Family Violence

• Author: Julien D. Payne, Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 86-122



 

Family Violence

A. INTRODUCTION

One of the best kept secrets of the t wentieth centur y was the incidence of

domestic violence in supposed ly intact famil ies. It is only in the la st twenty

years that family violence has been recognized as a serious social problem

that encompasses the abuse of elderly pa rents or grandparents as wel l as

spousal and c hild abuse.

B. ABUSE OF THE ELDERLY

A sadly neglected a spect of abuse that ha s come to the forefront since the

s is abuse of the elderly. Although such abuse has been found in situa-

tions involving i nstitutional care, it more frequent ly involves younger family

members, often child ren or grandchildren.

e most common abuse of the elderly is na ncial abuse, which is often

accompanied by emotiona l abuse. e retirement savings of an elderly pa rent

or grandparent may be squa ndered by children or gr andchildren. Month ly

pension or disabil ity cheques may be with held. Children a nd grandchild ren

may “jump t he gun” on prospective in heritances without a ny thought for

the impact of such conduct on the elderly pa rent or grandparent. eft of

money or possessions represents more than  p ercent of all cases of abuse

 See, general ly, Canada, Depart ment of Justice, Family Viole nce Initiative, onl ine: www.

phac-aspc.gc.ca /ncfv-cniv f/familyv iolence/initiative_ e.html.

 See, generally, P Lynn Mc Donald, Joseph P Horn ick, et al,Elder Abuse and Neg lect in Can-

ada (Toronto: Butterworth s, ); see also Manitoba L aw Reform Commission , Report

No , Adult Protection a nd Elder Abuse (Wi nnipeg: e Commis sion, December ).

Chapter : Family Violence 

of the elderly. In some instances, resistance by t he elderly person may result

in physical abuse.

It has been estimated that at least  percent and perhaps as many as

 percent of the elderly in Canada are abu sed nancia lly, emotionally, or

physically by t heir children, grandchild ren, spouses, or careg ivers. Health

and Welfare Canad a has estimated that more t han , Canadia ns over

sixty-ve ye ars of age are victims of abuse. However, the incidence of abuse

is li kely to b e much hi gher bec ause of th e ease w ith whic h it can b e conceal ed

by family members.

e characteri stics of the abused victim are simil ar to those identied

with respect to t he “battered wife s yndrome.” Victims of e lder abuse feel

helpless and sense that t hey have no place to go in order to avoid the abuse.

ey often have low self- esteem, are dependent on the abuser, and lac k the

physical, emotiona l, and often nanci al ability to withd raw from the abusive

environment. ey are fea rful of being abandoned or sent to an instit ution;

they are ignorant of t heir legal rights; a nd they are often isol ated or unable

to communicate.

Abuse of the elderly is not a new soci al problem but its incidence is in-

creasing with t he ageing of the Canadian popu lation. In , . percent of

the population of Ca nada was over sixty-ve year s of age. By , it will be

more than  pe rcent. Although federal and prov incial governments, u niver-

sities, and social agencies a re beginning to show some interest in deni ng the

boundaries and potent ial solutions to the societa l problem of abuse of the

elderly, no concerted eort has yet been undertaken to come to grips with

it. ere is evidence, however, of increased aw areness of the need for change.

A parliamentar y study on abuse of the elderly i n  recommended that

federal fundi ng should be available to provide shelters for elderly vict ims of

abuse. It also recommended that t he federal government should work w ith

organizations res ponsible for professional stand ards and for the education

of physicians, nurses, soci al workers, bankers, and law yers so that abuse of

the elderly could be identied a nd dealt with. It further recommended t hat a

large-sca le federal study should be undertaken to ascer tain the scope of the

problem and the means of dea ling with it.

 House of Commons Stand ing Committee on Hea lth and Welfare, Soci al Aairs, Se niors

and the Status of Women , Breaking the Silence on the Abuse of O lder Canadians: Everyone’s

Concern (Ottawa: e Com mittee, June ).

 e rst seniors’ she lter in Canada was o pened in east-end Montre al in : Ottawa

Citizen ( August  ) B.

 See Canadia n Network for the Prevention of Eld er Abuse, “A Draft Framework for a

National Strate gy for the Prevention of Ab use and Neglect of Older Adu lts in Canada: A

Proposal ” ( November ), online: w ww.cnpea.ca/Strate gyFramewor k.pdf;

    

C. NATURE OF SPOUSA L ABUSE

Although the expression “spousal abuse” has been traditionally conned to

persons who are marr ied, it is also frequent ly used to refer to conduct be-

tween divorced spou ses or persons living in a coh abitational relat ionship.

“Spousal abuse” t akes variou s forms but all involve dom ination or the im-

proper exercise of power or control over a spouse, d ivorced spouse, or quasi-

marital pa rtner. Spousal abuse m ay involve physical, sex ual, psycholog ical,

or economic oppression.

Physical abuse involves the application of force. It includes beating, slap-

ping, punching , kicking, choking, st abbing, shooting, and t hrowing objects

at the victim. Even when phy sical assaults are intermittent or isolated , they

may have a long-term impact bec ause the threat of repetit ion is never far

from the victi m’s mind. Domination established t hrough a single act of vio -

lence can produce long-term emotion al abuse that is rei nforced by subse-

quent threats, isolation , degradation, or economic control.

Spousal homicide accounts for  percent of all homicide deaths in Can-

ada. Four times as ma ny women as men are killed b y their spouses or partners.

Sexual abuse is usually an aspect of physical abuse that involves the

perpetration of sex ual acts against t he will of a spouse and may inc lude mari-

tal rape. e fact th at a couple is marr ied or living together does not entitle

either of them to insist that the ir partner engage in any form of sexu al activ-

ity. Marital rape or any other forced se xual acti vity is an oence under the

Criminal Codeof Canad a. In , the crimina l oence of “rape” was replaced

by the oence of sexua l assault, which can be committed b y a spouse or part-

ner as well as by a stra nger.

Emotional or psychologica l abuse most frequently arises from verbal as -

saults, such as t hreats or dispara ging comments di rected towards a spouse.

Emotional abuse often accompa nies physical or sex ual abuse, but can e xist

in the absence of physica l or sexual abuse. Emot ional abuse signi es that

one party demean s, belittles, degrades, or threatens the other pa rty to such

a degree that the vic tim’s psychological we ll-being is in jeopardy.

and “Outlook  : Promising Approac hes in the Prevention of Abus e and Neglect of

Older Adults in Com munity Setting s in Canada,” online: w ww.cnpea.ca/ Promising

Approaches Final.pdf. S ee, generally, e Canad ian Centre for Elder

Law, online: ww w.bcli.org/ccel.

 For insight into ve basic ty pes of inter-parenta l violence and correspond ing patterns

in parent-ch ild relationship s, see Janet R Johnston & Lind a EG Campbell, “Pare nt-

Child Rel ationships in Domest ic Violence Families Di sputing Custody” (Ju ly ) :

Family and Conc iliation Court s Review .

 RSC , c C-.