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Russia Decriminalizes Domestic Violence


DrmDoc

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This little fact I've just pulled from the the intro to BBC video news cast makes it all the more puzzling and bizarre:

 

 

In Russia, it is estimated that more than 600 women are killed in the home every month.

That's not far off one an hour.

Edited by StringJunky
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This little fact I've just pulled from the the intro to BBC video news cast makes it all the more puzzling and bizarre:

 

That's not far off one an hour.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38794677

"It's like they've been given freedom to beat: as if it's not serious, just a slap or a shove. But it can lead to very serious consequences," warns Irina Matvienko.

And it all stems from a backward, uber-conservative argument that the state has no right to get in bed between a husband and his family. This is the result of small-government-mindedness, and harkens back to barbarism and reiver mentality.

 

It's cowardice of the worst sort for a "man" to raise his hand against a vulnerable family that's forced to live within his reach.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38794677

And it all stems from a backward, uber-conservative argument that the state has no right to get in bed between a husband and his family. This is the result of small-government-mindedness, and harkens back to barbarism and reiver mentality.

 

It's cowardice of the worst sort for a "man" to raise his hand against a vulnerable family that's forced to live within his reach.

It's sad to think that most of the world is like this. It's the same in China.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/world/2016/05/02/china-domestic/

 

An echo of your words:

 

 

In China, as elsewhere, domestic violence is a hidden epidemic — a public health crisis dismissed as private scandal, a crime discounted or covered up.

Edited by StringJunky
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38794677

And it all stems from a backward, uber-conservative argument that the state has no right to get in bed between a husband and his family. This is the result of small-government-mindedness, and harkens back to barbarism and reiver mentality.

 

It's cowardice of the worst sort for a "man" to raise his hand against a vulnerable family that's forced to live within his reach.

 

It seems like what little protection and consideration humanity's most vulnerable receives are rapidly vanishing from our world.

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It seems like what little protection and consideration humanity's most vulnerable receives are rapidly vanishing from our world.

It's my guess that it has always been so and we in the West have advanced beyond it, more or less. I think it's just you - and me too - getting older and seeing everything with clearer eyes and getting new information. It looks, to you, that things are getting worse when, in reality, you are just gradually becoming aware of the true depth and breadth of our inhumanity to each other, as a species, which has been happening all through man's history.

Edited by StringJunky
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It's my guess that it has always been so and we in the West have advanced beyond it, more or less. I think it's just you - and me too - getting older and seeing everything with clearer eyes and getting new information. It looks, to you, that things are getting worse when, in reality, you are just gradually becoming aware of the true depth and breadth of our inhumanity to each other as a species which has been happening all through man's history.

 

You're quite right; as I now recall, humanity's inhumanity has never failed to disappoint me.

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It's my guess that it has always been so and we in the West have advanced beyond it, more or less.

 

Well, that is the thing, isn't it? Domestic violence in the West has gone down (9.8 victims per 1000 to 3.6 per 1000 between 1993 and 2010)., but has been around forever and is certainly to stick around. Only in the 90s domestic violence was codified in the US and the ongoing need can be seen in the Istanbul convention 2011. According to WHO, the lifetime prevalence of domestic violence is lowest in high income regions (including Western countries as well as Japan and South Korea) with 23% prevalence, but is not much higher in the Western Pacific region (24.6, includes China, Cambodia, Philippines, Samoa, Vietnam) or low-income Europe (Albania, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Russian Federation etc., 25.4%).

The really shocking part is the obvious regression by legalizing (limited as it may be) physical abuse, where the rest of the world is marching in the opposite direction.

Edited by CharonY
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Well, that is the thing, isn't it? Domestic violence in the West has gone down (9.8 victims per 1000 to 3.6 per 1000 between 1993 and 2010)., but has been around forever and is certainly to stick around. Only in the 90s domestic violence was codified in the US and the ongoing need can be seen in the Istanbul convention 2011. According to WHO, the lifetime prevalence of domestic violence is lowest in high income regions (including Western countries as well as Japan and South Korea) with 23% prevalence, but is not much higher in the Western Pacific region (24.6, includes China, Cambodia, Philippines, Samoa, Vietnam) or low-income Europe (Albania, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Russian Federation etc., 25.4%).

The really shocking part is the obvious regression by legalizing (limited as it may be) physical abuse, where the rest of the world is marching in the opposite direction.

 

In the early 80s, I was part of a group of actors, and we worked with the Denver Police Department academy trainees filming some domestic abuse scenarios, based on a relatively new system the DPD was promoting. The system categorized domestic violence in 10 escalating steps, and the officers had been trained on the proper responses to each. It was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had. Having a police force properly trained in domestic abuse is one of the most difficult but necessary things a progressive society can offer its families. It's a way to step in and have dangerous common situations diffused before they can escalate to physical violence while still respecting personal rights on personal property. 40 years of these kinds of policies and procedures have made a favorable impact.

 

We lose about three women a day in the US to domestic violence, and that's a horrible number. One an hour is a human rights violation of international scope, and I sincerely hope the supporters of Putin/Trump are looking at these figures and rethinking just what kind of men they really are.

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We lose about three women a day in the US to domestic violence, and that's a horrible number. One an hour is a human rights violation of international scope, and I sincerely hope the supporters of Putin/Trump are looking at these figures and rethinking just what kind of men they really are.

 

What troubles me most is that their supporters may already know and accept the kind of men they are.

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We lose about three women a day in the US to domestic violence, and that's a horrible number. One an hour is a human rights violation of international scope, and I sincerely hope the supporters of Putin/Trump are looking at these figures and rethinking just what kind of men they really are.

It's even worse when you consider Russia has a population less than half of the US; 143.5m v 318m.

Edited by StringJunky
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  • 2 weeks later...

This law does not legalize domestic violence. It only changes the character of the sanction, if no physical harm is done, from criminal to administrative so instead of getting a criminal fine one pays an administrative one. Other cases are still under criminal jurisdiction if at least mild physical harm is done.

Edited by Squawk 1200
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This law does not legalize domestic violence. It only changes the character of the sanction, if no physical harm is done, from criminal to administrative so instead of getting a criminal fine one pays an administrative one. Other cases are still under criminal jurisdiction if at least mild physical harm is done.

It'll just teach violent bullies where the cross-over point is and they'll perhaps modify their behaviour so as not to get caught but their victims still suffer. Persistent violence of a mental nature is just as bad as physical; it is unseen and pernicious. You can hurt people by saying absolutely nothing, by maintaining a torturous state of incommunicado whilst present. I went through this particular type of bullying by a stepfather between the ages of 7 and 15. Domestic violence has many forms.

Edited by StringJunky
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This law does not legalize domestic violence. It only changes the character of the sanction, if no physical harm is done, from criminal to administrative so instead of getting a criminal fine one pays an administrative one. Other cases are still under criminal jurisdiction if at least mild physical harm is done.

 

The effect of penalties is to deter unlawful behaviors that inflict intentional harm. This change in Russia's domestic violence laws eases penalties for those who willfully inflict harm on vulnerable family members and individuals. Aren't changes that ease "the character of the sanction" meant to remedy unlawful behaviors a weakening of the boundaries deterring those behaviors? Whether physical harm or not is done, violence is unacceptable in a civilized society. Isn't this change effectively a sanctioning of some measure of unacceptable violence?

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