'If the government wants to make a serious impact on the crime problem it should concentrate resources not on tackling street crime but on violence in the family home'. Discuss.

Authors Avatar

TRACEE HOLMES        T6593607

‘If the government wants to make a serious impact on the crime problem it should concentrate resources not on tackling street crime but on violence in the family home’.  Discuss.

Domestic violence, only three decades ago was once perceived to be a family matter and was officially recognised as an area that many people (including authority), felt less inclined to intervene if the violence was between family members.  Today, due to the constant pressure from the women’s movements in the seventies, it stands listed as a crime next to marital rape and child abuse, establishing that any woman, regardless of social status, race, age or culture can be a victim.  Many discourses have, and still do, influence how we prioritize certain criminal behaviour, and in deed, how important we perceive particular crimes to be, whether in the home, on the street or around the globe.  Challenging media discourses with ideologies and the expectations of family discourses, many people will tend to be carefully cautious about how they involve themselves within it.  Personal safety is considered to be a primary concern and ‘hidden crime’ (especially what is going in someone else’s home) does concern society, at least not personally, in the same way as does street crime.

This can produce all types of anxieties as well as prejudices due to one’s own fear of becoming a victim of crime through intervention. ‘Getting involved’ can achieve all sorts of personal problems and in some cases, it may be perceived to be better not to intervene through the fear of repercussion or even intrusion.  Today, many people contradict their worries still believing that cities and their residents, harbour, or are, criminals, and moral panics along with historical and media discourses, (in particular, national tabloids) are hugely responsible for instilling fear in the public.  This information in turn, leaves many people carrying this information in their thoughts on a daily basis, stereotyping where it may not even be necessary.

Nevertheless, the public clearly want to read about what is going on in their country or newspapers would not sell, and for those who live in run down council estates, that lack proper facilities, policing, and in some cases, who fear their neighbours, media discourses can be seen to be a directory of where and when to go out!  

Family violence is seen to be on a patriarchal level, and usually the man, his behaviour can be very dominating and controlling enabling him to produce (what can appear to be) ‘the ideal family’.   Along with the

Join now!

violence, bullying and intimidation are generally parallel with his behaviour, and with this in mind, self esteem of his victim/s may be so low, it prevents them from developing any skills to challenge or even question his behaviour.  This in turn, can provide the assumption that the family have an apparently well structured and managed home.  However, Women’s Aid groups, confronted domestic violence in the home, and since the beginning of the 1970’s have argued that some men use their masculinities to dominate and control their families, exploiting their power by intimidating and abusing their status in the household. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay