- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,192
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
The political class has been quiet on the horror that descended on the Ottawa Valley last week, three homicides that had the whole world talking.
There is probably a simple explanation: they don’t know what to do about this. Frankly, neither do we, because we don’t have a great answer to the following question:
Was this a stoppable set of crimes?
Mark Holmes has likely encountered more abusive men than anyone else in this city. For more than 30 years, he has been involved in a court-mandated treatment program called New Directions. It runs for 12 weeks, in two-hour sessions, and consists of mostly men working in eight groups.
The good news is that, for most offenders, the program, run by Catholic Family Service Ottawa, does make a difference.
Holmes believes as many as 80 per cent of the clients do make significant progress in their abusive behaviour. But there is a body of research that suggests about 20 per cent are, more or less, untreatable.
In fact, an American sociologist has even come up with phrase to describe the worst abusers: “intimate terrorists”, which describes partners who constantly use threats, intimidation and violence in a pattern of excessive control over their spouses.
(Certainly, Basil Borutski, 57, charged in the three homicides of women he knew, fits the mould.)
For those men who don’t respond to programs or absolutely refuse to change their behaviour, the “system” is left with a series of restraint measures. But even those — warning buzzers, peace bonds, parole conditions, stay-away orders — hardly form a guarantee of safety.
“Conditions are only effective if the individual is willing to comply,” said Holmes.
Ontario has a Domestic Violence Death Review Committee that, as the name suggests, studies cases in which a partner had died violently in a domestic setting. It has looked at well over 250 deaths since 2003, mostly homicides, with about 80 per cent of the victims being female.
The advisory panel has identified a number of risk factors that keep reoccurring in perpetrators: such as a history of violence, an actual or pending separation, depression, obsessive behaviour by the perpetrator, suicide attempts and unemployment.
In three-quarters of the cases, seven or more of these risk factors were at play.
Well, all well and good that we can count the red flags after a murder has been committed, but where does it leave us?
The committee, composed of experts, readily admits to the difficulty of changing future behaviour, as opposed to only punishing past actions.
“We have only just begun to tackle the many societal, legal and cultural implications of domestic violence in Ontario,” says its 2012 annual report.
Just begun?
If we can’t stop domestic violence in big cities, with all the urban resources available, one wonders what hope there is in a place like Renfrew County, where 110,000 residents are scattered over a huge chunk of geography.
Think of it. There is only one women’s shelter in the county and it’s in Pembroke. One of the victims lived 100 kilometres away. And what of the access to a vehicle, gas and money, an escape plan?
The other factor at play in rural Ontario is the common presence of guns, only natural where hunting, farming and bush work are ways of life.
JoAnne Brooks is the director of the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County, which has contact with more than 3,000 women a year. This is a big number, she stresses, when you consider how vastly under-reported are acts of sexual violence. (One in 10, by some estimates.)
Even women supplied with personal alarms need to worry about how long it would take the OPP to arrive at their doors, she said.
“At the end of the day, if someone is bound to commit femicide, there isn’t much between a bullet and a woman.”
It’s well-known in spousal support circles, she said, that rural women will sometimes plan their escape during deer hunting season in November, because they know both the abuser and the gun will be away from the house. “This is when they’ll come up with a safety plan.”
Attitudes are difficult to change, too. She said it took some 10 years to erect a monument to Renfrew County women who died in abusive situations.
In 2013, it was finally unveiled in Petawawa, overlooking the Ottawa River. There are 17 names on the monument, victims over the last 60 or so years.
Now there are three more. And, honestly, we don’t have a sure-footed plan to ensure these are the final etchings.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
There is probably a simple explanation: they don’t know what to do about this. Frankly, neither do we, because we don’t have a great answer to the following question:
Was this a stoppable set of crimes?
Mark Holmes has likely encountered more abusive men than anyone else in this city. For more than 30 years, he has been involved in a court-mandated treatment program called New Directions. It runs for 12 weeks, in two-hour sessions, and consists of mostly men working in eight groups.
The good news is that, for most offenders, the program, run by Catholic Family Service Ottawa, does make a difference.
Holmes believes as many as 80 per cent of the clients do make significant progress in their abusive behaviour. But there is a body of research that suggests about 20 per cent are, more or less, untreatable.
In fact, an American sociologist has even come up with phrase to describe the worst abusers: “intimate terrorists”, which describes partners who constantly use threats, intimidation and violence in a pattern of excessive control over their spouses.
(Certainly, Basil Borutski, 57, charged in the three homicides of women he knew, fits the mould.)
For those men who don’t respond to programs or absolutely refuse to change their behaviour, the “system” is left with a series of restraint measures. But even those — warning buzzers, peace bonds, parole conditions, stay-away orders — hardly form a guarantee of safety.
“Conditions are only effective if the individual is willing to comply,” said Holmes.
Ontario has a Domestic Violence Death Review Committee that, as the name suggests, studies cases in which a partner had died violently in a domestic setting. It has looked at well over 250 deaths since 2003, mostly homicides, with about 80 per cent of the victims being female.
The advisory panel has identified a number of risk factors that keep reoccurring in perpetrators: such as a history of violence, an actual or pending separation, depression, obsessive behaviour by the perpetrator, suicide attempts and unemployment.
In three-quarters of the cases, seven or more of these risk factors were at play.
Well, all well and good that we can count the red flags after a murder has been committed, but where does it leave us?
The committee, composed of experts, readily admits to the difficulty of changing future behaviour, as opposed to only punishing past actions.
“We have only just begun to tackle the many societal, legal and cultural implications of domestic violence in Ontario,” says its 2012 annual report.
Just begun?
If we can’t stop domestic violence in big cities, with all the urban resources available, one wonders what hope there is in a place like Renfrew County, where 110,000 residents are scattered over a huge chunk of geography.
Think of it. There is only one women’s shelter in the county and it’s in Pembroke. One of the victims lived 100 kilometres away. And what of the access to a vehicle, gas and money, an escape plan?
The other factor at play in rural Ontario is the common presence of guns, only natural where hunting, farming and bush work are ways of life.
JoAnne Brooks is the director of the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County, which has contact with more than 3,000 women a year. This is a big number, she stresses, when you consider how vastly under-reported are acts of sexual violence. (One in 10, by some estimates.)
Even women supplied with personal alarms need to worry about how long it would take the OPP to arrive at their doors, she said.
“At the end of the day, if someone is bound to commit femicide, there isn’t much between a bullet and a woman.”
It’s well-known in spousal support circles, she said, that rural women will sometimes plan their escape during deer hunting season in November, because they know both the abuser and the gun will be away from the house. “This is when they’ll come up with a safety plan.”
Attitudes are difficult to change, too. She said it took some 10 years to erect a monument to Renfrew County women who died in abusive situations.
In 2013, it was finally unveiled in Petawawa, overlooking the Ottawa River. There are 17 names on the monument, victims over the last 60 or so years.
Now there are three more. And, honestly, we don’t have a sure-footed plan to ensure these are the final etchings.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
