TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses domestic violence involving physical, financial and emotional abuse. If you or someone you know is being affected by domestic violence, call 1800 737 732.
Last week, Adrian Torrens was charged with the murder of Audrey Griffins, 19, after DNA evidence was found under her fingernails. However, the case took a tragic turn when Torrens took his own life in Silverwater Prison, just two days after his arrest. Audrey’s family is left grappling with unanswered questions, as Torrens will never face justice.
At the same time, a viral video of criminologist Vincent Hurley reaired, where he passionately criticised politicians for their inaction on domestic violence, highlighting the systemic failures in the judicial system. Dr. Hurley, a former detective who witnessed up to 20 domestic violence cases a day, argued that the law no longer reflects social attitudes, especially when violent offenders like Torrens, who had a history of harassment and domestic violence, were allowed leniency, such as being placed on a community corrections order earlier this year.
This tragedy underscores the persistent issues within the legal system and the devastating consequences for victims like Audrey.
Here, we tells Marie Claire why we need to keep politics out of domestic violence policy
“After I gave that [Q&A] lecture, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a $925 million domestic violence fund. In the press release they [wrote of] “generational change”, yet the funding only goes for five years. Why? Because everything runs on an election cycle, so that’s as far as politicians are willing to look. Policy will always be tainted by politics, which makes long-term investment in people by governments challenging. Incremental change takes a generation, not five years. It’s appalling,” Dr Vincent Hurley says.
“There’s an unrealistic expectation put on police to be able to solve domestic violence. The NSW Police have had a pro-arrest policy in place for nearly 40 years, meaning they can arrest offenders based on scant evidence, but this is an issue we can’t arrest our way out of. It’s gone beyond that, because of the lack of investment [in frontline services] over the years.
Having read over 1000 coroners’ reports, I’ve come up with the conclusion that men need to go somewhere. They need to learn, but they also need to go somewhere to vent. There needs to be more shelters for men, [to be] taken out of domestic violence situations and put in the equivalent of a women’s refuge.”
We need to reverse the situation so all those women’s refuges are handed over to male offenders
Dr Vincent Hurley
“They can still go to work during the day, but they can’t go home. Ideally, they would stay there for six months and have counselling and group session at night about their behaviour. We need to reverse the situation so all those women’s refuges are handed over to male offenders, because the infrastructure is already there. The women shouldn’t have to leave their homes. Even if there’s one person that can be changed out of it, and then they can mentor someone else, that’s got to be good.
The decision to commit violence against a current or former partner is mostly linked to anger management issues or intergenerational trauma.
The investment needs to be in mental health. Putting things like AVOs in place doesn’t solve the problem. The only people who take any notice of an AVO are your middle class and upper class, who have a social standing to lose. People outside of that bracket often don’t have anything to lose, so there’s no accountability.
After my appearance on Q+A, I received about 660 emails. A quarter were from men who really supported the cause. It can be challenging to get good men into the conversation, because there are a lot of women’s groups who would not necessarily want to see men come into the conversation because it seems counterproductive. We need men and especially boys to come into that conversation if we’re going to see change.”
Read more about Dr Vincent Hurley and the other inspiring advocates and thought leaders calling for real solutions to Australia’s domestic violence crisis, here.
