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POLICING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE the Work of Southall Under the Law and New Guidelines Pertaining to Domestic Violence

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POLICING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE the Work of Southall Under the Law and New Guidelines Pertaining to Domestic Violence CJM CRnaNALJUSnCEMATTEBS POLICING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE The work of Southall under the law and new guidelines pertaining to domestic violence. We have Black Sisters come to the conclusion that the whole complaints system, including the Police Southall Black Sisters is a women's Complaints Authority is deeply centre which has been in existence since unsatisfactory and completely 1983. It carries out a wide variety of unworkable. activities but its main work is giving The question of spousal homicide, advice and counselling to women who where domestic violence forms part of face domestic violence. Most of the the background to the case has occupied women who are clients of Southall Black us for some time. For a number of years press charges. Sisters are Asian, as the area is we have fought for convictions of men predominantly an Asian area, but we who have killed women in their families. Arguments for inaction also work with a large number of women We have also been involved in the legal Some aspects of multi-culturalism have from both minority and English case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia who was the effect of denying women from backgrounds who use our facilities as convicted of murder in December 1989. minorities access to protection from the the local women's centre. Women also We took her instructions when the appeal police. The police are particularly come from outside the immediate was being prepared. We have also worked reluctant to intervene in Asian catchment area because the centre has with Sara Thornton, also convicted of communities because of their perception acquired a national reputation. Southall murder. We have submitted suggestions that the 'community' has its own internal Black Sisters has existed as a group from for changing the law on self defence and mechanism of policing. 1979, long before the Centre was provocation so that the experience of For instance, in Southall, at a multi- established. We have, therefore, violence is taken into account when trying agency forum in 1987, the police argued accumulated 15 years of experience in cases of spousal homicide. that they had to be careful in their handling intensive advice and counselling to of domestic violence cases because of A domestic dispute is defined as any women facing domestic violence. The 'cultural differences'. They were quarrel including violence between three workers at the centre have an reluctant to act for fear of fuelling a family or members of the same intimate knowledge of police and judicial negative perception of the police amongst household. Domestic violence occurs procedures, largely in the London men within the 'community'. Another when a person or persons causes, attempts Borough of Ealing and in surrounding argument was their perceived need to be to cause, or threatens to cause physical areas. culturally sensitive. So Asian women harm to another family or household were denied an immediate response member. There is overwhelming because the police felt that their culture Dissatisfaction with the police evidence to show that violence is directly demanded from them 'higher tolerance response mainly at women by male partners. The levels'. In 1989 and 1990, Southall Black nature of our work and therefore our Sisters undertook a detailed survey of 75 submission deals mainly with male For many women, taking action to women who had faced domestic violence against women. protect themselves from domestic violence is part of a long, slow process, violence, about their experiences of the It is the common sense of the police in which repeated complaints to the police police. force that domestic violence is a tiresome and dropped charges may play a part. For the last three years, Southall Black issue to deal with because women are The current procedures and agencies Sisters has attempted to use the police liable to withdraw complaints. While cannot continue to fail the many women complaints system by filing a number of this does happen, the experience of who ask for help and do not get it. formal complaints where we felt refuges and women's centres such as dissatisfied with police response to our ours also reveals other patterns. clients and where we have felt that they For instance, violence reported to the Thanks to the Southall Black Sisters for were clearly in breach of their duties police is rarely 'a one-off barney' as one permission to use part of their submission WPC said to a woman who had reported to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice. The police are particularly her husband's very serious assaults. It is not usually an isolated incident or even a reluctant to intervene in few isolated incidents. Violence in the Asian communities because home is often a series of escalating of their perception that the incidents; and the fear of recurrence affects women's ability to act against it. 'community' has its own Paradoxically, it is this fear which often internal mechanism of paralyses a woman in taking what to an SOUTHALL outsider may appear to be the safest BLACK SISTERS policing. course - that is agreeing to let the police 52 Norwood Road. Southall. Middlesex Telephone: 081 571 9595.
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