Scotland: Violent men: A woman’s right to know

Submitted by Mastodon on Mon, 2013-05-20 23:02

Article here. Excerpt:

'WOMEN would be able to seek information about the domestic violence history of new partners under plans to be proposed by senior police officers in Scotland.

The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (Asps) is this week expected to back calls for the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme – known as Clare’s Law – which is being piloted by four forces in England and Wales, and could be extended north of the Border.

The Association’s annual conference is also likely to support the introduction of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in Scotland, which would require men with a history of violence in the home to disclose previous convictions themselves.

And in a further extension of Clare’s Law, some senior officers also want police to be able to share information about known abusers with potential victims, even though this may breach data protection laws.'

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Far more tolerable an idea if it were a law applicable to everyone. It sounds like the law is as usual pointed in only one direction.

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2013-05-21 01:24

This is terrible. Court cases are public record. If anyone is that interested in knowing about a person's criminal history, they can look up court cases by name in any county (at least that's how it works in the USA).

I am all for public discloser, but this goes way too far and is about further shaming. I also can see police officers abusing this.

I know there are cases of true victims of domestic violence, where things have escalated beyond the victims control and they are dependent on the abuser and are emotionally trapped in the relationship. I'm all for helping these types of situations.

But years ago I got a peak inside the ghetto, where violent relationships are generational. I found there to be many factors involved in violent relationships, often it is learned behavior by both men and women (one learns to be a perpetrator and one learns to be a victim or instigator). Most people in these environments have low communication skills, lack ability to deal with stress, and are used to associating emotions with violence (they love drama). They need to change their relationship skills. Often drugs and alcohol are involved (part of the "cant deal with stress"). All of these factors need to be combated to get control of the problem, IMO.

An example of the dynamics I am trying to explain is Rhianna and Chris Brown. The night of her infamous beating I heard Rhianna was texting an NBA player (a married man) she is doing this while she is in the car with CB. We have no idea who hit who first, but based on public opinion Rhianna is the victim. I have no doubt that she received the worst beating. She was back in a romantic relationship with CB soon afterwards and she continues the use of images and lyrics of S&M in her videos. Is she a helpless victim or a bitch who loves drama?

Regarding the death of the woman who was killed and sparked the onset of this bill...I doubt the beating that killed her was her first knowledge that the guy was violent. So I don't think having sooner knowledge of someone's past will help much.

PS- the last paragraph of the article indicates the policy would be gender neutral as far as both men and women having access to a partners past.

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Submitted by Kris on Wed, 2013-05-22 02:03