Domestic Violence escalating out of control

Here is an article from the Courier-Mail that spells out the increasing problems we in the Beenleigh community are facing with escalating domestic violence....

Domestic violence orders being flouted
Article from: The Courier-Mail

By Melanie Christiansen

September 23, 2008 12:00am

DOMESTIC violence orders are failing to protect vulnerable Queenslanders as figures reveal more than 26,000 orders were breached in four years.

Records from Queensland magistrates' courts show there were 26,162 proven cases of breaches of domestic violence orders in the four years to June 2008. Of those, just 7406 - or 28 per cent - resulted in jail sentences, while 11,211 offenders escaped with a fine.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine has hailed the number of breaches brought to court as a reflection on how seriously authorities treated domestic violence but Opposition justice spokesman Stuart Copeland said the figures were cause for grave concern.

Mr Copeland said the figures lent weight to fears about a lack of police resources.

"The feedback that I've got is certainly that there's not enough resourcing to match the workload involved," he said.

Women's Legal Service solicitor Angela Lynch warned the official figures on breached domestic violence orders were "just the tip of the iceberg" and thousands of other incidents were never brought to court.

"One of the major complaints to us at the Women's Legal Service is the difficulty of actually getting the police to take action over a breach," she said. "Some women feel like they are being fobbed off."

Ms Lynch said some police appeared reluctant to pursue breaches of domestic violence orders because of the difficulty of getting a conviction or due to stretched resources.

Concerns also have been raised about whether those offenders who do front court get off lightly. University of Queensland criminal law researcher Heather Douglas examined 645 cases of breached domestic violence orders from Brisbane, Beenleigh and Gold Coast courts.

"I concluded that police are charging breach (of a domestic violence order) in lots of situations where there is actually assault or criminal damage," Dr Douglas said.

She said that meant victims did not have access to criminal compensation and offenders faced much lighter sentences.