FAMILY LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

FAMILY LAW - Essay Example The main setback identified in this area is due to the fact that the national criminal justice system does not consider domestic abuse or violence as criminal activities, and fails to provide adequate protection for women against such offences1. To compound the misery, there is considerable bureaucratic apathy among the enforcement authorities, such as the police, prosecutors and judges. These persons have been found to be unwilling to identify the causes of domestic violence. Therefore, the enforcement of laws against domestic violence has not been effective or constructive. Most law enforcing authorities do not view domestic violence as a serious criminal issue, and consider it to be a private problem. Their belief is that women have to deal with the problem of domestic violence and arrive at a solution to it by themselves. Most women believe that the criminal justice system acts as a barrier to their seeking the court’s intervention to eliminate violence. Several international bodies claimed that domestic violence is a violation of human rights. They also demanded that human rights must be made applicable to domestic violence. Human rights treaties have to develop effective instruments to address the problem of do mestic violence2. Activities such as physically hitting or slapping or a threat to cause harm to the victim or child of the victim, threatening to commit suicide or demeaning the victim verbally or physically, restricting the victim in visiting his or her friends or family member would constitute crimes of domestic violence3. Domestic violence is distinct from other types of assault. It should be dealt with separately with a separate dedicated mechanism for handling of cases; and there should be high levels of prosecutions and punishments. Only then will it be possible to eliminate domestic violence from the lives of women. The effects of domestic violence are much higher than that of physical assaults. Psychological damage is a very common