It seems that acts of violence can appear in any stage of life, and at any particular place. However from the British Crime survey we can see where different types of violent acts, and whom the victims of these violent acts are. Form the ‘Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate’ we can see what the effects of living in different areas have on the rate of crime. For example, as would be expected, within the inner city areas crime rates are a lot higher than those within rural areas.
The evidence from the British Crime Surveys also shows the different types of crime within the different areas, such as burglary, vehicle theft, vandalism etc. Although the evidence given in the survey is general for both male and female, we can see that rates for females would be greater in inner city areas as well as repeat victimisation compared to rural areas and suburban areas. Of course all acts of crime which involve some type of violence that are directed towards women will have some kind of effect upon the victims, but also on the conceptions of other women who have not yet possibly been victims.
The extent of the effect of violent acts is what we are looking for and although we have only lightly touched on the surface of where these acts of violence take place we are beginning to miss the point. It is now time to go onto the second key area for discussion noted at the beginning of the essay. This being, what is the extent to which these acts of violence are carried out? This second section of the essay is perhaps the one that needs to be concentrated on most of all, because from learning what the extent of these acts of violent crimes are, we can begin to make some sense of the first and third part of the essay.
The extent of violent acts carried out towards women can encompass such a huge spectrum. From domestic violence to rape the effects on the victim differs from person to person. ‘Changing Violent Men’ (sage publications, 2000) sites the differing injuries sustained by women through acts of domestic violence. These range from, as the text states, “usually bruising, but such attacks may also result in internal injuries, broken bones, and bleeding where blows break the skin. ‘ 3 The text also gives evidence of interviews with men who conduct such acts of violence towards their female partners.
One of these brief excerpts from an interview gives us some indication of what happens as a result of the attack. “I’ve never been to court before about it, but I should have been. How’s that? Because I broke her jaw and they wouldn’t charge me for it. Because she had no witnesses… They wouldn’t charge me then, but they charge me now for a couple of bruises. “4 The fact that this male committed a more serious act of violence against his partner and was not charged, but later got charged with an attack of less severity gives us some insight into how difficult it is to record the extent and effect that domestic violent crime has on women.
So we know that women do experience quite horrific forms of attacks within the domestic arena, we also know that these attacks are reported, but not in all cases, but what of the attackers themselves, the male partners. Another account from the same text gives us some insight to how the male will justify his action towards the partner. “Do you think you were right to hit her? Before and during it, yes, but after it, no. Before it and during it – well, it was just to shut her up, but when I saw what the damage was, I never meant to do that deliberately. ”
Another factor that accounts for some of the facts of violent acts in domestic surroundings is that for the most part the males do not want the females to show or tell that they have been abused. The male in the relationship threatening the female often enforces this. This again goes back to the concept of the female being the weaker of the sexes. This last factor is probably one of the main reasons why evidence from criminological investigations rarely represents the whole truth. Without the whole truth we can never complete the story, and see what the overall effect of these criminal investigations has on violent actions towards women.