Intimate partner violence : the criminal (in)justice system

Abstract

On 12 September 2021, South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, addressed the nation regarding the COVID-19 vaccination drive. The President placed almost equal weight on the importance of finding a resolution for “violence against women and girls” when he referred to gender-based violence as the other pandemic. The victimisation of men by their partners is also a reality. However, the criminal justice system does not appear to react to men as victims of partner abuse in the same way as it does towards women. This paper addresses the conundrum of men who are victims of intimate partner violence being arrested. The bias sometimes displayed by the police assumes that men are perpetrators and that women perpetrate in self-defence or retaliation. Male victims of abuse are secluded in our society and their human rights are often violated. Their experience of detainment is examined and explored via the lens of a qualitative research approach. The sampling method was purposive and consisted of 29 participants who were arrested for assault and referred by the court to attend a diversion programme. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings reveal a high degree of victim-offender overlap (i.e. individuals reporting both victimisation and offending). Intimate partner violence is profoundly relational and does not take place in a vacuum. Bidirectional violence can easily ensue given the close proximity of two persons in an intimate relationship and especially if a partner participates, for example, in behaviour such as infidelity or excessive alcohol use. Additionally, the results reveal participants’ traumatic and adverse experiences of being arrested and detained while awaiting trial.