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Domestic Violence's A Major Concern In The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas

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Domestic Violence Remains Major Concern:
By Sasha L. Lightbourne -
Nassau, Bahamas:


Reported domestic disputes decreased from 1,361 cases in 2006 to 1,138 cases in 2007, according to statistic released by the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

However, according to a local psychologist, those numbers may not be a "true reflection" of cases in The Bahamas.

"Domestic violence has been a problem and continues to be a problem and confronts us on a daily basis," said Dr. Sandra Dean-Patterson, who spoke to the Bahama Journal recently.

"Persons live with violent situations daily. The police will tell you and the hospitals will tell you that on a daily basis they see the victims of this violence."

Dr. Patterson said much needs to be done to address domestic violence in The Bahamas.

"We will never do enough until we can get rid of domestic violence completely," she said. "We just have to keep fighting and keep battling."

She said there is a need to enact stronger domestic violence legislation.

"We need to get the domestic violence legislation enacted so that we can put those new criteria in place because one of the excellent things from the legislation is that it mandates magistrates to have batterers participate in programmes such as psycho-educational programmes," Dr. Patterson said.

Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette announced in October 2007 that the government would be reviewing legislation geared at reducing the high rate of sexual violence in The Bahamas. The government has created new drafts of legislation that deal with sexual violence, including a proposed Child Protection Act and Domestic Violence Protection Order Act, he said at the time.

According to a pamphlet written by Chief Superintendent of Police Hulan Hanna, "Domestic violence is violence which includes behaviour that is against the law and also that which falls short of a legally defined criminal statute, but is nonetheless detrimental to the victim.

"The violence takes the form of physical, sexual, financial, emotional or psychological abuse by a partner within a marriage, or other close relationship."

Dr. Patterson said the impact of domestic violence is being felt outside homes.

"Domestic violence is having a definite impact on the society and it is trickling down into our schools," she said. "We are seeing the effects in our children and children learn what they live."

She said if children are living violence in their homes they tend to learn violence.

"Whether it’s mommy hitting daddy or vice versa, children will learn those things and kids love to look up to their parents as role models. What they see them do they will emulate," Dr. Patterson said.

A United Nations report ranked The Bahamas in November 2007 among the top nations in the world with domestic violence fatalities, referring to the 42 percent of murders in 2000 that fell under this classification.

Similar concerns about where this country stands in the international dilemma of domestic violence took on renewed significance months back when an international conference was held here.

The World Bank recently reported that The Bahamas is number one in the world in terms of sexual violence.

Other Caribbean states on the list are St. Vincent and Grenadines, which is third in the world followed by Jamaica, which is fourth.

Dr. Patterson at that time suggested that one of the reasons why The Bahamas is number one is because the reporting could be better than in other countries.

"Some of it may be because we really worked hard to raise people’s consciousness," she said. "People should not live in this kind of fear. It is unacceptable."

March 3, 2008

March 3, 2008 | 6:17 PM Comments  0 comments

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