Domestic Abuse Research

Domestic abuse:

• Leads to, on average, two women being murdered each week.

• Accounts for 16% of all violent crime (Source: Crime in England and Wales 04/05 report), however it is still the violent crime least likely to be reported to the police

• Has more repeat victims than any other crime (on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police)

• Is the single most quoted reason for becoming homeless.

• In addition, approximately 400 people commit suicide each year who have attended hospital for domestic abuse injuries in the previous six months, 200 of these attend hospital on the day they go on to commit suicide.

(research from IWA living without abuse services)

My response

From these statics one thing that really stood out to me was that "on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police". I find it crazy how women obviously feel very powerless and undermined to the point where they don't feel they can speak to anyone almost like the power of abuse overrides the power of truth.

This is something i could explore in my play, the fact that women loose their voice and become powerless. I would like to question why that is. Is it because the men are so violent or controlling that its pure fear that puts the women off speaking out or is it because its not as an open topic in society, does society need to do more to promote women being powerful enough to escape. Is their more that women to do or be educated about in order to detected early signs of potential abuse?

Another thing i found interesting but without me knowing the single most reason for becoming homeless is abuse and this links back to themes i wanted to explore. Could the character in my play become homeless due to domestic abuse.