Family Violence: Huge numbers of protection order breaches ‘tip of iceberg’
NZ Herald 10 August 2016
Family First Comment: It seems fairly logical and obvious that a 3-strike regime would simply resolve this. Or perhaps 2-strike. Repeat offenders prove to both themselves and to society that they are a risk to victims who should have the priority of protection!
New Zealand has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world. Eighty per cent of incidents go unreported — so what we know of family violence in our community is barely the tip of the iceberg.
More than 12,000 Kiwis have repeatedly breached court orders to stay away from their victims, and one person has been convicted for doing so 14 times.
Ministry of Justice figures released to the Herald paint a disturbing picture of family violence in New Zealand, showing 12,157 people have been convicted for 20,864 protection order breaches in the 11 years to December 31, 2015.
A protection order is a court-imposed sanction to keep an offender away from their victims, and those at the front line believe the data is the tip of the iceberg as victims are too scared to report the crimes.
Released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, the data shows some offenders repeatedly flouting the orders.
One person in the Manawatu/Wairarapa area was convicted 14 times for breaching an order, and another in the Bay of Plenty/Coromandel area has been convicted for 13 breaches.
READ MORE: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11690474
