New Zealand Family Law Journal 5(7) 2006 : 157-168

This article provides findings from a research project investigating concerns around the way the Domestic Violence Act (1995) is being implemented, in particular, the difficulty victims experience in obtaining temporary protection orders and legal protection from psychological abuse. The researchers utilise justice statistics and a discourse analysis of interviews with 10 informants working in the area of family violence, including court staff, police, and community workers. They discuss two key themes drawn from the interviews: perpetrator accountability, and human rights issues. Perpetrators of violence are not always being held to account for their violence, particularly due to the failure to follow-up perpetrators' non-attendance at mandated stopping violence programmes, and police not prosecuting other breaches of protection orders. Furthermore, the researchers assert that due to many reasons (including costs, variability of decisions made by judges, and inadequate court resourcing), legal protection from domestic violence is now less accessible to female victims. A focus on men's right to natural justice (their right to answer allegations made against them) means that women's human rights to safety and protection are being violated.

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