This item is only available from the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges Inc.

Family Law Conference 2000

This conference paper details research undertaken by the author on repeated breaches of protection orders in New Zealand. The research involved 20 detailed case studies of battered women who had obtained protection orders that were later breached, as well as over 70 interviews with professionals working in the domestic violence field, such as Family and District Court Judges, refuge workers, and police officers. The author found that the legal system consistently trivialised violence against women and children, and engaged in partly blaming victims for the violence. She also found that Court counselling programmes lacked the safety protocols to keep women from being attacked, and in one case murdered, after the counselling session. Women also reported that they had been intimidated by their estranged partner once the session had ended, and that there was a lack of culturally sensitive methods for Māori and Pacific Island women. The author concluded that there is no one 'magic bullet' in dealing with domestic violence, and instead, a community-wide approach must be used that unites all agencies under the one common goal of providing independence for victims, and holding batterers accountable.