Is it possible to get a snapshot of women abuse in the Greater Sudbury Area from statistics alone? We already know from years of working with other agencies and the Justice system that women abuse knows no boundaries. Women from all walks of life can be victims of abuse, it doesn’t matter what race, economic status or sexual orientation, it could happen to anyone. We also know that men who abuse women can also come from all walks of life.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service has reported that in 2013 there was a total of 2,286 calls involving domestic violence.
The number of occurrences where no offence is alleged, which refers to verbal arguments only or a request for supportive resources was: 1,595. Charges were laid in 592 cases and charges were not laid due to lack of evidence in 99 cases.
Statistics provided by the Partner Assault Response Program (PAR) for 2012-2013 included 315 intakes for male clients and 52 for female clients. 263 male clients or 16 groups were started by the program. When the program started in 2000 they did 131 intakes for male clients and 63 participated in groups. Numbers of participants have steadily increased every year since. Of course this does not necessarily mean that abuse is on the increase, it could just mean that the courts are ordering PAR (this intervention program) more regularly.
As stated, it is difficult to provide a snapshot of an abuse victim or an abuser. But what we can glean from statistics provided can lead us to provide further interventions.
The one thing that has remained very clear to workers and agencies in the field of violence against women is that everyone needs to work together. This work cannot be done in a vacuum if there is any hope at providing appropriate interventions both for the victims and survivors of abuse and the abusers themselves.