Applying the prevalence formula Number of women in contact with the police People can draw the police's attention to an incident in a number of different ways: they can dial 999-, they can phone their local station direct; they can call into the station in person; or they might approach an officer on the street. The police may decide that any incident of violence in the home drawn to their attention involves domestic violence, and that an offence appears to have been committed - or not. Police understanding of the events may overlap with the person, usually a woman, who has experienced violence - or not - and the woman may wish to take the case forward - or not. The matter is further complicated by differences in recording practices between stations, even within the same force, especially where the police involvement was more limited. Our observations suggest that there is a difference in practice between the two Domestic Violence Units in Hackney in recording non-crime events. Where the police have noted a complaint about domestic violence as a potential crime, it can be said that there is some convergence between the police perspective and that of the person experiencing violence. Even if the case does not proceed to arrest - for example, because the victim does not wish to press charges - there is some acknowledgement on both sides that something which could be classified as a crime involving domestic violence has taken place. According to the database of one of the DVUS, only twelve percent of their recorded cases (95 out of 790 crime reports) resulted m an arrest. We are acutely aware that using data recorded by the police will result in a conservative assessment of the prevalence of domestic violence. However, we used crime reports on which to test our prevalence formula. The Metropolitan Police introduced the Crime Report Information System (CRIS) in the two police divisions in Hackney in May 1996. This system keeps a record of all incidents which have been reported to the police and has a mechanism for highlighting any incident or crime which is domestic in nature (these would include offences of violence, sexual offences, offences against property, public order offences, breach of an injunction where there is a power of arrest, and incidents which are not later recorded as crime but where the police have been contacted). To allow for initial teething problems with the introduction of the new system, the total number of domestic violence CRIS records during 1996 was ed from the data for the seven months starting I June (see Table 3 below). An examination of the Hackney and Shoreditch Domestic Violence Unit's records showed that 88 percent of the incidents they dealt with related to partner violence (other reported incidents included sibling abuse and elder abuse). If this proportion is applied to the overall CRIS estimate, then there were roughly 1580 crimes of this nature reported by the police during the year. These DVU records also showed an average of 1.2 CRIS entries per person - suggesting an estimated 1316 victims of domestic violence throughout Hackney in 1996 reported at least one incident of domestic violence to the police which was recorded as a crime. Consistent with
16
previous studies, 95 percent of the cases of partner domestic violence examined involved women, an estimated 1250 victims. Table 3: Domestic Violence Found in the Crime Report Information System in Two London Metropolitan police Divisions Hackney & Shoreditch Division Stoke Newington Division TOTAL CRIS 1996:
((511 cases/7) xl2) ((536 cases/7) xl2)
876 919 1795
Note: Cases involving child Protection will be recorded separately, in 1996, there were 528 such cases. We were not able to disentangle the overlap between child protection cases and victims recorded the DVU database. Research demonstrates, however, that the majority of incidents of domestic violence do not involve contact with police, and many of these contacts will not result in a recording of a crime. Therefore, we do not know what proportion of women contacting the police will be recorded as a crime on CRIS. As set out in Table 2 above, McGibbon et al. (1989) found that under a quarter of women reported they (24 percent) would have contacted the police. For the purposes of this exercise, we applied our prevalence formula to the police figure. Prevalence estimated from police CRIS records: A [CRIS data] divided by B [0.241 equals C [police data-generated prevalence estimate] 1250 divided by 0.24 equals 5208 The police data-generated prevalence estimate suggests that 5208 women aged 16 and over throughout Hackney experienced domestic violence during 1996. Once again, we remind readers that this figure is undoubtedly a conservative one. Nonetheless, the resulting prevalence estimate indicates that even the most conservative data show domestic violence to be common in a population of adult women. The calculated prevalence derived from CRIS data of domestic violence experienced by women over 16 in Hackney is one in fifteen. Number of women in contact with housing services The 1996 census showed that 39 percent of the Households in Hackney were in private rentals or owner-occupied dwellings; 47 percent rented their homes from the Council and 14 percent lived in Housing Association property. The Boroughs Housing Directorate contains an innovative and award-winning section called the Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service (previously called Open Door). The service aims to support and advise its clients and, if necessary, facilitate liaison with other agencies. When a person contacts the DV(H)AS - if they are comfortable to give their name - a file is opened containing details of the type of abuse they are experiencing, and the kinds of support they require. These files are kept in alphabetical order in a series of filing cabinets: they are not required chronologically as people may make contact for advice or support on several occasions. Where someone only wants a limited amount of advice, and does not leave their name or wish to pursue the matter, a record of the contact is kept in a separate miscellaneous file. Any domestic violence-related case coming to the attention of one of the Neighbourhood Offices or other sections of the Housing Directorate can, and should, be put in touch
17
with the DV(H)AS. Cases may also be self-referrals or result from contact with other relevant agencies. As all Housing Directorate cases involving domestic violence should be passed onto the DV(H)AS, we felt it appropriate to generate our sample for this part of our study from their files. Again, we are looking to estimate prevalence of domestic violence from the perspective of the records of agencies based on their everyday records of clients' requests for help. Not all domestic violence housing cases would pass through the offices of DV(H)AS. Our resulting prevalence estimate is, again, undoubtedly conservative. As the data were not filed in date order, we examined a random sample of nearly two-fifths of the files stored and found details on 573 individuals; 478 of these involved partner violence and 184 were in contact with the service in 1996. As this constitutes 39 percent of the total cases filed, this makes an estimated 470 contacts for the year. In all of the case files examined, the partner being abused was a woman; this included a small number of lesbian couples. According to DV(H)AS st4 there were very few men using the service., and as such the overwhelming number of the estimated 470 contacts would have been from women. There were also 96 miscellaneous contacts, roughly half of these seemed related to a situation of partner violence (some of these individuals may then have contacted DV(H)AS in a more formal way and had a file opened in their name. To avoid double counting, these cases are not included in the figures below). Prevalence estimated from DV(H)AS A [women contacting DV(H)AS] divided by B [0.10] equals 470 divided by 0. 10 equals
C [DV(H)AS estimate] 4700
This represents just over six percent - approximately one in sixteen of Hackney's adult female population. Number of women in contact with Social Services During 1996, there were a total of 5,128 contacts made with the four Hackney Social Services Children and Families Duty Teams. A further 326 cases formed the workload of the long term care teams (all of these would have been referred on fi7om the duty team at some stage in the past.) Discussions with a number of Social Service Directorate staff indicated that women without children would be unlikely to contact the Children and Families Duty Team for support - and if they did, they would generally be directed to other agencies. Our understanding that the situation in Hackney is that due to limited resources, unless they had a severe mental illness or needed support for drug/alcohol dependence, it is unlikely that women experiencing domestic violence would be allocated a social worker themselves (this would be the case even for those whose child has been taken into care as the result of the violence the woman was experiencing). Hackney Social Services have a database which records all the cases dealt with by the Children and Families Teams. During 1996, 109 duty cases were categorised as domestic violence (two percent), and only one long term case was classified this way. The Social Services Department acknowledged these figures to be underestimates. The database used to record all contacts only allows one 'reason' for contact to be noted. Miller's (1990) study showed that social service contact in Hackney by those in on-going domestic violence situations were, for example, being classified by staff as individuals 'requesting financial assistance'.
18
A trawl of recently completed cases in one of the teams on the duty side, coupled with examinations of two duty team social workers' current workload, showed that an estimated ten percent of duty cases related to domestic violence, that is, 513 cases throughout the Borough. (It was unclear the proportion of cases where the children as well as the mother were experiencing violence. A child could be considered to be being abused by the very nature of the fact that they are aware of and often witness to the violence towards their mother.) We based our estimates on duty team figures as long term care cases would invariably be referred by the duty team. Using our formula: Prevalence estimated from Social Service Directorate records: A [Social Services] divided by B [0.06] equals C [estimate from Social Services data] 513
divided by
0.06 equals 8550
This figure equals eleven percent of the adult female population. However, contacts with the Duty Team would tend to be intensive and cases would be closed quite quickly. This means that another referral even a few weeks later, would be classified as another contact. Many cases are not in need of long-term support, but repeated contacts would give cause for concern. Multiple referrals during the course of a year would lead to the case being allocated to a social worker on a long-term care team After discussions with social work staff on the Duty side, it was estimated that the average number of contacts per individual would be about two per year. Our revised estimate of prevalence using Social Service Data is therefore 4275, a figure equivalent to 5.6 percent - one in eighteen - of the female population in Hackney. Estimating prevalence from a GP surgery's waiting room Although both McGibbon et al. (1989) and Dominy and Radford (1996) showed that women were prepared to tell their GP about their experiences of violence, it was unclear whether or not these experiences would be recorded on patients' medical records - or that these notations would be understood to us non-medics if they were (Warshaw 1989; Richardson and Feder 1996). We were anxious to generate estimates from a sample of women visiting a GP surgery. This was our first and only opportunity to survey women directly of their experiences of domestic violence. The three previous estimates of prevalence all stem from women's use of emergency services in situations when they ask for police intervention during a crisis, ask to be moved because the violence becomes too dangerous or too regular to remain living with their violent partner, or because for whatever reason (including violence in the home), social services has found a need to intervene into a child's life. Here we were able to tap women's routine use of health services. We feel that this is a clearer picture of the true prevalence of domestic violence as it records from women directly rather than relying on agency recording practices of women's requests for help. This survey was also able to pick up the range of abuse women experience, much of winch may fail to come to the attention of services providers until an acute crisis arises. We thus carried out a survey of women in a GP waiting room in Hackney in cooperation with work undertaken by the Department of General Practice, St. Bartholomews and the Royal London Hospital School of Medicine. 129 women responded to our questionnaire designed to explore experiences of violence from a current or previous partner. The respondents were broadly representative of the adult female population of Hackney. (See Appendix I for a description of the methodology and response rates.)
19
The questions about abuse were divided into three blocks which examined: Type A: non physical, verbal, financial, and/or emotional/psychological abuse; Type B: physical abuse such as slaps, and punches; Type C: physical abuse more likely to require medical attention, such as kicks to the face or attempted strangulation. We also asked whether the respondent's partner had forced them to have sex. In order to get some indication about how safe a woman felt, we asked whether women had ever felt afraid of their current or previous partner. We found the following: Table 4. Type of abuse reported by women in a GP surgery waiting room Type of abuse
Type A (non-physical abuse) Type B (slaps, punches) Type C (physical abuse possibly requiring medical attention)
Number of women reporting experiencing the past violence/abuse ever 68
Percent reporting abuse ever in their lifetimes
52
40%
20%
37
29%
11%
53%
Percent abuse in year
25%
The questions allowed for multiple responses. In total, 60 percent of the women said that they had experienced some sort of abuse. In all, one in nine (eleven percent) reported violence which is serious enough to require medical attention in the past year. (This does not imply that medical attention was in fact sought.) Further, 42 percent indicated that they had been afraid of a current or previous partner; 30 percent of these said that they had often been afraid. We do feel that these findings suggest a cause for concern. While we caution generalisations from this small survey, we cannot help but be surprised by the high proportion of women who reported abuse, especially because we did not include women who chose not to complete the questionnaire, nor those who, because of language, were unable to fill it in. Even if the proportions were reduced by assuming that non-response meant no violence had been experienced, it does not diminish the overall finding: a significant proportion of women who visit GPs in Hackney have experienced and/or are currently experiencing domestic violence. If we include all forms of abuse, our estimate increases from one in nine to one in four women m Hackney disclosing to the survey some forms of abuse in the past year. We will use the conservative estimate - one in nine - for the purposes of this exercise of estimating prevalence. In terms of thinking about the social provision of services,
20
however, we should think in terms of the one in four women whose experiences of abuse deserve recognition and more creative planning to offer services which support women proactively in finding ways of challenging this abuse in their fives. Conclusion A summary of our prevalence estimates from the key public service providers is as follows: Table 5: Estimated prevalence of domestic violence among women over 16 in Hackney in 1996 Police
One in fifteen
Housing
One in sixteen
Social. Services
One in eighteen
General Practitioners survey
One in nine
The importance of the above prevalence formula is that it internally validates the data from three key agencies, as the estimates generated are similar. It also gives us sufficient confidence to use the findings of McGibbon et al. (1989) to help extrapolate our costs. However, we have already expressed concern that estimates using recorded agency data will be low. It is crucial to remind readers that these agency-generated estimates mean that roughly half of those disclosing domestic violence to our survey used emergency intervention from key agencies in Hackney. Thus, we choose to use our estimate from the GP waiting room survey which suggests that one in nine women aged 16 and over throughout Hackney experienced domestic violence during 1996. The prevalence estimate from the GP survey - one m nine - represents those women whose injuries were such that medical assistance should have been necessary. As we will discuss later, given the nature of the injuries recorded on agency files, the length of the violence relationships, and the acute crises of the women seeking help, we feel that the estimate derived from the GP surgery waiting room survey best reflects the prevalence of domestic violence in Hackney during 1996. In many ways, if all the women who experience domestic violence do seek help, we suggest, even the above key agencies would find it hard to cope with this potential demand.
21
PART IV (C) Special impact on children Throughout our trawl of agency records, children were clearly present in the lives of women experiencing domestic violence. Research consistently finds that children of battered women are much more likely than children from nonviolent homes to be physically and sexually abused (Mullender and Morley 1994; for the most recent review of the literature, see Peled 1997). All child witnesses of domestic violence live with the stress and emotional turmoil of homes which serve to keep secret the lingering threat and danger winch occurs within. To date, however, little research has been conducted. Saunders' (I 994) review of UK literature, and her own study of adults who lived in refuges as children, bares the now adults' painful memories of emotional upheaval and the felt social stigma of living in a refuge (see also Hague and Malos 1994). There is limited information which reminds us that there will be differential consequences for children who live m the many religious and cultural communities throughout Hackney (Imam 1994). Other more limited information is available through ChildLine, the 24hour national telephone counselling service in the UK. This charity receives calls from children who want help with abuse. However, only a small number of children contacting ChildLine cite domestic violence as the reason why they need to talk to someone (McLeod 1997). Children do report feeling anxious and worried about their parents 'fighting' at home, according to a recent NCH Action for Children survey (The Independent, 23 October 1997). Our research found little direct information about official agency involvement with children who were in contact because of domestic violence. The police recorded 528 child protection cases. Though we have little useful information about them directly, we found some overlap between the domestic violence unit records and the child protection teams' records. We have already reviewed our trawl of Social Services Directorate involvement in child protection (noted above). Some children do receive special attention from Women's Aid, who during 1996, employed two full-time child workers. Unfortunately, one child worker's position, funded by Children in Need, ended with the expiration of its funding (August 1996) and, given the limitation of the conditions of receiving grants from this fund, it cannot be renewed. At the time of writing, Women's Aid is applying to the lottery for funding an additional child care worker. One full time child care worker now services the needs of children who reside in two crisis houses, two second stage dwellings, not least to mention the support needed for outreach and resettlement work so sorely needed in the Borough. Number of women with children Children did feature prominently in the lives of the women who were seeking help from key agencies in Hackney. Women seeking housing assistance through contact with DV(H)AS report many dependent children. 70 percent of the women had dependent children; for 30 percent of the women the children were aged three and younger. Of those being temporarily rehoused, 85 percent are women with children. Recorded injuries of the women showed that 16 percent of the women with children had serious injuries or threats against them (broken ribs; held over balcony in tower block); four percent of the women were pregnant; in approximately two percent of the cases women said that the violence started during a pregnancy.
22
!
Our GP surgery waiting room survey found that 64 percent of the women had children26 percent of these experienced abuse m past year. Our GP survey suggests that over one out of three women with children experienced serious violence in the past year; nine out of the twenty-four women either pregnant or recently pregnant had experienced some sort of violence in the past year.
Abuse of children ! ! !
In Social Services, one-third of the long term care cases involved domestic violence as a main factor; eleven percent of the children noted on DV(MAS records were indicated as also being abused; approximately two percent of woman completing our GP waiting room survey reported a miscarriage as a result of violence.
There is little evidence (with the exception of the Social Services Children and Families Team) that there is attention paid to the impact of domestic violence on children by the police or housing. Unless a child was reported to them as being abused (and thus there was a statutory obligation to report such abuse to social services), we found no other special provision for young children with the exception of Women's Aid staff (no counselling services, no special play groups, nor opportunities for discussion with sympathetic staff). We received no replies concerning domestic violence provision for children from the educational services in the Borough, despite repeated requests for information. Moreover, we found it particularly troublesome that Women's Aid's funding for a child support worker came to an end, and that they have been unable to find funding for this post. Fleeing violence with their mother brings disruption to children's fives (Saunders 1994), whether the mothers use refuge provision or not. Clearly, we feel strongly that research exploring the impact of re-housing on children should be conducted in the near future, with an eye to designing a support programme for children who are rehoused with their mothers who are fleeing violence. Finally, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that there are a total of 45,971 children under age 15 throughout Hackney. While there are no exact figures on the number of women in the Borough with dependent children, we will estimate the number of children who may be living in violent households. Using the average of 2.4 children per family, we calculate the number of family units for those children to be 19155. Multiplying this our prevalence for domestic violence (eleven percent), and multiplying this (2107) by the average number of children per household, we arrive at an estimated 5,057 children. We suggest that there may be as many as 5,057 children at least witnessing some forms of threat, intimidation, and violence between parents, stepparents or guardians in 1996. Few services exist to meet their needs.
23
PART IV (D) Selected financial costs of domestic violence in Hackney during 1996 The context of costing Prompted by efforts of feminist initiatives to challenge violence against women, agencies, including the police, housing, and social services, are now acutely aware that domestic violence inflicts considerable personal and economic costs. Estimates of the economic impact of domestic violence on the local economy, on the provision of public services, and on the many caught in its web, exist in a few jurisdictions outside the UK. Studies of New South Wales (NSW) and the Northern Territories, Australia (Women's Co-ordination Unit 1990; KPMG Management Consulting 1996), Canada (Greaves et al. 1995), and New Zealand (Snively 1994) stand out as examples of attempts to calculate the monetary costs of domestic violence, to individuals and to the state. Each of these studies recognize that, while the estimates gathered are selective and partial they nonetheless highlight the substantial financial consequences domestic violence poses for national, local and personal economies, and further acknowledge the additional, and considerable, social and psychological harm related to domestic violence. The economic costs to children are nearly totally obscured. In Britain each year nearly 28,000 children flee to Women's Aid with their mothers (Debbonaire 1994), but often bed space is calculated on the basis of adult women. While child protection remains a statutory obligation, intervention on behalf of children defined to be 'at risk' may mask its link to domestic violence. O'Hara's (1994) exploration of child deaths and other serious harm to children warns us that we ignore the link of this form of child mortality to men's violence to their partners to our peril. We would like to insert a word of caution on the use of the phrase 'cost of domestic violence', which appears throughout this section. Costs refers to a totality - the detrimental impact, psychological, social and/or economic, for individuals and society as a whole, of domestic violence. We must not substitute, or privilege, the monetary costs above psychological and social consequences. Moreover, all too often, they are bome by individuals without the aid of public support, and are the often hidden dimension of the social impact of domestic violence. Where are the costs of domestic violence to perpetrators? Perhaps the benefits for those inflicting violence still remain too high. Persistently men's violence and obsessive control over women achieves domestic and sexual services (Dobash and Dobash 1992). Yet, as we show in this study, we all bear the costs of men's violence in the home. Whether it be the price of institutional and social support, mediated by personal resources of its recipients, domestic violence is costly for us all. Focusing the estimates of costing on women's search for help Certainly, violence against women has significant personal costs for individual women. Too often, the consequences of enduring abuse are prolonged because of an inability to find help to disrupt patterns of abuse. The adverse financial consequences of household dissolution often fall more heavily on women experiencing domestic violence; this individual burden is seldom known.
24
In many ways, then, estimating the economic costs of domestic violence - to its most common recipients, women and children in heterosexual relationships - rests on knowing where women go for help. When women do seek help in situations of violence, those intervening must find a way to monitor the kinds of assistance the women and their children ask for. The type of assistance that is necessary to minimise the harm of domestic violence varies widely, depending largely on the circumstances of the individual woman and the tenacity of her abuser. While there is plenty of evidence to show that women do leave abusive men, the assistance, advice and support women seek in doing so is often unrecognized, and is particularly so in the budgets of public sector services. Financial implications of domestic violence for some key agencies From our postal survey, it is clear that most agencies within the Borough are uncertain as to the degree to which their services are being used by women experiencing violence. There is a difference, too, between contacts that are made as the direct result of abuse (for example, a visit to casualty for a broken arm) and those where the causal link requires more unpicking (for example, repeated visits to a GP for treatment of depression with an unspecified origin). Our prevalence estimate shows that roughly one in nine women currently experiencing domestic violence is a useful starting base. Our knowledge of the kinds of physical injuries sustained in such attacks and the level of psychological, financial, and sexual abuse would suggest that one way of estimating the monetary costs of domestic violence would be to calculate one ninth of resources allocated to services of women by each relevant local agency. There are inevitably problems with this formula, problems which we are unable to overcome at this stage in the study. First, we must assume that the pattern of the use of services is the same for all women. As we illustrated throughout this report in case studies, there is no one pattern of seeking help in domestic violence situations. The diversity of women throughout Hackney - and the differential needs of women facing violence - demand that we offer flexible services which can accommodate the needs of those who do not speak English, who are not able-bodied; who may have special needs for their children; or who may have particular reasons to be located in areas of Hackney. Second, we are collecting information from agencies, some of whom, like the police, are expected to provide such assistance to all those who seek their help. Some of those in need may not feel able or comfortable to approach different key agencies. And finally, not all domestic violence is the same, nor does it generate the same costs. We do know that for those situations where violence escalates, and women are using many services in order to disrupt its impact, the costs of help and repairing the physical and psychological damage rise exponentially. However, we feel strongly that those resources which do exist in the public sector are not being assessed through the needs of those who come to these agencies for help. If domestic violence is a persistent reason why women approach agencies for help, then we should be prepared and ready when they do so. What is remarkable about Hackney is that in many ways, there is already an active community dialogue in anticipation that women's needs include escaping violence. However, the actual resources to maintain flexible responses to these requests may not east. As we found during our trawl through case files, in the majority of cases, contact with an agency will involve only limited agency involvement. As can be seen most graphically from the DV(H)AS, contact with an agency does not mean that the services provided are discrete solutions to the problems at hand. Poverty, persistent harassment from their partners or ex-partners,
25
and the distress of children, to name but a few, contribute to wome's abilities to break free of violence. Inevitably, if violence escalates, so necessarily will the women's contacts and the resulting costs. Using information generated by our trawl through key agency files supplemented by interviews with key workers in a limited number of other agencies, we were able to examine selected costs pertaining to the following areas: legal, housing, social services, and health. LEGAL Criminal Justice: Selected Financial costs to the Metropolitan Police Domestic Violence Units Hackney has two police Divisions, and each has its own Domestic Violence Unit (DVU). In both cases these constitute part of the local Community Safety Teams. In Hackney Division, the Community Safety Team is split into two distinct units - the Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) and the Racial Harassment Unit (RHU). Incidents of a homophobic nature are shared between both units. The DVU comprises of a Sergeant (half-time) and three police constables, with a total annual cost of £175,146 (based on figures supplied by Home Office Economics Unit and assuming two experienced and one new constable). Our work suggests that 88 percent of the incidents dealt with by the DVU are partner violence and of these 95 percent are female victims incidents. Hence the estimated annual costs of the DVU attributable to the type of incidents which are the focus of this report are; £146,422. Stoke Newington's Community Safety Team is not split into separate units. The team consists of one Sergeant, four constables and one administrative support worker. As the estimated crime reporting levels were roughly comparable for both divisions' DVUS, we assumed equivalent costs for Stoke Newington (see page 18 above). The total cost for police DVUs in Hackney as a Borough is thus £292,844. Costs of responding to calls for assistance Graph I TYPE DV
CLASS DV
21% 21%
4% 16.5% 11%
8%
18.5% CRIS DV
26
in addition to Crime Reporting Information System, police also monitor their workload through the Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system (which records contacts made following the public request for police assistance). Not all CAD incidents are then recorded as possible offences on CRIS, and not all CRIS cases are generated through CAD. For a month selected at randon4 the overlap between the CAD and CRIS data at one of the Divisions was as shown in Graph I above. The CAD system has a specific code - Code DV - for domestic violence incidents: a Type DV incident is one which on initial contact appears to be domestic in nature; a Class DV incident is one defined by the police as a domestic incident once they have attended the scene. As can be seen from the above, there is a large degree of overlap between these two categories, but they are not co-terminus. Had we used CAD in addition to CRIS to calculate our prevalence, the resulting proportion would have y been higher. Our prevalence estimate generated from CRIS showing one in fifteen women throughout Hackney experiencing domestic violence during 1996 would instead be one in eight. Because CAD is a tricky source of data (and difficult to manage because of the high volume in each division), in the end we chose to use what the police themselves recorded as the domestic violence in the area. We are fully aware of the many gaps between police recorded domestic violence and women's experiences (Stanko 1995). The total number of CAD incidents coded Type DV at the two Police Divisions during 1996 were 1101 and 683 for Hackney and Stoke Newington respectively (1784 in total). Although it was not possible to get the total number of Class DV incidents for 1996, this figure can be estimated from the proportions above: 1271, with the total number of Type/Class DV CAD callouts (excluding double counting) being 2092 (this estimate is not wholly satisfactory, as recording practices varied substantially between stations). If 88 percent of these cases are assumed to involve partner abuse, and 95 percent of those are assumed to be against a woman, then it can be ed that during 1996 the police were called out to approximately 1750 actual or suspected partner domestic violence incidents. Normally, DVU officers will not attend a CAD callout: the cost of these attendances must therefore be added to the costs of running the two DVUS. It was estimated that on average two uniformed officers would attend each call, and the time taken to deal with each incident would be a minimum of an hour (incidents which took less time would be counterbalanced by cases where an arrest was made). We further assumed that one officer would be relatively experienced having joined before September 1994, whilst the second would have been recruited since then. On the basis of this, we calculated the cost of each visit to be £60.82. The total costs in 1996 attending domestic violence callouts was £106,435. Cases which proceed Our information on cases which proceed beyond the initial call is less comprehensive. We know from our analysis of the Hackney DVU database that in 1996, 78 cases
27
involved arrests, 55 recorded injunctions, and 17 cases which involved arrests and serving injunctions. These 95 arrests represented approximately twelve percent of CRIS reports. All of those will involve additional costs to the police and other agencies. On the basis of discussions with officers from the DVU we assumed that incidents at the first level above the basic CAD visit might involve liaising with other agencies and, staff proposed, require an average of two hours of interviewing. The additional costs of this level of incident would on average be £121.68. These costs would generally be included within the costs of running the DVU set out above. A trawl was done of the CRIS reports for the seven months starting I June 1996 to find the number of domestic violence-related cases which proceeded as far as the CPS/court: 43 cases were uncovered for both divisions, giving an estimated total of 74 for the year (the CRIS system was introduced during the course of 1996, see page 21 above). This represents six percent of the domestic violence CRIS reports of the year. In twelve percent of cases the defendant was remanded in police custody at least overnight; it was not clear the proportion who had also been remanded in prison whilst awaiting trial. In twelve percent of the cases, the majority of policework had been done by the CID: these costs would therefore not have been included in our estimated running costs for the DVUS. This is because the DVUs would have more limited involvement in more serious cases such as those defendants charged with grievous bodily harm GBH. However, some costs for CID will be included in our costs of prosecution below. Tracking cases beyond submission for prosecution was not always possible, as this information was not always fed back to the DVU. The kinds of offences defendants were charged with were as follows: Table: Proportion of types of offences charged and prosecuted in domestic violence unit records Type of offence
Proportion of type of
Proportion prosecuted by
offence in the recorded
type of offence
DVU cases All forms of physical
79%
65%
14%
83%
7%
33%
violence Criminal damage
Other offences, including indecent assault
Overall, seven percent of the cases were still ongoing; 17 percent had been withdrawn by the CPS either at or before court; 60 percent of the cases had been prosecuted; and
28
in 14 percent of the cases, the outcome was unclear. We were not able to determine the exact number of cases that had gone to the Crown Court, where prosecution costs rise exponentially. The average cost of prosecuting offences of violence in 1993/4 (the latest available information) was £3,500, and the average cost for prosecuting Summary non-motoring offences was roughly £250 (Home Office RSD 1995). Using the figures above for the estimated 74 cases which proceeded beyond arrest, this would represent in excess of £135,750 for prosecution costs during the year. There was one domestic violence-related murder in Hackney in 1996. We were not able to estimate the time police spent investigating, appearing in court, and completing the paperwork for this case. Therefore, the costs for this case have not been included in the above calculations. Table 7. Summary of costs to police Criminal Justice service
Estimated cost
Police Domestic Violence Units
£292,844
Police Attendance at the Scene
£106,435
Police/Prosecution
£135,750
Murder
Impossible to calculate
TOTAL
£535, 029
Civil justice: Estimated financial costs of civil legal assistance Injunctions
29
The Hackney police DVU database had a record of 72 injunctions with a power of arrest. If the number of injunctions at Stoke Newington is assumed to be comparable, then this generates 144 injunctions with an associated power of arrest for 1996 (injunctions can operate for a fixed period, or "until further orders" from the court). It is estimated that 'in London approximately 61 percent of the injunction applications are granted with a power of arrest (Judicial Statistics 1996). This is because these injunctions will only be granted in cases of recent ABH. Such an injunction would not normally be granted where the abuse was non-physical, or where an assault was not 'recent' - however current the expectation and fear of future harm. The total number of injunctions for the year can therefore be estimated to be 240 (McGibbon et al.'s research would estimate 171; Mooney's 285). The work involved for a solicitor for each injunction would be similar, whether or not a power of arrest was involved. We have no way of distinguishing between type of injunction sought by the applicant. According to the Legal Aid Board estimates, the average cost of a freestanding proceedings for an injunction under the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceeding Act of 1976 (the law in force at the time) was £1,999, an equivalent cost of £569,715. People on income support would have this figure paid for them via the legal aid scheme; if a woman was in employment, then her contribution would depend on the means-test contribution. Divorce Figures from the Lord Chancellor's Department show that for 1996, there were 22,519 decree absolutes made in the Greater London Region. These statistics are sub-divided by County Court, but not by Borough. Hackney represents 2.7 percent of the population of Greater London. If the divorce rate is assumed to be comparable throughout the Capital, then there were an estimated 61 1 divorces 'in Hackney during 1996. The Legal Aid Board Research Unit (Pleasence et al 1996) suggests that 18 percent of divorce proceedings involve some domestic violence issues. However, this proportion is likely to be much higher. According to Hester et al. (1996), domestic violence is estimated to be a feature in as many as one in three divorces: a total of 204 divorces involving violence as a central feature for the Borough during the year. We choose to use this higher figure. The Legal Aid Board estimates the average cost of an undefended divorce with no children and no property settlement is £2,417. The average cost of legal aid for a petitioner in defended divorce or judicial separation proceedings was £3,302. If plaintiffs wished to apply for an injunction as part of a divorce or judicial separation, the additional cost was £2,624, for ancillary relief £2,827, and for residence and/or contact another £3,117. The average cost of combined proceedings of these matters was £5,786. For purposes of illustration only, we estimate that of the 204 divorces, we estimate that one quarter (51 petitions) will involve plaintiffs who are able to pay the costs of the divorces themselves. Clearly, these represent considerable costs for individual women. However, to retain our focus on the costs to the public sector, we include the 75 percent of cases likely to be supported from public funds. Of the remaining 153 cases, we estimate that 95 percent (145) will be undefended, another five percent (8 cases) will be defended (Cm 2799,1995). This figure is almost certainly an underestimate as children often would be involved, and there can be no guarantees that an abusive partner would facilitate the divorce process. We therefore further speculate that ten percent (15) are likely to involve combined proceedings. These estimates are made in the interest of calculating an overall costs of civil litigation for
30
divorce: an estimated cost of £434,741 [£03 50,465 + £26,416 + £57,860] for 1996. This cost would be met centrally for women on benefit. Table 8. Summary of civil justice costs for injunctions and divorces in domestic violence cases in Hackney
Injunctions
£569,715
Divorces
£434,741
Total civil justice cost estimates
£l,004,456
Selected financial costs to Hackney Housing Directorate We know that one way to thwart violence is to stop living with the violent partner. Often, this means that the person escaping violence leaves, usually the woman. While there is legal provision to exclude violent partners from the home and surrounding area, women and children often decide that finding a place to live that is unknown to the perpetrator is the safest option. The process for applying to the Council for rehousing is quite lengthy, and can involve contact with estate managers, Neighbourhood Offices, and the centralised rehousing office, and sometimes, the homelessness services. The coding system in operation during 1996 was not able to record the proportion of people who presented themselves as homeless as a result of domestic violence. Neither was it possible within the bounds of this study to estimate the amount of work done at Neighbourhood level or the proportion of women who after initial consultation with, for example, their estate manager decide not to pursue the matter. Further, it is impossible to guess at the proportion of Hackney residents who either moved in with family or friends; who were in a financial position to rehouse themselves without recourse to the Council; who presented themselves as homeless to other Boroughs or who otherwise moved out of Hackney. The figures presented below are therefore partial and also underestimates. Hackney houses 47 percent of its residents 'm its Council-owned dwellings, with another 14 percent living in Housing Association property. We concentrate here on the costs to the Council of re-housing people. The budget for staff within Hackney Housing Directorate who handle re-housing offers centrally was estimated to be £800,000 (£550,000 of which relates to Council lettings and £250,000 to Housing Association work). In discussions with the Directorate, we estimated that 75 percent of staff time is devoted to actual work of rehousing. This represents a total cost for rehousing work of £412,500 for council lettings and £I87,500 for Housing Association ones. For each new letting made, there were an average of 2.5 and 1.5 offers made respectively. Demands on local housing stock are currently so high that only one offer of a property which meets applicants' requirements can be made: more offers will be made if the initial one is unsuitable. If,
31
for example, in a domestic violence-related case, the property turns out to be next to the perpetrators' family. Otherwise a new application must be made. The work involved in making an offer which is not accepted can equal if not exceed that required for one where a letting results. Council lettings Figures from Hackney's Rehousing Department showed that during the year ending 31 March 1997, the total number of new secure lettings was 1717, with a further 530 lettings made to existing tenants transferring within the Council's own stock. In addition, 613 non-secure (temporary) tenancies were granted during the year. We estimate that a total of 2860 households, with 2.5 offers per rehousing, equals 7150 units of staff time. Applied to the total figure for council-related rehousing offers (£412,500), this translates into a unit cost of £57.70. A trawl through non-secure lettings casefiles showed that 111 of the 613 cases (18 percent) were in need of rehousing due to partner domestic violence. The Council has recently introduced a system whereby the Housing Directorate will try to offer secure tenancies to people fleeing violence, without resorting to the use of temporary accommodation: this was not the case for the whole of 1996. Some women and their families would have spent substantial time in temporary accommodation before a permanent offer could be made; several would have been rehoused a number of times. Of the transfers and new secure lettings, 122 were recorded on the database as relating to domestic violence. 109 of these were local authority tenants rehoused from one Council property to another (21 percent of all transfers). Less than one percent of new lettings were classified as domestic violence cases. This is likely to be an underestimate, since for example some of these would have involved people presenting themselves as homeless as a result of domestic violence. During 1996, the total number of domestic violence-related new council lettings was therefore at least 233 (122 secure, and non-secure)-a total cost of;£13,444. If it is assumed that each of these households were offered the same number of properties as other households, this figure is increased by 2.5: totaling £33,610. Housing Association lettings The cost of staff time allocated to rehousing people into Housing Association accommodation was £187,500. The total number of such households for the year ending 31 March 1997 was 695, generating a unit cost of 1270. Data from the National Housing Federation indicate that 51 percent of these would involve women (and their children) receiving rehousing, and that 13 percent of these would be moving to escape domestic violence: if these proportions are applied to the council data, an estimated 46 women were rehoused at a cost of; £l2,420. If we assume the number of offers made to be comparable for domestic violence and non domestic violence cases (1.5), this rises to £18,630. This figure obviously does not include the work involved for the Housing Associations themselves, nor cases which dealt with the Housing Association direct. The total number of people rehoused by Hackney Housing Directorate during 1996 which was domestic violence-related was 279 - 59 percent of those estimated to have been in contact with DV(H)AS.
32
Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service The nature of the DV(H)AS has been discussed above. The main costs of running this service relate to the staff. The staffing costs for 1996 were £190,000. It was not possible to access an accurate estimate for indirect costs.
Table 9: Summary of selected public sector housing-related costs
Council
£33,610
Housing Association
£18,630
DV(H)AS
£190,000
TOTAL
£242,240
Selected Costs of Hackney Women's Aid Hackney Women's Aid (HWA) is an active and crucial link in the service provision for those facing domestic violence. HWA manages four refuges, is extensively involved with training and development work which challenges domestic violence, and will soon open a storefront drop-in advice centre in Dalston Lane. The total budget (staff included) is £304,764. Their bed space is limited to 26 adult spaces. If we compare this with the possible need within the Borough alone, this means that HWA are severely limited in terms of the accommodation they can offer Hackney residents fleeing violence. As noted above, Hackney Council alone rehoused 233 women (and their children) because of domestic violence. Asian Women s Refuge: There are approximately 10 bed spaces for Asian women seeking refuge in Hackney. The estimated costs for this service is: £117,217. We estimate the total costs of providing refuge (36 bed spaces) to be £421,981. Selected financial costs for Hackney Social Services Directorate We attempted to estimate the cost of domestic violence to Hackney Social Services Directorate by using data from their Budget Book 1996/7 and by examining the cases managed by the Children and Family Teams in the four Hackney social service areas to establish the proportion which were related to domestic violence. Note that (as discussed above), this will exclude from our consideration of women without children,
33
of elderly women, of women with adult children, of women with addictions and of women with mental health problems. We calculated that the total budget allocated to the Children and Family Teams including management and central service costs was £10,708,050 in 1996/7. We assumed that in each area there were three teams, I duty and 2 long term, and we further assumed that each team had the same resources. The Duty Team deals with substantially more cases, but the costs attaching to the Long Term Care Team are much higher. Costs of residential care for a child under 15, for example, are £2,321 per week (Netten and Dennett 1996). Our examination of referral records suggest that about six percent of the duty team cases involve domestic violence while for the long term teams the corresponding figure is 30 percent. On this basis we concluded that 22 percent of the total budget may be allocated to cases involving domestic violence. For Hackney in 1996/7 this amounts to £2,355,771. Selected financial costs to East London and City Health Authority General Practitioners For the period examined, there were 133 GPs working in Hackney. The estimated cost of each individual GP for 1995/6 (including overheads) is £94,840 (Netten and Dennett 1996) - a total of £12,613,720 per annum for the Borough. As roughly three quarters of Hackney's population is aged 16 or over, we estimated that £9,460,290 of this figure would relate to adults. The ratio of men to women in the Borough is 50:50. The Royal College of General Practitioners estimate that people registered with a GP make an average number of five visits each year, with women visiting more regularly than men (six visits and four visits respectively). Three-fifths of the cost of GPs is £5,676,174 - this estimate reflecting women's higher usage of the service. The resource implications of domestic violence are less straightforward to calculate. If one in nine women are experiencing domestic violence, then one estimate of the cost to GPs is £630,686. If we follow McGibbon et al.(1989)'s estimates (57 percent tell someone- 14 percent tell their GP), this estimate could be revised down to £88,296- if we use Mooney's (1994) study where 22 percent tell their GP, with the resulting revised estimate is £l38,751. However, neither of these estimates is satisfactory as people who tell their GP about their experiences may make non-domestic violencerelated visits to their survey during the year (for example, for a throat infection), whereas women may also visit the GP as a direct result of abuse by their partners without disclosing this. We therefore decided to calculate the cost to GPs via the estimated number of surgery visits, estimated at £16for each visit. Mooney(1994) estimated that women experiencing domestic violence will have four violence-related contacts during the course of a year. The estimate for the selected costs of domestic violence-related visits to GPs is £539,776 (8434 [one in nine Hackney women estimated from our own survey] x 4 x £16 = £539,776). In this instance, we feel more confident in using the higher estimate because we generated prevalence from our GP waiting room survey. This latter figure better reflects the hidden costs of domestic violence to the health service. Accident and Emergency Department: Homerton Hospital
34
The A & E Department at Homerton Hospital is the only casualty department actually based within the Borough of Hackney itself, although some residents may be geographically closer to other hospitals and therefore possibly more likely to use these other services. Estimates as to the proportion of A & E users attending as a result of domestic violence-related incidents vary between one percent of all patients (Roberts 1993) to twelve percent of female patients (Abbott 1995). Ward et al. (1993) estimated the number of female attendees who visit A & E with an injury received from an assault to be 15 percent of attendees due to assault. Further, Campbell (I 994) and Bates (I 995) both found that women do not seek help immediately after a domestic attack - 63 percent and 68 percent respectively. Studies which have examined trauma-only female patients have put the figure as high as 30 percent of female casualty clients (McLeer 1989). However, none of the above allow us to calculate an estimate which roughly reflects women's use of Homerton's casualty department for domestic violence-related injuries. For the purposes of this study, the most conservative estimate rests in estimating the cost of casualty services for one percent of all A & E patients. The total cost of Homerton Hospital A & E was £1,729,300 for 1995/6; 43,834 (out of 51,91 0) attendees were aged 16 and over. One percent of these costs would be £17,293. Health Visitors According to discussions with heath Visitors within the Borough, the 'ideal' allocation of Health Visitors for Hackney would be around 60, which would entail working with roughly 250-300 active families (although each would be allocated several thousand GP patients). Much of their work would involve contact with new born and young children. The fact that Health Visitors go and see people in their own homes means that they may be well placed to offer advice and support to women who, though experiencing violence, are unable or unwilling to seek help due to the risk of stigmatisation. This point is of particular importance since, as Mezey and Bewley (1997) showed, violence can often be triggered by pregnancy and birth. Our own GP waiting room survey found that two percent of the women reported miscarriages from violence; other women reported violence during successful pregnancies. At the time of the study, Hackney was understaffed, with somewhere between 45-50 Health Visitors. Netten and Demett (1996) ed the cost of a Health Visitor - including overheads to be £26,476 pa, giving a total cost of between £1,191,420 and £1,323,800 for the Borough. Our discussions with Health Visitor staff put the proportion of cases that they deal with where they are aware of domestic violence at two to four percent, although they recognized victims of abuse would not always want to discuss their situation with them. If the more conservative estimate is used, this represents an outgoing of somewhere between £23,828 and £26,476 for the year. Table 10. Summary of selected costs to the East London & City Health Authority
General Practitioners
£539,776
35
Accident & Emergency Attendance Health Visitors TOTAL
£17, 293 £26, 476 £583, 545
*This excludes costs of medicines, ambulance attendance and hospitalisation. Conclusion We are therefore in a position to calculate the selected financial consequences for domestic violence for key agencies in the London Borough of Hackney for 1996. These are set out in Table 11 below: Table 11: Summary of selected financial costs of domestic violence (in figures rounded to the nearest £l0,000) Key agency Police *
Selected estimated costs of domestic violence £540,000
Civil Justice
£1,000,000
Housing**
£240,000
Refuges
£410,000
Social Services Directorate Health***
£2,360,000 £580,000
*Excludes the costs of investigating and prosecuting one domestic murder * *Excludes the costs of repairs to council property, preparation for new tenants, moving and furnishing flats; indirect costs. ***excludes hospitalisation and medicines The total selected costs amount to £5,130,000, which represents the costs of providing assistance for approximately two thirds of women's formal contact with agencies. If we estimate the global costs, the figure rises to £7,500,000. A brief glance at these estimated costs gives rise to the following observations. First, these costing estimates focus primarily on women's use of police for crisis intervention; civil justice for crisis intervention and severing the legal tie of violent relationships; women's need for rehousing to escape violence- women's use of medical facilities when wounded physically, sexually or psychologically from violence. Any direct service which promotes positive safety planning, early intervention or support prior to acute crisis cannot be determined. Those offering direct service Women's Aid and DV(H)AS within Hackney Housing Directorate are by no means the most expensive. With
36
respect to children, the £2 million plus estimated to be Social Services' expenditure devoted to crisis and long term care for children at risk does not offer support to women. There are so few services for the estimated one in nine women in Hackney who face domestic violence on a variety of levels. We must begin to think strategically about how we offer public services for those facing domestic violence. The pressure to deliver services is largely devoted to responding to the crisis needs of women. So little is devoted to general advice and support which we believe could in many instances avert crises.
37
PART IV (E) INJURIES One common assumption is that there is a great deal of domestic violence, but much of it is 'low level'. Estimates generated from previous studies suggest that very serious injuries occur in two to five percent of domestic violence attacks. Many more women and children - perhaps not injured during any one year - live under the shadow of threat, intimidation and fear. In this research, we made note of the injuries recorded in the key agencies' files. It is crucial to remember here that these agencies' clients did not always overlap, so we must not assume that if a woman received serious injuries, she received medical attention, reported the assault to the police, and inquired about re-housing. The kinds of situations resulting in injury in domestic violence incidents which came to the attention of Women's Aid, GPs or DV(H)AS did not always come to the attention of the police, nor did they necessarily result in the recipient receiving medical attention. Many of these women and children may well still be living with their assailants. Injuries recorded by police Of those cases on the Domestic Violence Units' databases, 54 percent involved an assault or other physical injury. Intimidation and psychological harm is likely to have resulted from the 22 percent of cases involving recorded 'disturbances'. Another seven percent of the cases recorded criminal damage. Two percent of the cases noted theft and/or burglary. Not all domestic violence which comes to the attention of the police, then, includes physical assault. There are clearly other ways to frighten and to intimidate which violate the law. Injuries recorded by DV(H)AS In 17 percent of the case files, it was obvious that the violence had been going on for some time anywhere from a couple of years to nearly half a century. The injuries which were recorded were those most recently experienced. Nearly one in five (18 percent) of the clients had been previously in touch with the DV(H)AS, suggesting that the women were trying different ways besides re-housing to stop their partners' violence. However, from a review of the case files, we found a range of injuries women did report to the staff: ♦
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
76 percent of the case files indicated the woman suffered some physical abuse, in over 30 percent of these the injuries suffered could be said to be substantial (attempts to kill, strangulation, stabbing, broken bones, an attempt to set fire to someone); 22 percent of the clients reported being under threat from their partner, a further 16 percent told staff about verbal abuse; 17 percent told of mental/emotional abuse-, eleven percent reported being harassed by current or ex-partners, three percent told of sexual abuse, including being forced into prostitution.
As noted above, DV(H)AS offers support and counselling, and many of the women wanted to talk to staff about their situations in addition to seeking housing information. From examining the case files, it is clear that there are many women on the books who
38
are trying to make sense of the violence, trying to stay in their relationships while searching for ways to stop the violence. The special advantage DV(H)AS has is that it can begin to build the foundation for immediate response for a woman who must relocate in an emergency, as well as discuss safety strategies with women. Ultimately, for many of the clients, separation is the best way to find safety. Injuries recorded by the GP waiting room survey The proportion of women who experience domestic violence will vary according to how domestic violence is defined. If only the most serious physical abuse is used (Type C above), we see that more than one in nine women experienced violence in the past year, with more than one in four being abused by a partner at some point in their lives. Over two-fifths (42 percent) indicated that they had been afraid of their current or ex-partner; 18 percent (43 percent of those afraid) had experienced Type AB, and/or C abuse in the past year; and 12 percent (30 percent of those afraid) said that they had often been afraid. Respondents gave some indication of the nature of injuries they sustained. These demonstrate that the type of physical abuse which is being experienced by Hackney residents would fall within a generally recognised definition of criminal violence. The following table presents our overall estimates based on these preliminary findings from our survey: Table 12: Reported injuries sustained by women as recorded in our GP waiting room survey Extrapolated to
Injury bruises anywhere on body cuts, bruises or marks on face black eye cuts anywhere on body lost/broken tooth/split lip blackout/unconsciousness bleeding on face/body/arms/legs sickness or vomiting sprained wrist or ankle broken nose, jaw or cheekbone burst eardrum or deafness burns anywhere on body broken arm, leg or ribs miscarriage internal injury
percentage of survey
24 16 13 12 11 10 9 6 6 5 3 2 2 2 2
Hackney during 1996
8,015 5,344 4,342 4,008 3,674 3,340 3,006 2,004 2,004 1,670 1,002 668 668 668 668
Ever**
18,217 12,144 9,867 9,108 8,349 7,590 6,831 4,554 4,554 3,795 2,277 1,518 1,518 1,518 1,518
*Assuming 1 in nine women m the past year from our survey **Assuming 1 in four in lifetime from our survey Note: estimates based on population of women aged 16 and over in Hackney as 75,903 The above injuries were suffered by 29 percent of the respondents, with an average of 4.2 injuries per person. Moreover, 12 percent (one in eight) indicated they had been forced to have sex at some time during their partnerships. Two out of these five
39
women reporting forced sex by partners indicated this had occurred in the past year. The range of injuries found in the GP waiting room survey are similar to those reported by women in the police DVU files, and those held in the records of the DV(H)AS. Another word about injuries. A recent study of Bristol A & E attendees suggested that mothers of children on the child protection register are more at risk of being assaulted than mothers not on the register. The authors conclude that "children of women who have been assaulted are in need of increased protection" (Ward 1993:1102) because their mothers' assailants are present or past partners. Clearly many of the women's injuries recorded by our agency trawls gave us cause for concern. We could not determine in many of the situations whether children witnessed the violence, or were themselves assaulted. We feel there is an urgent need to set up a mechanism to monitor possible links between woman abuse and child abuse.
40
PART V Diversity and Help-Seek*: Reflections on Case Studies from Hackney during 1996 Our composite case studies, which appear at Appendix 3 to this report, represent the diversity of Hackney, and are only the tip of the iceberg of domestic violence situations from case files during 1996. Confidentiality demanded that we alter many of the particulars, especially in the situations where horrific injuries and abuse occurred. We are confident, however, that they portray the range of situations women and children face. They show in a more graphic way the psychological costs of domestic violence. We can only speculate the way in which these costs are borne out in economic and social terms. We did not attempt to cost each case scenario, and add them together to calculate the costs to individuals. We found that the diversity of women in Hackney, reflected in the case files of the key agencies, meant that women had different systems of formal and informal support, varying relationships with the police, and widely different access to community and personal resources. We prefer-red instead to offer estimates based on our trawl through key agency files. Examination of key agency files - the police, Social Services, Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service, Women's Aid - with the aid of the GP waiting room survey, affirms the published research about domestic violence: women seek help for men's violence. For those who have read the accompanying case studies, we included one case of man to man domestic violence, as it shows that some men - albeit a small proportion of men - call the police. These key agency files also reveal the cultural and religious mix of Hackney as a Borough. In this section, we would like to reflect about the diversity of the women who asked for help. We assume, for instance, that women who do not speak English will have a more difficult time finding assistance. The police data base we examined indicated that for six percent of the clients, English was not spoken by the woman. The first languages of the women included Egyptian, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Vietnamese, Turkish, amongst others. The DV(H)AS was advantaged by employing workers who speak a variety of languages. Their files indicated that thirteen percent of their clients had no or limited English. The languages of these women noted in the files included Cantonese, Greek, Hebrew, Punjabi, Somali, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese, amongst others. It would not be unusual it in many of these situations, children were called upon to translate the women's distress, abuse and needs to the agencies she contacts. We learned from the Law Centre, too, that a few women each year face serious dilemmas, as they entered the country under the sponsorship of their battering husbands and had been in the country less than twelve months. For these women, fleeing violent men left them open to deportation. Yet despite obstacles, these women did seek help from key agencies in Hackney. As we stated before, it is difficult, if not possible to estimate the costs of domestic violence for those who, for whatever reasons, hide violence and abuse fi7om others. Recent local surveys in Britain also indicate that many women do not tell others about violence: Mooney's (1993) study reported that 38 percent of women who had lifetime experiences of domestic violence, and 45 percent of those facing violence in the past twelve months told no one. McGibbon et al.'s (I 989) research suggests that 43 percent of women told no one. Dominy and Radford's (I 996) study estimated that it took on average two and one half years for a woman to seek assistance for domestic
41
violence. For whatever reason, the women (and few men) who contacted the agencies in Hackney found the strength to break their silence. Telling someone, too, may have costs. One women, for instance, who approached DV(H)AS, was shunned by her small, close knit community for seeking assistance against 'her' man. Other women cannot endure the disappointment and terror of not being believed. Some may feel that unless they are severely beaten, they are not true victims. For instance, we came across one situation where a man would not allow his partner to communicate with him except via written notes. These he would often bum in front of her, still forbidding her to speak. This woman was terrified of her partner, but she had no proof that he was violent. She was simply asking DV(H)AS for help to be re-housed. So not only do women's cultural and religious communities and supports vary, so does the kind of violence they face from men. We also found that for others, the time for breaking silence about abuse has passed. One woman, over 70, who replied to our GP survey, commented: It's all too late now. In old age, sexual violence becomes mental cruelty. Weak shits remain weak shits. It is for this and other women that we decided not to quantify and cost the long term impact of domestic violence in economic terms. For many, suffering goes on. The costs - psychological, social and economic - go on and on. One woman wrote on our GP waiting room survey: I was in a violent relationship fifteen years ago. No one will ever do that to me again and walk away. I have constant panic attacks and most men who know me are wary of me as I tend to be aggressive. Really I am still very scared. I'll get over it. Another respondent, reflecting on her needs at the time of the abuse, and indirectly commenting on the kinds of services necessary to help break silence about violence, said: I could have benefited with counselling about it because psychologically it almost destroys you. [It is] important that women feel self-worth again. We were reminded poignantly how many women remember the impact of domestic violence when one respondent to our GP waiting room survey remarked: I can still remember the shock of the first attack - disbelief that someone you are intimate with would want to destroy you. Despite the fact that our agency trawls all too frequently excluded the voices of those experiencing domestic violence, the impact of the above statements and the documentation of threat, violence, and abuse the women and their children endured (and still endure) weighed heavily on us throughout the study. We feel strongly that the case studies should be read in their entirety. We have termed them our 'A - Z' of domestic violence in Hackney. (Readers will find that each of the names are one letter of the alphabet. We present them, at Appendix 3, as an overview of the variety of situations we found amongst the key agency files during 1996). What women wanted when they ask for help
42
When women asked for assistance, they do not always ask for assistance to leave violent partners. In approximately eight out of ten DV(H)AS files, it was possible to find out what women wanted from the workers when they sought advice. Table 13: Kinds of advice women facing domestic violence sought from DV(H)AS Advice sought about domestic violence
Estimated number of women
Proportion of women's requests
General advice
110
Stop violence/stay with partner
10
3%
In process of being rehoused in Hackney
82
22%
Temporary accommodation, need rehousing
97
26%
Moving out of Hackney, need advice
33
29%
9%
Seeking counselling
18
5%
Seeking injunctions
13
3%
Seeking divorce/separation
13
3%
Other
1%
1%
43
The DV(H)AS also provided us with a wealth of information on overlapping contacts among agencies. In 21 percent of examined cases, there was no recorded contact with any other agency-, for the remaining 79 percent the average number of contacts with other agencies was 2.8. If the contact with the DV(H)AS is included, the overall average number of recorded contacts made for each individual was 3.2. This is higher dm the McGibbon et al study. We feel that it is logically a higher figure because by the time many women are exploring the possibility of moving due to violence, the abuse they endured has escalated to such an extent that in these circumstances they are more likely to search for help. Table 14: Agency liaison documented through D V(H)AS 1996 casefiles** Legal Housing Social Services Health
Police Solicitor Women's Aid Other Housing Depts GP Hospitalisation Psychiatric
Informal only (ie friends/family) Informal plus formal
39% 21% 17% 33% 12% 14% 14% 1% 17% 20%
**Note: these reflect multiple responses Contact with key agencies may therefore be on-going, intermittent over time, yet intensive and crisis-oriented at other points. Women need time to decide how to resolve violence within their relationships, and make determined moves when, it seems, there is some resolution about continuing the relationship in the face of violence. Such decisions, and resolutions, never come easily and without a great deal of pain.
Conclusion Some of the case studies presented in Appendix 3, you might think, do not represent 'true' domestic violence. In fact, the case studies demonstrate the continuum of unsafety common to situations of domestic violence (Stanko 1990). All the research suggests that we - whether we be women facing violence or those from whom they seek help - all try to predict whether abuse will continue, whether it will escalate, or whether, if escalated, will lead to lethal consequences. When violence becomes acute - to the extent that women and children must flee their homes for fear of their lives its costs escalate exponentially. This study shows that public sector service providers will meet with a wide range of situations which women themselves define as "problematic", and which stem from the violence of their partners. And our agency trawls show that women defined the need for assistance in situations of domestic violence involving emotional, financial and/or physical and sexual abuse. But solutions to domestic violence may not be met through those services currently on offer: challenging domestic violence is far wider than any solution offered by an arrest, re-housing or putting a plaster on a wound.
44
In summary, we offer the following general observations on our case studies: • • •
•
domestic violence involves a range of behaviours, many of which flow from attempts to Control and to dominate women and their children; while domestic violence is not confined to men's abuse and violence to women, this is its most prevalent form in key agency files; social and psychological needs of women and children confronting violence interlock with a variety of public services, many of which are themselves undergoing financial uncertainties dedicated services for domestic violence, such as Hackney Women's Aid, DV(H)AS, and police domestic violence units are invaluable to women as resources domestic violence affects different women in many different ways. As such, help and assistance should be flexible, multi-cultural, and supportive, not prescriptive.
45
PART VI Innovative Developments in Hackney During the study, the Hackney Domestic Violence Forum began to take shape. its infancy, the Forum will continue to bring together what we found to be group of dedicated professionals. There are a number of innovative, approaches to providing support for those who experience domestic violence. section, we would like to highlight them briefly.
Only in a small organic In this
Value of good service provision One of the women respondents to our GP waiting room survey wrote that an informed worker: puts you in touch with the right people to give all the help and support you would need. It [being abused] is a very lonely time. We wish to make three points in particular: •
Relevant agencies must recognize the need for sensitive service provision and effectively monitor the proportion of their caseload which is domestic violencerelated. In this way, staff and their funding sources will be made aware of the impact domestic violence-related need in any one local area. • An understanding between service providers must be fostered so that each is aware of the nature of the work the others undertake. The liaison at policy level in the recently formed Domestic Violence Forum will greatly facilitate this process. • Contacts must also be maintained at ground level. This will ensure appropriate referrals between agencies and that cases are followed up properly. The Third Hackney Children s Plan 1996/7 draws attention to a multi-agency group who are currently making progress on the update of local multi-agency guidelines for staff on domestic violence. It is vital that any new ways of working introduced as a result of this initiative be supported adequately in terms of staff re-training as well as allocating sufficient resources to keep any new systems operating effectively. We suggest that the multi-agency group urgently review the provision of services for children who are witnessing domestic violence, and specially, services for children who are undergoing rehousing. The Hackney Children's Plan does draw attention to the Contact Centre, which provides a neutral meeting place for children living with one parent to spend time with their other parent. This is particularly unimportant when there is concern about the safety of the parent or the child when contact is made. This reflects recent advice concerning good practice for child contacts when there is a past history of violence (Hester et al. 1996; Hester and Radford 1996). Despite limited resources for many agencies in the Borough, creative initiatives are being launched which are responsive to women's, and to a limited extent, children's needs. An excellent new initiative which acts in this responsive way is an outreach project developed by Hackney Women's Aid and a local clinical psychology team. This scheme aims to develop support networks for women experiencing violence. Women's Aid is near the completion of negotiating access to a store front in Dalston, which will
46
serve as a drop-in Centre for women. it is one of only a few in the country. The operation of this centre is still some way off, for the site must first be renovated and furniture found to make it a welcoming and supportive place. But it serves as an example of envisioning change. Efforts are also being made towards developing public education, where challenging attitudes which support violence in partnerships can begin early in life. The organic development of a schools pack called RESPECT', a joint effort by a local community psychology team, Hackney Safer Cities and Hackney Council, aims to raise young people's awareness of domestic violence, and is a positive step toward prevention. Hackney Housing Directorate's innovative, the Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service has, it seems to us, demonstrated its value in providing core services for women fleeing violence. Established in 1992, the service is accessible, multi-cultural, offering counselling as well as information about housing. Recently, DV(H)AS drew upon their expertise in housing advice in situations of domestic violence to write Addressing Domestic Violence: A Guide to Writing Policies and procedures, which it launched in early 1997. The staff of the DV(H)AS, using their e gleaned from wording with those in acute need, take the lead position in training around issues of domestic violence for the public, private and voluntary sectors in the Borough. We have come to the conclusion that they are an invaluable resource to the residents of, and staff working in Hackney. While there is clearly some innovation in the creation of dedicated assistance for adults facing domestic violence, we are less convinced that there is much in the way of services for children. The importance of addressing children's needs was mentioned by one of our survey respondents. Remembering the abuse of her mother, one woman wrote: I saw a lot when I was growing up and I promised myself I would never go through what my mum went throughWe are less heartened about the kinds of support and help which might assist children, especially those who flee violence along with their mothers. We now turn to our summary and offer some recommendations based on the findings of this report.
47
PART VII Summary and Recommendations Discussion of findings The report set out to estimate the costs of domestic violence to the public sector in one London Borough during 1996. Through our devised formula, we were able to estimate the prevalence of domestic violence among women aged 16 and over by examining the case files of key agencies. These prevalence estimates taken from key agencies' files resulted in similar calculations, using the previous research to estimate women's helpseeking strategies. The three estimates of prevalence provide us with a gauge of prevalence ranging from one in fifteen to one in eighteen women over 16 throughout Hackney experiencing domestic violence in any one year. Our own survey administered in a GP waiting room found prevalence to be one in nine adult women; one in four women reported experiencing domestic violence at some point during their lifetimes. We feel that broadly the two estimates - one from the perspective of the service providers and the other from women themselves - illustrate why it is important to ask women directly about domestic violence. Clearly, key agencies will continue to provide acute crisis assistance for women facing domestic violence. But these two estimate levels show starkly how violence remains hidden from official records. Some implications of our findings Our prevalence findings show that domestic violence is a common feature in women's lives. There is no indication that domestic violence is being prevented. Our key agency trawls, however, indicate that domestic violence is one reason why women seek help from public agencies. This study in Hackney suggests that women do, and in many circumstances urgently need to, seek -assistance to end violent partnerships. For some, this means fleeing impending violence. When doing so, many women search for advice and ask about rehousing, education of children who may have to be moved because of violence, or about debt counselling related to establishing a new household. They may also use legal remedies to interrupt a man's threatening and frightening violence. It is best, when considering the costs of domestic violence in economic terms, to face the challenge of strategic policy planning for meeting the varied needs of those experiencing domestic violence now. The absent services for children whose mothers are facing violence and abuse, and especially those who are caught up with their mother's need to flee violence by moving out of the home, are an obvious gap in public service provision. We suggest that planning for children's needs, and also for women's need for emergency and permanent accommodation to escape violence, must be an urgent part of community safety. We also suggest that strategic planning be devoted to creating front line support services which can back up the crisis intervention delivered by so many of the public services. Recommendations toward better practice Based on our experience of conducting this research, we offer the following recommendations:
48
•
We urge the multi-agency group to establish ways of monitoring on an ongoing basis the needs of clients who ask key agencies for help in situations of domestic violence. Such record keeping, we found, can help formulate estimates of the amount of staff time needed to address the persistent problem of domestic violence. Previous research indicates that lack of resources was the single biggest obstacle to inter-agency cooperation (Hague et al 1996). The prevalence figures serve as a reminder of the urgent need to be far more innovative and creative when thinking about prevention. Prevention for domestic violence is defined as disrupting on an individual basis the escalation and damage of a particular man's violence to particular women and children. Domestic violence exists. It is a common feature of women's fives. In Hackney alone, it currently affects the lives of an estimated one in nine women aged 16 and over, plus over 5000 children, who face the uncertainty of moving home, seeing and hearing threats and violence between their parents and who must to a large extent keep secret the upheaval in their lives.
•
So we must plan for what will be persistent need. The preparation of transitional housing and the expansion of safe and supportive emergency accommodation, we feel, is a core component of any housing strategy. Clearly, women and children are moving as one way of fleeing violence. The sooner we have safe and affordable dwellings for emergency, transitional and permanent re-housing for those escaping violence, the better.
•
Whilst we understand that not all women wish to be housed on a temporary basis in a refuge, it seems to us that the estimated number of women seeking re-housing because of domestic violence exceeds the bed spaces in Women's Aid by a factor of eight. That is, for each woman in refuge in Hackney, eight others plus their children are searching for immediate shelter fi7om violence. Active co-operation between Housing Departments and Women's Aid is crucial for the safety of women and children facing domestic violence. Hackney provides an example of good practice here in particular. We urge other housing directorates to explore the possibility of creating such units as the Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice Service. We found it to be good value for money.
•
There are a number of questions which can be raised about the safety of women and children, and the part played by the police in this. Resources solely devoted to criminal justice remedies do not guarantee women safety. Research which explores how women find safety from violent men which demonstrates the complex strategies women employ to minimize domestic violence is urgently needed. Victims of domestic violence, primarily women are contacting the police in crisis situations. While the information collected by DVUs may be useful to the internal audits of police duties, they do not provide information to show how women and children ultimately find safety. How does the intervention of the police help women, especially in light of the low arrest and prosecution rates? The data found in the records of domestic violence units do not give us these answers. Clearly women are finding their way to a safer life, in part through advice and assistance from public agencies, and DVU officers help women make links with these services. We must find a way to document safety strategies, many of which involve the use of rehousing, criminal and civil justice remedies, and community supports, while safeguarding the confidentiality of women and children.
49
•
There is an urgent need to support the provision of services for children facing the disruption of being re-housed and possibly changing schools, alongside the trauma of living within an atmosphere of intimidation and violence.
•
There is an urgent need to monitor the short, medium and long term needs of children rehoused because of violence.
•
Permanent finding must be found for Women's Aid's work with children, their drop-in Centre, and their support groups for women living in violent relationships. The time spent applying to the lottery for one-off positions is a drain on Women's Aid energies. There must be a better way to fund what we recognize as an essential service for women facing domestic violence in the late 1990s.
•
Innovation and creativity should be fostered and rewarded. It need not be expensive. One woman, featured in our case studies, was able to leave her violent partner simply because she discovered the phone number of Women's Aid printed on the back of the rent book. This was the bright idea of someone in the Housing Directorate. Other innovative project developments, such as the schools pack Respect, should also be supported.
Finally, we would like to close by making a plea for all of us to be more creative in bridging the gap between thinking about the impact of domestic violence on women, and the impact on children who witness and experience it themselves. We have shown throughout this report that the bulk of the documented costs reported here are those borne by agencies helping women. When children are the focus of crisis intervention from public services, assistance and support are not typically offered to the parents, especially the woman who may herself be experiencing violence. The only service which explicitly acknowledges this link - Women's Aid - is left to cope with one full time worker servicing the needs of the children who are living temporarily in refuges. Yet we estimated that there may be as many as 5000 children in Hackney who are at the very least witnessing their mothers' abuse. It seems to us that there is scope here for a creative partnership, perhaps between Women's Aid, the Education Directorate and the Social Services Directorate, to develop innovative projects for children who may be experiencing domestic violence. We also suggest finding a way of providing services for children whose mothers contact DV(H)AS about the possibility of being re-housing. It is hard to imagine some of the above coming into being without some influx of funding into a beleaguered, Inner City Borough. The purpose of this report is to remind us all that domestic violence is costly - its psychological, emotional, social and physical damage to women and children is all too apparent in the records of key agencies throughout the country. This report did not even touch on the costs which women and children bear themselves. Some of these last a lifetime. It is, we believe, even costlier to us as a society as a whole if we neglect the all too often hidden victims of domestic violence as well - the children.
50
Appendix I The GP waiting room survey: Methodology and response rates We undertook a survey of all women aged 16 or over who came to a GP surgery's waiting room at a group practice in Hackney. The data collection was done at randomly selected sessions during May 1997. Our response rates were as follows: • • • • •
485 women were observed in the waiting room 79 (16 %) were not asked to take part, the majority of which were called through to the doctor too quickly-, 8 (2 %) were in fact aged under 16. 235 (48 %) did not agree to take part. 19 percent of these had only limited English, three percent felt too unwell, and ten percent had already completed a questionnaire previously. 163 (34%) agreed to take part, 79 percent of these returned a completed questionnaire.
It is only possible to speculate about the experiences of women who decided that they did not wish to take part in the study. Several women explained that they did not wish to participate because they had or had had an abusive partner and did not wish to discuss their experiences, a roughly equal number did not see the relevance of their completing a questionnaire as their current and previous partner had never been violent towards them. Demographic information (based on 129 respondents) Age:
under 20 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 plus
5% 26% 38% 21% 11%
Children and pregnancy: 64 percent of the sample said that they had children, 19 percent were either pregnant or had been pregnant in the past year. The average number of children was two. Ethnicity:
white 53% Irish 10% Black 20% Asian 5% Other 12%
The fact that 45 women were unable to complete a questionnaire due to lack of English means that these figures are not as representative of the population in the waiting room as we had hoped.
51
Tenure and employment: 52 percent of respondents were currently working either full or part time; 34 percent were m owner-occupied accommodation, 30 percent in council-rented properties.
52
Appendix 2 Designing a methodology for the local context Three previous studies informed our project. i)
Work in New South Wales, Australia (NSW Women's Co-Ordination Unit 1990) set out to estimate costs to individuals and to the state for domestic violence. The study introduced a three stage model using women's pathways for finding help as the frame for costing domestic violence. Stage One represents the period in the violent relationship where the violence is unacknowledged, informally or formally, to others. Stage Two is the period of time where women seek assistance from others, attempting to mobilise either informal social networks or the assistance of voluntary or state-funded service provision. Stage Three represents those costs associated with establishing a violence free life. The NSW study utilized published official government statistics where available. It argued that the bulk of costs of domestic violence are borne by individuals themselves and highlighted the costs of Stage Two.
ii)
Using national data, a New Zealand study (Snively 1994) brought practitioners and experts together to estimate the proportions of staff time and women's contact with service providers. The study adopted the NSW approach, defining three stages in women's help seeking strategies. It too concentrated its energies on estimates during Stage Two (see NSW study above), and was able to generate costs based on three alterative estimates of prevalence of domestic violence in the New Zealand population. This study focused on the impact on families, not women alone. The advantage of this study was its ability to apply nationally published statistics to generally agreed prevalence ratios. This study concluded that costs to the government exceed those borne by individuals themselves.
iii)
In 1995, the Canadian Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children published two reports on selected costs of violence against women. One study explored the health related costs of violence against women in Canada (Day 1995)- the other, selected estimates of costs to government of violence against women (Greaves et al 1995). The work includes the costs of sexual violence against women. It builds upon the findings of the Canadian Survey on Violence Against Women, carried out by Statistics Canada in 1991-2 (Johnson 1995). It was able to conduct extensive consultation throughout the duration of the project, which was linked to the Canadian government's overall strategy to challenge violence against women. The research concluded that 87.5 percent of the costs of violence against women are borne by the state; 11.5 by women themselves; and the remainder by third parties such as families, friends.
Whilst we found the above studies informative we were unable to directly import the methodology here. First of all, they were each based on data from either national or statewide sources. We were concerned that aggregated data of this type would not
53
accurately reflect the diverse nature of life in an Inner City London Borough, and so were determined to generate more localised estimates. It is an often held assumption that 'domestic violence' is more prevalent in areas with high levels of poverty. We therefore set out to explore whether the degree of violence would be higher in an area such as Hackney. We did not find that the prevalence figures varied from those generated in other London Boroughs. Second, we wished to problematise the costs from the perspective of service providers, but did not wish to exclude the voices of those most directly affected by domestic violence: women and children. When it became obvious (see postal survey section below) that the information required was not generally available at local level, we were determined to create a methodology for data collection which could be utilised elsewhere. To do this we decided our estimates must be based on the data held by service providers themselves. This meant that the research team had to sift through a large number of agency records by hand.
54
Appendix 3 THE A-Z OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FACING PUBLIC SERVICES IN HACKNEY ANYA Anya is 27 and comes from Russia. She met Pete (26, white, living in Hackney since he got a job in London after college) when he was on holiday in Eastern Europe. For 18 months they carried on a long-distant affair, and when she fell pregnant he suggested that they marry and that she come and live in England with him in his privately rented flat. Pete had always used drugs recreationally throughout the time that she had known him, but Anya only became fully aware of the extent of his reliance on heroin after their wedding. He had always been moody, but he now also became excessively critical of Anya's appearance, and kept threatening her with having to go back to Russia. He even wrote to the Home Office on three separate occasions to say that they had split up and that she should be made to leave the country. He would only rarely give her any money, and though he was out most of the time, would become jealous and aggressive if he found out she had left the house during the day (for example, to go to the GP for ante-natal classes). His verbal abuse and threats turned to physical violence shortly after the birth of their baby boy. Anya never went for medical treatment for her injuries (4 incidents: mainly slaps and punches - once he also pulled out a clump of her hair), but became gradually more anxious and depressed over her situation. After they had been married about 8 months, the threemonth old baby started crying during one of their arguments. He slapped the child on the legs, and the bruises were vivid for several days. He then disappeared for five weeks, leaving Anya with no money, and worried that the Home Office might once again have been contacted (she had not yet been given her 12 month leave to remain in the country). Social Services had become involved because the GP had noticed the baby's injuries when he was being given one of his set of injections. Anya got in touch with the Law Centre to discuss her immigration status: they took up her case and made representations on her behalf to the Home Office. The Situation Now: Pete has admitted that he has a drug problem and has started to see a counsellor after going through detox. He has moved back into the family home and they have decided to give the relationship another go. BARBARA Barbara is Afro-Caribbean, 45 and lives in a Housing Association flat in Hackney. Her husband, Jack is 49, Afro-Caribbean, has recently been made redundant by the building firm where he had worked for 23 years. They have an 18 year old son who still lives at home and is also out of work. Financial resources are pretty tight despite Barbara getting a part-time job in Marks and Spencers, and the longer- he remains unemployed, the more stressed and irritable Jack has become. He hit Barbara for the first time in their married life four days ago. The next day she waited until he had gone out and phoned her next door neighbour, who she knew had been beaten by her exhusband. Barbara told her what had happened, and the
55
neighbour admitted she had overheard Jack hitting her. She suggested that Barbara contact the Domestic Violence (Housing) Advice service to talk through what had happened. The Situation Now: Barbara is unsure about how to proceed. Jack has been very sullen since the incident, but not yet apologised to her for his behaviour. She wants to see how the situation develops before deciding what to do next. CHRIS Chris, 34, Afro-Caribbean, unemployed, married Bruce, 32, white and unemployed six years ago. They have a child aged 3 and Chris has two children, ages 7 and 14 (both girls) from a previous relationship. All five live in a council flat near to Bruce's parents. Bruce was always very controlling of Chris and has beaten her repeatedly during the course of their relationship (she suffered several black eyes, and often has other cuts and bruises). Chris has never been to the GP about her experiences. Bruce has a serious gambling habit, and in order to finance this, he has sold off the family's belongings, including the furniture and children's toys. Chris first tried to leave Bruce two and a half years ago when she visited the local housing office to inquire about the possibility of re-housing. The housing officer was keen to give advice, but suggested that evidence of abuse would be needed before the case could be taken further. Soon after Chris broke down in front of a friend, who listened, but was unable to offer any advice. Chris returned home and renamed there for the following two years, enduring the abuse and threats. As she was getting ready to pay her rent, she found the number for Women's Aid on the back of the rent book. She visited them the same week. The Situation Now: Chris and her three children stayed in a local refuge for two months before being rehoused in a different Borough. The children are settled and happy, and Chris is considering going on a part-time computer course. DELA Dela is 64, Turkish, and despite having lived in this country for 40 years, speaks only limited English. She married Mehmet, 70, just before coming to England. They have three adult children, two daughters, and one son - who still fives at home. The house is owned by the family, but is only in Mehmet's name. Mehmet has always been physically violent to Dela, as well as very restricting (he wouldn't let her go out very often, doesn't let her have friends round to the house, doesn't give her very much money). Dela called the police out to an incident once, about fifteen years ago - but afterwards was beaten so severely she needed medical attention: she has not called them out again since. When they were younger, he bullied the two girls - one has now moved well away from the area and refuses to have any contact with her father. Recently Dela went into hospital for a hysterectomy. The hospital had arranged for a home help to come to the house daily to do the majority of the cleaning. On returning home, Dela found that Mehmet had cancelled the home help, and expected her to immediately go back to doing all the housework. Dela was still in considerable discomfort, and despite repeated threats, instead went to move in with her daughter who lives around the comer. Mehmet has taken to phoning the daughter's house at all
56
hours, and being abusive: this is proving upsetting to all who five there (including his two grandchildren). Mehmet continues to cash, and spend Dela's pension as well as his own. He has also succeeded in alienating her son from her - which is causing her a good deal of distress. The Situation Now: Dela has decided that she does not wish to go back to her husband and has contacted DV(H)AS to discuss the idea of sheltered accommodation in the area. She is currently sharing a bed with her daughter, with her son-in-law sleeping on the sofa. This is proving quite stressful and it is hoped she will be able to find her own flat soon. She is considering taking out an injunction against her husband to stop him harassing her (and her daughters family). EMMY Emmy, 27 and mixed race, works as a financial advisor and met Tom, Afro-Caribbean, 28 who works in advertising, a year ago. They saw each other for three months. Emmy lives in her privately owned ground floor flat. Yesterday Tom turned up at her flat unexpectedly and picked an argument. She asked him to leave and he became verbally abusive. She repeated her request for him to go, and he started to pull her hair and spit in her face. There was a knock on her door, at which point Tom turned tail and ran out of the back door and jumped over the fence. A neighbour had overheard them arguing and wanted to check that Emmy was okay. Emmy said that everything was fine. The Situation Now: Emmy is worried that Tom may return to harass her again. She was previously in another relationship where she was physically abused and the incident has left her shaken and upset. She has found it difficult to concentrate at work. FRANKIE Thirteen years ago, Frankie, then 24 and Martin, then 25, (both white and unemployed) separated because of Martin's growing violence toward Frankie: she had been to see her GP on several occasions as a result of his assaults. Frankie moved into a council flat with their daughter, then four, and started divorce proceedings. When Martin kept turning up on their doorstep to harass them, took out an injunction against him. When he found out about the injunction, Martin came to Frankie's house, swearing and shouting. He broke one window, and began smashing the door. He threatened to kill her, and left before the police arrived. Frankie left the house to take her daughter to school and her neighbours escorted her there and back home. When Frankie returned home, she rang Women' s Aid for advice and to see if there was any space available immediately. She was worried about Martin returning, and knew that his rage had escalated to a dangerous state. Women's Aid was full and a member of Women's Aid staff was ringing round to find her a place. Frankie intended to leave as soon as her daughter returned from school. One of her neighbours had offered to pick the child up fi7om school while Frankie got some things together. When the neighbour tried to drop off the daughter, there was no answer at the house. The neighbour called the police. The police broke down the door and found Frankie in the house severely beaten. She died on the way to hospital from head injuries. Martin was later arrested and charged with murder.
57
The Situation Now: The child was placed with Frankie's sister for a short time, then into foster care, followed by a residential home. The 'child' is now 17. Martin spent the past 12 years in prison and has just been released. GILLIAN Gillian is 23, white, and works in Littlewoods on Oxford Street. She lived with her parents on a council estate up until two years ago. At the age of 17, she started going out with Joseph (now also 23, Afro-Caribbean), but decided after three years that she did not want to see him anymore. Joseph took the break-up badly, and started to hang around outside her parents flat, harassing people as they tried to go in and out. He telephoned at all hours of the day and night. He was never actually violent although often threatened to assault her unless she agreed to go back out with him. Gillian went to DV(H)AS, who recommended that she find her own flat in another part of the Borough. Joseph has recently found out where she lives and has started to follow her to and from work. Gillian is scared to go home by herself and has become very jumpy and depressed, but has started to look for another privately rented flat. She is scared to go to the police and is not sure who else to contact. The Situation Now: Gillian has had a lot of time off work because she has been so worried and has just recontacted the DV(H)AS because she is also worried that Joseph may start to harass her parents again. She has just contacted a solicitor to find out about getting an injunction against Joseph. HARRY Harry is 37, white and owns his own home in Hoxton. He has been having a relationship with Terry (white, 29, who works for the local council) for eighteen months. Harry is a school teacher. Terry is quite a lot smaller than Harry, but over the past twelve months has regularly beaten him up. On two occasions the police have been called - once by Harry, and once by a friend who was there when they started fighting. Terry has smashed up quite a lot of Harry's property, including his stereo and new personal computer. Terry recently was referred to a psychiatrist by his GP as his mental health was giving some cause for concern (he is now on prozac). Harry has also been anxious about the amount that Terry has been drinking of late. The Situation Now: Harry is not prepared to press charges: he thinks that Terry needs help, and that he wants to be involved. IRENE Irene is Dublin-bom, 43, and unemployed, and married Brian (white, 44) 26 years ago. They have four children: a girl of 23, a boy of 21 and then girls of 16 and 9.
58
Irene has endured serious violence for over twenty years, and regularly experienced sex abuse. She has had two stays in hospital as a result of the abuse. The assaults were almost weekly though she rarely needed medical attention aside from the two hospital stays, as she was usually able to anticipate his mood-swings. The couple split up three years ago and Irene remained in their council flat with the children. Bries whereabouts are unknown. Shortly after the break-up, she took an overdose of tranquilizers which her GP had prescribed for her depression. Her dependent children were then removed from her by S SD. She relied heavily on the support of her local priest to get through this time. Her youngest two daughters also now allege that their father sexually abused them. The 16 year old is living in a residential home and starting a leaving care project. She rings Irene every now and then, but they rarely meet. The 9 year old is in long term foster care, and Irene is trying to get Social Services to agree to her application for a residence order. The Children and Families Team is concerned that Irene is not sufficiently stable to look after 9 year old by herself. There is, however, more regular contact. The Situation Now: Irene is becoming increasingly depressed about the break-up of her family. She feels isolated, and is still on tranquilisers. She has no real close friends, and her remaining family are all based in Dublin. Her youngest daughter is unlikely to be released to her care for the foreseeable future. JANABA Janaba is 32 and came over to this country from Zimbawbe fourteen months ago to get married. She had met Winston (33, half-Zimbawbuian British National, bom and raised mairdy in Hackney and works on a market stall in Ridley Road) six years before moving over here. They have two children - a boy aged five and a girl aged three. Winston had always been physically violent towards her, but the violence has become more severe since they married (he never touched the children). Jm6a had to go to hospital once for treatment of a broken arm, and once because she had blacked out whilst being beaten. She has recently admitted that he also sexually abused her. The police were called round to their council house on another occasion by a neighbour who overheard her screams. Janaba did not want the case to proceed as Winston had told her that she would be deported and have to leave the children behind if she went to court. Winston shows very little interest in the boy and girl - and when Janaba and he divorced three months ago, she was granted custody. He has an access order, but rarely gets in touch with them. Janaba contacted the Law Centre as she was unclear about her immigration status: the children were British Citizens, but she had separated from her husband before they had been married a year and was worried that she might have to leave the country. A few weeks prior to her appointment she had discovered a lump in a her breast which was diagnosed as cancerous. Her on-going medical treatment was not available in Zimbawbe, and she would have had nowhere to stay if she had to return. The Situation Now: Janaba was granted indefinite leave to remain in this country. She has been given new council accommodation, but Winston is not aware of her new address. He maintains sporadic contact with the children through his mother. KAREN
59
Karen, 35 and white, was born in Hackney and is now in council accommodation there. She has been in a wheelchair most of her life due to a bone condition. She has been with Alec (Afro-Caribbean, also 35, originally from Manchester) for seven years, and he is her main carer and works part-time in a pub. Recently, Alec's alcohol intake has started to cause her some concern: he has started to drink very heavily, and is often verbally abusive to her when drunk. She has discussed his drinking with her sister. Two weeks ago, Alec came back from a night out with some friends, and an argument developed between them. He started to hit her repeatedly about the arms and head. She contacted the police by phoning 999. Two officers attended and arrested Alec on the spot. The case was then picked up by the DVU, who suggested that she visit her GP. The GP found her arms badly bruised, and Karen has found it hard to use the wheelchair. The Situation Now: Alec has never been violent before and is remorseful about the incident. Karen wants the relationship to continue, and so did not want the police to pursue the case. She is trying to persuade Alec to go for alcohol counselling. LISA Lisa (25) and Mark (3 5), both white, life long residents of Hackney, live with their four children in a tower block. The children are 9-, 8; 4- and one year old. Mark has a drinking problem and becomes violent toward Lisa when drunk. He has also, on occasion, hit the children. Lisa is finding it hard to cope: she has been to her GP and is on medication for depression. Neither are currently employed. The children's school attendance is sporadic. The 9 year old's teacher eventually contacted Social Services because of the child's state when attending school. When Social Services visited the family, the flat was very run down and unhygienic and the children were found dirty, hungry and distressed. The flat was fumigated by the council. Social Services put the family into a family assessment centre while the flat was being cleaned. When at the assessment centre, social workers noticed that Mark and Lisa were very abusive to each other verbally. Lisa has been befriended by a social worker to whom she just admitted that Mark has physically and sexually abused her in the past. The Situation Now: Social Services has just decided to call a case conference. MARTHA Martha and Roger, both Afro-Caribbean, met at the local evangelical church, and they have been married for 13 years. Martha is 38 and Roger is 42, and they have two sons (11 and 8) who five with them in a block of flats owned by the council. Roger became violence when Lisa was pregnant with the first child. The police have been called in the past, but she never wanted Roger prosecuted as she was too afraid. She has spoken to her GP about Roger's violence, and once sought treatment for cuts and bruising. One afternoon, Roger and one of their sons were arguing in the house. Roger began to beat the boy. ran into the room and got between Roger and their son. Roger attacked her, and in his rage, he slammed her head into the wall a number of times, then when she fell, continued to stomp on her head. Her son ran next door to
60
the neighbours and called an ambulance and the police. The police found Roger near the house and arrested him. The Children and Family Duty team took the children into care until their mother came out of hospital. The Situation Now: Martha was in intensive care for four weeks. She lost her sight, and doctors are still monitoring her for other brain damage. She has since been rehoused out of the Borough into a Housing Association flat, and is rebuilding her life with her sons. Roger was convicted of GBH and given a sentence of four years. NINA Nina (27, white and unemployed) and Richard's (27, white and a drug dealer) short relationship finished a year ago. Richard is a coke addict and became violent when they broke up: he comes and goes as he pleases. He has frequently beaten her badly and raped her twice. He is very threatening, often stealing whatever money and jewellery there is in the flat. On several occasions he locked in the door, sometimes stealing the keys and locking her in the house. The police were called a few times, but he beat her so severely each time she rang them she is now too frightened to call them again. She has moved three times and stayed with different family members. However, Richard has always found her no matter where she stayed. Richard has recently been put in hospital due to injuries from someone beating him up because of his unpaid debts. This enabled her some time to plan how to escape. During all this time though she managed to keep the tenancy on her flat in Leeds, where she and Richard originate. This time she told her housing association why she was leaving Leeds and why she did not wish to give up her tenancy. She asked them to board up her flat so that she could eventually return. in the end the flat was flooded, and the housing association have stated now that she is considered to have abandoned the property. The Situation Now: Nina is staying in a refuge in Hackney. She was advised and supported and so decided to move far away from Richard, his family and his contacts. She feels safe where she is at present. She is exploring her housing options. OLGA Olga is Afro-Caribbean and aged 28. Her partner Phil, 27 is also Afro-Caribbean. They have both always lived in London, but moved to Hackney when they purchased a flat together 8 years ago. She works as a legal secretary with a local solicitors firm on Kingsland Road. They have two girls, aged 6 and 3. Two years ago, they split up leaving Olga with the flat and custody of the children. Phil was always very controlling of Olga, using threats of physical and sexual abuse to get his own way. He was also intermittently violent towards her. The eldest child had confided in her teacher at school that she had regularly witnessed her father being violent to her mother (although she said she had not been physically abused). This information was passed on to the local Children and Families team. The youngest child had also come to the attention of social services due to a recent accidental injury which Olga discovered after the child returned from a weekend with their father (who is now in another relationship). The police became involved when she confronted him about the injury to the child and he assaulted her, breaking her nose (she did not seek
61
medical attention). Phil is being prosecuted for the ill-treatment of the 3 year old, and the assault on Olga. The Situation Now: There is currently no contact between her and Phil. His bail conditions mean that he is not allowed near the house, but Olga remains frightened and has taken out an injunction against him. She is continuing to consult her solicitor. PATTI Patti (27) and David (30) have been married for 7 years. Patti is second generation Malaysian and David is white. He has worked in a local health food shop for eight years. Patti's life is totally controlled by David. She isn't allowed to stand 'm front of the window of the privately-rented flat, for fear that someone might find her attractive. She has no income and has to do everything David tells her to. He has given her 7 pairs of knickers and 7 pairs of socks, two sweatshirts and two pairs of trousers. He destroyed all her other clothes. Patti does, however, have a sister she sees and in whom she has confided about the emotional abuse. She also told her sister that David has sexually abused her. Patti's sister has convinced her to talk to DV(H)AS. The Situation Now: With her sister's help, Patti has been able to phone for advice and support. She is due to attend a counselling session in the near future but is concerned about how she will get there. QUEENIE Queenie - now 63 - met Derek (67) in Jamaica in the early sixties: she already had two children by another man. They married in 1962, and she followed him to England the following year. He found work in a local factory, and she worked as for the local council. They had no more children. Derek was continually critical of both Queenie and her children. He would often threaten them all with physical violence - and occasionally would hit Queenie. Her GP was aware of the violence, and would discuss it with her sometimes, but she never required hospital treatment, and never tried to leave the relationship. In 1984, after repeated threats that he was going to 'cut her' (he once also waved a knife at her), Queenie moved out of the house and went to stay with one of her daughters: she has since been allocated a council flat. AR contact between the two was ended, and despite threats to her and her daughters, he was not given her new address. Derek retired in 1993, and has since been splitting his time between Jamaica and London. Derek's bachelor brother died recently - but being particularly fond of Queenie and her children, he left the majority of his estate to them. Derek was furious as he felt that the money was rightfully his, and so when he chanced to bump into Queenie in the High Street (he had not realised she was still in the area), he took several swings at her with his bag of shopping. The police were contacted by a passerby, who also acted as an independent witness. The Situation Now: The bag broke Queenie's arm, and she has since had reduced feeling in her hand. She has had to pay repeated visits to the local hospital for tests and for physiotherapy. Derek was charged with ABH. He pleaded not guilty and
62
insisted on a Crown Court trial (he claimed that he just been put on new medication for his ulcer, that he had blacked out several times during the course of that day and that he had no recollection of the incident). He changed his plea to guilty on the day of the trial. The judge gave him a suspended custodial sentence. RACHEL Rachel met Sam at the Jewish Society at college in Bristol, and they are now active in their local synagogue. They are both 29 and work 'in the computer industry. They have been together as a couple for five years and married three years ago, buying a house in Stoke Newington. Rachel's career has proved somewhat more successful than Sam's, and this has created quite a lot of tension between them. Rachel has slowly cut herself off from her group of university friends, as seeing them invariably led to a row between her and Sam. She also avoids social events at work, as these tend to make Sam very jealous. She does not discuss her relationship with anyone. During this time, they started to discuss the possibility of starting a family, but discovered that Rachel was not ovulating properly. This put added strains on their relationship. Sam has been violent to her on a number of occasions, but only once has she required medical treatment. He broke her jaw. She told the hospital that she had been late for an appointment, and in her hurry to get out had fallen downstairs. She refused to discuss anymore details; although no one in the A&E believed her, no one pressed her. To try and patch things up, they decided to go on an extended holiday to Israel. When Rachel went to the GP for holiday injections, she did not say anything about her jaw. The Situation Now: On returning from their holiday, Rachel approached her GP to find out about IVF treatment. She disclosed that her jaw had been broken by Sam during an argument, but did not want to say anything further about her injury. SUSIE Susie is 26, white and works as an administrator. She met Malcolm, Afro-Caribbean, ten years her senior, five years ago at a nightclub. They started seeing each other straight away, and moved in to a housing association flat together two year ago when Susie found out she was pregnant. She has lost contact with her family and school friends, as they did not approve of the mixed relationship. Susie has used drugs recreationally, and has known about Malcolm's dependence on crack since early on in their relationship. The birth of the baby, and Malcolm's increasing drug habit left them in financial difficulties, and Malcolm started to put pressure on Susie to moonlight at an Escort Agency. When she refused he started to use violence and accuse her of being as racist as the rest of her family. Eventually Susie agreed to work at the agency and to keep her job as an administrator during the day. The child was entrusted to Malcolm during the evenings, but he would invariably leave it unattended. After repeated complaints to the Estate Manager about the continual crying, a neighbour called the police. The child was found to be alone, with severe nappy rash, and was taken into care.
63
The Situation Now: With the support of DV(H)AS, Susie moved into a local refuge, quitting her jobs and has now been given back custody of her child. She is currently awaiting re-housing and the baby has been taken off the 'at risk' register. TRACY Tracy (3 8, black, and a further education lecturer) and Sheila (36, mixed race and a child care worker) have been together for two years, and live in a privately rented flat. For the past 9 months their arguments have become more heated and noisy. Sheila has punched Tracy and kicked her on three occasions. Together with this, their neighbours have been harassing them for sometime. Tracy contacted London's Lesbian and Gay Line for advice about the homophobic harassment. She mentioned that she was also being beaten by her partner. They suggested that she present herself as homeless at the homelessness services in a Borough outside of Hackney. The Situation Now: Tracy has been to register with Southwark Housing Department and presented herself as homeless. In the meantime, she continues to live with Sheila. Recently there has been an improvement in the relationship between Tracy and Sheila (they have not argued in a couple of weeks), however, the neighbours continue to be a problem. USHA Usha (20) and Karim (22), both Asian, are married and have a new born baby. Usha was bom in Birmingham and moved to a council house in Hackney to be close to Karim's family after their marriage two and a half years ago. Karim has become verbally abusive and threatening since the baby was born. Karim works nights and so they are together during afternoon and early evenings. He has become particularly abusive and demanding about how Usha should care for the baby. He decided after the baby was bom that Usha should never breast-feed. Usha however felt strongly that the baby should be breast fed, and used to breast fed the baby while he was at work. This past week, he found her feeding the baby, and has punched and kicked her in the abdomen, and ripped pictures of the baby. Usha was very distressed. The Situation Now: Usha left the house while Karim was at work and went to stay with her mother in Birmingham. Karim phoned her mother's house for her and said that he would come around the next day to collect her. Usha rang Women's Aid and is currently staying in a refuge in Warwickshire with her baby. She is not sure if she wants the relationship to continue: her mother is encouraging her to reconcile. She has contacted Hackney Women's Aid 'Asian' for advice and support. VERA Vera (53 and mixed race) and Bill (50, white) live with their two adult sons in a former council house, which they bought six years ago. The three men constantly undermine Vera - telling her that she is stupid, and ordering her around. If she does not comply with their instructions, they are often physically violent towards her. This situation has
64
been going on for over ten years. Vera is not mentally ill but has a personality disorder and other problems related to stress and anxiety. She has taken five overdoses in the past. The last overdose resulted in the Mental Health Locality Team becoming involved: Vera was threatened to kill herself if she was discharged from hospital. She spent five months in hospital. The Situation Now: Vera has been offered housing and counselling, but she has not been able to decide what she wants to do. She has just found a part-time job. WENDY Wendy is 32, white and grew up on a local council estate. She had a long term relationship with Carl (black, same age as her) and they had a boy who is now 14. Carl was regularly physically abusive to Wendy throughout their time together, although she claims he never touched their child. They split up ten years ago, and Carl died soon after in a car crash. The boy came to Social Services attention during his parent's break-up when Wendy found herself unable to cope with him. Wendy met Guy (34, white) eleven years ago, and their affair precipitated the end of her relationship with Carl. They have a 9 year old daughter and live in council accommodation. Guy has also always been physically violent to Wendy. She has ended up in hospital on three occasions (most recently because she suffered a miscarriage following an assault). Each time she has been offered information about re-housing, and each time she has said she was not interested. Guy has been arrested following this attack: initially, Wendy wanted to take the case forward, but then changed her mind and withdrew her statement (the police suspect that Guy had been pressurising her to drop the case). Wendy's son has been in long term foster care for almost all of the time she has been with Guy. He stayed with the family for a brief period when he was six, but Wendy was unable to control him and Guy kept using physical threats to discipline him. When the boy's PE teacher drew attention to some unexplained bruises on his arms and body, the child was removed by Social Services and placed with a foster family. Wendy insists that Guy is never violent towards their daughter. The Situation Now: Wendy, Guy and their daughter have recently moved out of the Borough. Guy's company have promoted him to a job at their offices in Suffolk. They are only rarely in contact with the boy. Long term care plans for the child are under review. His current foster family are keen to adopt him. XANTHE Xanthe was born in Aix-en-Provence 24 years ago, and married Arto (25, from Algiers) when she was 19. They came across to England eleven months ago: Arto was bored of the more seasonal nature of work in the south of France, and had family in London. The couple have two children, a toddler of three and a baby of four months (both boys). Since their arrival in Hackney, Arto has been unable to find work and has been getting more frustrated. He has always treated Xanthe quite roughly, but since the birth of their second child, the violence has escalated to regular physical abuse. He would also disappear for a week or so at a time travelling back to Algeria, but giving
65
her no warning of his absence, and leaving her with no money whilst he was away. Ms family hinted that he was visiting an ex-gidffiend on these trips. The Health Visitor asked if everything was okay when she came to their flat to see how the baby was progressing. Xanthe admitted that she felt very isolated and was worried about their financial situation. She had not spoken to anyone else about her relationship. They discussed the possibility of starting to give French lessons and so she could become the family breadwinner. The Situation Now: Xanthe has found work and is now responsible for the finances. She allows Arto a limited amount of pocket money each week, and he has is expected to take the primary role in their children's childcare. The violence has stopped, and so long as it stays that way, Xanthe wants to try to continue the relationship. YVETTE Yvette is white, 40, and grew up in Hackney. She has been seeing Gary (white, 38, lives in Stratford, who works sporadically as a casual labourer) for seven years. She was previously married and has two children from that relationship, a boy aged 14 and a girl (9). Her husband used to physically abuse her: he also hit the boy once when he tried to intervene in a scuffle between his parents. She met Gary through friends at the local pub. They see each other regularly, and every now and then go for a drinking bout - after which they return to her flat and he frequently abuses her physically. She often contacts the police. Gary is then usually arrested, but Yvette has not yet been willing to make a statement against him, so the charges have always been dropped. He will then tend to keep out of her way for a couple of weeks before drifting back into her life. She has been hospitalised several times (for example, when he threw her through a window, and another time, when he threw the television at her). The children are both known to Social Services - the boy started offending soon after Gary came on the scene; the girl is very disruptive at school, and facing exclusion. On two occasions, Yvette has decided to end her relationship with Gary and has sought to be rehoused in another part of the Borough - but then they have patched things back up together and she has withdrawn her application. The last time the police were called out was five weeks ago: Gary had dislocated her finger, and hit her with a baseball bat, but she did not wish to press charges. The Situation Now: Yvette has said on repeated occasions that she wants the relationship to continue. ZOE Zoe is of mixed race (Irish Mother, her father came from St Lucia), 19 and grew up in Hackney. Her father died when she was 12, and her mother remarried three years later. Her step-father has been verbally and physically abusive to her mother ever since. He once also threatened Zoe, and she left home the following week to move in with friends.
66
She started seeing Nick (white, 20) six months ago. Both are students at the University of Middlesex. Ten days ago, a discussion about plans for the weekend developed into an argument, and Nick lost his temper, punched her in the stomach and slapped her face. Zoe told him to leave and has since refused to see him again. The Situation Now: Zoe has no intention of restarting the relationship. She has talked the matter through with her sister and her flatmates. She told her nurse practitioner about the incident two days later when she went to pick up her pills.
67
References Abbott, J., Johnson, R, Kozlot-McLain, J. and Lowenstein, SR (I 995) 'Domestic violence against women: Incidence, prevalence in an emergency department population' Journal of the American Medical Association 273(22):1763-7. Bates, L, Redman, S., Brown, W., and Hancock, L. (1995)'Domestic violence experienced by women attending an accident and emergency department' Australian Journal of Public Health June: 19(3):293-9. Binney, Val, Harkell, G and Nixon, Jo (1981) Leaving Violent Men. Leeds: Women's Aid Federation, England. Campbell, J. (1994) 'Domestic homicide: risk assessment and professional duty to warn' Midwest Medical Journal October 43(10):885-9. Debbonaire, Thangam (1994) 'Work with children in Women's Aid Refuges and after' in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch. Dobash, Rebecca Emerson and Dobash, Russell P (1979) Violence Against Wives. Shepton Mallet, Somerset: Open Books. Dobash Rebecca Emerson and Dobash, Russell P (1992) Women, Violence and Social Change Routledge: London. Dominy, Nicola and Radford, Lorraine (1996) Domestic Violence in Surrey: Developing an Effective Inter-Agency Response. London: Rowhampton Institute London. Gartner, Rosemary and Macmillan, Ross (I 995) 'The effect of victimoffender relationship on reporting crimes of violence against women' Canadian Journal of Criminology, vol 37(3):393-429. Glass, Dee Dee (I 995) All My Fault. London: Virago. Greaves, Lorraine, Hankivsky, Oleana and Kingston-Riechers, Joann (1995) Selected Estimates of the Costs of Violence Against Women. London, Ontario, Canada: Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children. Griffiths, Steve (1996) The Challenge: A profile of poverty in Hackney London: Corporate Health Team, 205 Morning Lane, Hackney, E9 6JX. Hague, Gill and Malos, Ellen (1993) Domestic Violence: Action for Change Cheltenham: New Clarion Press. Hague, Gill, Malos, Ellen and Dear, Wendy (1996) Multi-agency work and domestic violence: a national study of inter-agency initiatives. Bristol: The Policy Press. Hague, Gill and Malos, Ellen (1994)'Children, Domestic Violence and Housing: The' impact of homelessness' in A. Muflender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch. Hamner, Jalna and Saunders, Sheila (1994) Women, Violence and Crime Prevention Aldershot: Avebury. Hester, Marianne, Pearson, Chris and Radford, Lorraine (1996) Domestic Violence: A national survey of court welfare and voluntary sector mediation practice Bristol: The Policy Press. Hester, Marianne and Radford, Lorraine (1996) Domestic violence and child contact arrangements in England and Derunark. Bristol: The Policy Press. Home Affairs Committee (1993) Domestic Violence. Volume I House of Commons, Session 1992-3 London: HMSO CM. Imam Umme Farvah (1994) 'Asian children and domestic violence' in A. Mullender and R. McLeod, Mary (1997) Talking with children about child abuse London: ChildLine. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch.
68
Johnson, Holly and Sacco, Vincent (1995) 'Researching violence against women: Statistics Canadas’ national survey' Canadian Journal of Criminology vol 37(3): 281304. KPMG Management Consulting (1996) The financial and economic costs of domestic violence in the Nor-them Territory. Darwin: Northern Territory Government. Kurz, Demie (1996) 'Separation, Divorce and Woman Abuse' Violence Against Women vol 2(l): 63-81. Mayhew, Pat (1993) The 1992 British Crime Survey. London: HMSO. McGibbon, Alison, Cooper, Libby and Kelly, Liz (1989) What Support?: Hammersmith and Fulham Council Community Police Committee Domestic Violence Project London: Hammersmith and Fulham Community Safety Unit. McLeer, SV, Anwar, RA, Herman, S and Maquiling, K. (1993) 'Education is not enough: a systems failure in protecting battered women' Annual Emergency Medical Journal June 18(6):651-3. Miller, Bonnie (1990) Domestic Violence: A demand on social service. Unpublished Msc dissertation, London School of Economics. Mirrlees-Black, Catriona (I 995) 'Estimating the extent of domestic violence: findings from the 1992 BCS' Research Bulletin no. 37:1-9. Mirrlees-Black, Catriona, Mayhew, Pat and Percy, Andrew (1996) The 1996 British Crime Survey. London: The Stationery Office. Mooney, J. (I 994) The Hidden Figure: Domestic Violence in North London. London: Middlesex University. Morley, Rebecca and Mullender, Audrey (1994a) Preventing Domestic Violence to Women London: Home Office, Police Research Group, Crime Prevention Unit, Series Paper 48. Morley, Rebecca and Mullender, Audrey (1994b) 'Domestic Violence and Children: What do we know from research?' in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch. Mullender, Audrey and Morley, Rebecca (eds) (1994) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch. Netten, Ann and Dennett, Jane (1996) Unit Costs of Health and Social Care. Canterbury: PSSRU, University of Kent at Canterbury. O'Hara, Maureen (1994) 'Child deaths in contexts of domestic violence: Implications for professional practice' in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch. Painter, Kate (I 99 1) Rape in Marriage. Manchester-. Department of Social Policy. Peled, Einat (I 997) 'The Battered women's Movement Response to children of battered women: A critical analysis' Violence Against Women vol 3(4):424-46. Pleasence, Pascoe, Maclean, Sarah, and Morley, Alistair (1996) Profiling Civil Litigation: The Case for Research London: Legal Aid Board Research Unit, Research Paper 1. Richardson, Jo and Feder, Gene (1996) 'Domestic Violence: a hidden problem for general practice' British Journal of General Practice April:23942. Roberts, GL, O'Toole, BI, Lawrence, JK and Raphael, B. (I 993) 'Domestic violence victims in a hospital emergency department' Medical Journal of Australia September 6, 159(5): 307- 10. Saunders, Alex (1994)'Children in Women’s Refuges: A retrospective study' in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence. London: Whitting & Birch. Smith, Lorna (1989) Domestic Violence London: HMSO. Snively, Suzanne (1994) The New Zealand Economic Cost of Family Violence. Auckland: Coopers & Lybrand. Stanko, Elizabeth (1990) Everyday Violence. London: Pandora. Stanko, Elizabeth (1995) 'Policing Domestic Violence: Dilemmas and Contradictions' Australia and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Special Supplement: 31-44.
69
Ward, Lisa, Shepherd, Jonathan, and Emond, Alan (1993) Relationship between adult victims of assault and children at risk of abuse' British Medical Journal vol 306:1102. Warshaw, Carole (1989) 'Limitations of the Medical Model in the Care of Battered Women' Gender and Society vol 3(4):506-17. Women's Co-ordination Unit (1990) Costs of Domestic Violence. Sydney, New South Wales: Women's Co-ordination Unit.
70
About The Authors
Dr Elizabeth Stanko is the Director of the ESRC Violence Research Programme, Reader in Criminology and Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Research in the Department of Law, Brunel University. Debbie Crisp is currently being funded by The Staples Trust to set up a Domestic Violence National Data Source (covering Great Britain and Ireland) on the World Wide Web. She is based at Brunel University. Professor Chris Hale is Professor of Criminology and the Dean of Social Science, University of Kent. Hebe Lucraft is a Final Year student at Middlesex University who worked on the project during her Placement Year.
71
