Family Violence Bench Manual

In Australia family violence is broadly defined to cover:

• physical or sexual abuse;
• economic abuse;
• emotional or psychological abuse;
• threatening or coercive behaviour;
• behaviour that in any other way controls or dominates a family member and causes them to feel fear for their safety or wellbeing or for that of another person;
• causing a child to hear, witness or be exposed to family violence.

This project, from Judicial Life, has the purpose of providing a trusted place where the judiciary come to share knowledge, wisdom and expertise on the topic of family violence.

Responding to women who claim to be victims of family violence

Women are often victims of family violence.

The following section looks at things judicial officers should bear in mind, and some of the questions they can ask, when assessing a situation in which a woman claims to be a victim of family violence.

Establishing whether a woman is a victim

There are a number of questions a judicial officer can consider asking when a woman presents as an affected family member (even in a police application), including:

• Have you ever been violent towards your partner?
• Were you at fault, in any way in causing his violence? This question serves two purposes. First, to assess whether she did anything that caused him to act in self-defence, or to retaliate. Second, people who are genuinely the victims often excuse the perpetrator to some degree and blame themselves for the violence.
• Are you afraid of him? What are you afraid that he might do? If a woman does not feel significant levels of fear, then this raises questions about her victim status.
• Describe exactly what he did to you.
• Describe the frequency and any patterns of the violence.
• What has held you back from seeking help earlier or trying to escape the situation? People who are truly victims might have felt too frightened to seek help earlier. They might have lacked access to money, resources, information and support to leave. They might have felt trapped. Note that they might also feel ashamed for not having sought help earlier.

In addition to responses to the questions above, judicial officers might also wish to consider the following questions and issues:

• Has the woman had any history of criminal behaviour or allegations of such behaviour, particularly involving violence?
• Has the woman had any intervention orders taken out against him in the past?
• Is there evidence of the woman using controlling attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, or having rigid attitudes towards gender roles?
• If the accused man has attended court, has he ever felt the need to apply for an intervention order?
• Does the man say that he was defending himself, or is there any other evidence to suggest this was the case?

If the woman is genuinely a victim of violence from a male partner or other family member (e.g. adolescent or adult children), she might be assisted in a number of ways, including by the Women’s Referral Service, the Victims of Crime Helpline, the Victim’s Assistance and Counselling Program their local community health service.

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