In communities where violence against women is common and considered “normal”, a woman who receives a beating from her spouse may be told by other women, you must have done something to deserve it”. In Aboriginal communities, it is very difficult to conceal a pattern of domestic abuse for very long. Families are large and people talk. News soon gets out. The question that must be asked is: “What happens when it becomes common knowledge in the community?”

Do extended family and community members intervene to stop the abuse?
Do the elected authorities, mental health workers and child protection workers intervene?
Are the police and the courts notified? Are they responsive?
Do the men of the community confront the abuser?
In short, what consequences do abusers face?

Research in the United States confirms that, “men most likely to re-offend [after completing a batterer’s intervention program] are those that have the least to lose...”
~ Bennet and Williams, 2001:3,6

In other words, if men stand to lose employment, family, home, status and freedom, they are less likely to re-offend than men who have none of these things to lose, or for whom there is little risk that offending will result in any loss. Consequences do matter.