Criminal Justice System Interventions Family Violence

Consequently, among the numerous discourses on masculinity available within a particular culture at a specific instance, “There are differences and tension between hegemonic and complicit masculinities, oppositions between hegemonic masculinity and subordinated and marginalized masculinities” (Connell 2005: 242). Hence, while there are a variety of masculinities present for boys and men to take on such as being macho, straight, and perceptive just one of these patterns can take up the hegemonic space (Gardiner 2002).The concept of hegemonic masculinity had an influence on the criminal justice system. A great deal of criminal data shows that men and boys commit more of the usual crimes as well as the more severe of these criminal acts than do girls and women. The notion of hegemonic masculinity contributed in understanding the association among masculinities and among a range of criminal acts and also applied in investigations on particular crimes committed by boys and men, such as sexual violence in Switzerland, homicide in Australia, and domestic violence in the United States (Hoyle 1998). However, in this paper, hegemonic masculinity in the context of family violence, as well as the response of the criminal justice system to this phenomenon, will be discussed.Sandra Ball-Rokeach, centering on the concept of machismo, suggested that violence can be applied as an indication of the significant attribute of manliness and that men who recognize themselves with masculine ideals are quick to turn to physical aggression as a show of boldness or as a justification of their status or pride (Adler Denmark 1995).Family violence committed by the male member/s is a severe problem in every society that is only recently been completely documented. This sort of violence has been attributed to a number of factors such as economic, social, psychological, and familial. What has commonly been unidentified, though, is the role of hegemonic masculinity in perpetuating and encouraging family violence committed by men (Buzawa Buzawa 1992). Since these hegemonic masculine traits are believed to form the basic character of masculinity, men feel pressured to espouse these traits. They feel they should exhibit the qualities desirable and expected of their sex so as to have a correct gender identity (Gardiner 2002).