New Zealand Universities Law Review 17(4) 1997 : 337-378

This article looks at the impact of the Domestic Violence Act (1995) on the gap between what victims of domestic violence need and what they receive. Preliminary findings showed that the new Act introduced positive changes. These include the need for judges to consider psychological abuse when making decisions about the welfare of children, and a lesser focus on physical abuse, allowing other types of power and control mechanisms to be considered, reflecting the reality for women more closely. However, the authors maintain that there are still problems with the way the Act is implemented, such as an attitude that victims 'provoke' domestic violence incidents, and that custody decisions do not take note of protection orders between spouses. Thus, whilst current legislation has solved some problems, it has also created others. The authors argue that there is no one single method that will solve the problem of domestic violence, and recommend a comprehensive community-wide effort involving Police, Refuge and other social services to offer women autonomy and to hold men accountable for their actions.