PUBLIC POLICY

Public Policy

Public Policy

Introduction

A public policy is a set of principles that directs government actions. The policy may take one of many forms laws, rules, programs, money, court decisions and even customs and traditions. These policies affect everyone, but not always in the same way. For example a policy that's good for the consumer may not be good for the farmer. There may be a policy that censors some particular acts that seems to be good for some or a large majority.

The term domestic violence shall be understood to mean any violence between current or former partners in an intimate relationship, wherever and whenever it occurs. The violence may include physical, sexual, emotional or financial abuse. Domestic violence is defined as intimate partner violence occurring inside or outside the home, which includes violence between spouses, individuals in dating relationships, and former partners. The incidence of violence rarely occurs as an isolated event, but instead involves a recurrent pattern of behavior, which increases in severity over time.

The American Bar Association estimates that 85 percent of victims of domestic violence are facing a wide range of problem like low self-esteem, aggression, depression, anxiety, learning difficulties, or post-traumatic stress disorders.

Public policy is developed through a process of debate and compromise. For that process to work effectively, policy makers need to hear from a broad range of people. They need to know how a policy, or changes in a policy, will affect different groups of people and how each group feels about the change.

In a liberal democratic system there is a general supposition that the state will not interfere where it does not have to. In an authoritarian dictatorship there is a general feeling that the state will interfere just as much as its rulers want it to. Again, however, this tends to simplify, because even in liberal democracies there is no one thought of what the state should do or not do. Changes in government, or changes in admired opinion, or changes in situation may mean that one country or one exacting government may have quite different ideas of what is or is not the anxiety of the state. For example, the US has a much lighter touch and France has a quite more domineering idea of what should be a matter for public policy.

Causes of Domestic Violence

Battering is a learned behavior. Statistics show that 85% of convicted batterers grew up in households where they witnessed their mother being abused by a male partner. Not only are young men learning tactics, they are learning that they can get away with it. They see that the abuser is not arrested, there is no intervention, and that there are few consequences for the behavior. Child abuse and domestic violence are very highly correlated.

Main Body

Countless laws, cultural mores have perpetuated the oppression of women. Domestic violence may start when one partner feels the need to control and dominate the other. Some men with very traditional beliefs may think they have the right to control ...