Domestic Violence in America is a movie about the destructive nature of domestic violence in America. As the movie’s title suggests, Domestic abuse is all about power and control. The abusive spouse wants to feel powerful and in control of the family so he, usually the abusive spouse is the man, beats his wife and children to assert his superiority. This unfortunate situation is prevalent in America especially among minorities and the poor, it is a situation that is not easy to solve because jailing the offending spouse will cause more harm than good because the victims are more often than not unable to support themselves without their abuser. In this context restorative justice can be applied to provide a solution that will not result in the impoverishment of the victim. Restorative justice can also spare the abuser the horror of a jail term and help them heal themselves of their abusive behavior. An example of a possible restorative justice exercise is also given.
Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America is a 10 minute movie about the destructive nature of domestic violence in America. As the movie’s title suggests, domestic abuse is all about power and control. The abusive spouse wants to feel powerful and in control of the family so he, usually the abusive spouse is the man, beat his wife and kids to assert his superiority. The documentary talks about how hard it is for those who are suffering from domestic abuse to recover because of the trauma they endure from the abusive spouse. It is also hard for the policemen making the arrest because the law does not punish domestic violence itself. Even the police suffer trauma from their job. One of the female policemen was even caught on camera crying. Domestic violence is common among minorities and the poor because it is especially important for male to assert his dominance in underprivileged lifestyles and he does this by harming those he supposedly loves. Arresting and imprisoning the offending spouse will usually do more harm than good because the victim relies on the spouse for financial support. It is suggested that a restorative justice is the best method to ensure that justice is done in cases of domestic violence.
Restorative justice is aimed at encouraging the offender to make amends for his actions and to repair the harm he has done to the victim. It is an important method of Alternative Dispute Resolution because it promises to teach the offender to take ownership of his offense, it helps the victim recover and makes it less likely for the offender to commit the same offense again.
The first step in restorative justice is to identify all the stakeholders in the crime. In domestic violence the offender is the husband, ordinarily it is the male who commits the abuse, and the victim is the wife, including the common-law-wife, and the children if they have kids. Another less direct victim is the community because the peace and order in the community was disrupted. Restitution must be done for all the victims to finally have peace. The next step is to encourage the offender to admit to the crime and make him realize that what he did is wrong. This way he will learn to apologize for what he did and the healing process can begin. Healing starts when he learns that what he did was wrong and he can seek forgiveness from his victims and learn to forgive himself. After this he can begin to make restitution for what he did by serving his family and community.
In applying this, typically abusive husbands should be hold group discussions. They will be gathered in meetings similar to alcoholics anonymous or other support groups. Here they will be encouraged to admit that they have a problem by the support group. A facilitator will be present to encourage the abusers to admit their wrong doing and also to facilitate discussions of how they will perform acts of restitution to their wives and children. Typically this will be very hard because the trust and love that should be present in the relationships has been replaced with fear and abuse. However, admitting that a problem exists is the first step to a solution. The husbands can give tips on how to rebuild the love and trust that was destroyed by their abuse. This will make finding the correct restitution a group activity and they can support each other in establishing their goal and later in actually making and keeping the restitution plan. After announcing to the group what they individually plan to do and promising to fulfill the resolutions they will be sent home to set their plans in motion. Since the victim is also the community they will be encouraged to hold informal meetings on a regular basis to support their reforms and they can even bring their wives to the meeting to give testimony to the fact that they have changed.
It is hoped that by complying with this form of restorative justice the victim and offender can learn to cope with what happen and move on. By allowing the men to mutually support each other and hopefully avoid falling into the trap of repeating their abusive behavior in the future.