Interpersonal violence intimate partner violence France between figures

Interpersonal violence, intimate partner violence: France between figures and public policy Catherine CAVALIN Centre d’études européennes de Sciences Po (Paris) Centre d’études de l’emploi (Noisy-le-Grand) DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

12 years ago… • Interpersonal violence: 3 victimization surveys (1984 -1985, 1996, 1999) Ø Conducted by CESDIP and INSEE Ø « Classic » approach of delinquency: measure of offences against property, but no detailed question about offences against the person § « Attack » or « mugging » to designate all forms of physical and sexual violence § Nothing about the identity of the perpetrator • Intimate partner violence: nothing scattered pieces of information but Ø Testimony of social workers, fieldwork of feminist and non-governmental organizations Ø Psychological approach of the mechanisms of interpersonal DAPHNE violence, – Florence at – 12 thwork November, and 2012 between partners (Marie-France Hirigoyen, 1998, Le harcèlement moral. La violence

In the meantime (2000 -2012): figures and public policy measures… • The starting point: NVAWS ( « ENVEFF » 2000, results published in 2003, Maryse Jaspard, Elizabeth Brown et al. )… Ø … and then : several statistical surveys (EVS and CSF 2005 -2006, CVS 2007 and then annually), … • Followed by: Ø Parliamentary reports (Bousquet, Geoffroy 2009; Laborde, 2010), laws on intimate partner violence (L. 2006 -399, L. 2010 -769), … Ø Public campaigns to denounce and prevent violence against women (from 2006)… Ø National action plans (2005 -2007, 2008 -2010, 2011 -2013)… • … in a favourable European context where data and measures are also growing in number and gaining in importance (STCE, No. 210, 7 th April, 2011 ; continuation of the DAPHNE programme; etc. ) DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

=> Objectives of this presentation • An assessment of what has been done in France to improve the knowledge about IPV from 2000 to 2012 Ø The aim is not to give many figures that could bring THE measure of IPV… • In order to understand… Ø The advances in knowledge and action AND the ambiguities and inadequacies they keep coming up against • At least two issues to bear in mind Ø Links between interpersonal violence and intimate partner violence – Florence –(and 12 th November, 2012 Ø Definition of DAPHNE violence particularly IPV) as a

Plan (1/2): On the sunny side… • A positive interaction between new figures on the one hand, between figures and « public policy » on the other… Ø How did the French NVAWS found IPV as public problem? § Previous non-statistical steps denouncing violence against women, particularly IPV § The « discovery » of IPV in France: prevalence and complexity Ø How did the advances in measuring interpersonal violence help in qualifying IPV as a public problem? § Old questions about delinquency reactivated about « violence » as defined by international institutions § Victimization surveys revitalized so as to be able to measure IPV Ø How figures can (rarely) impact the definition of a public problem: the consequences on (so-called) public DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012 policy

Plan (2/2): … and on the darker side • IPV: an unquestionable… and consequently common public problem? • The limits and negative side effects of describing IPV in the terms of interpersonal violence • Why IPV is so difficult to manage as a public health problem? Ø And further: is managing IPV as a public health problem a good idea? • Last but not least: the classic discrepancy and inefficiency in public action DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

I - How did the French NVAWS found IPV as a public problem? DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

Old questions, new figures • In all social fields: many actors in competition, so that a « problem » can become a « public problem » Ø Leading role of the feminist movements for IPV Ø Mostly qualitative works • A new context from the mid 1990 s: Ø WHO and EU members were required to develop the knowledge about violence, particularly IPV and violence against women, children (and other vulnerable populations) Ø The feminist movement made the most of this statistical tropism: how to measure quantitatively the phenomenon of IPV in a– 12 th gender perspective DAPHNE – Florence November, 2012

The « discovery » of IPV in France: several thunderbolts • The quantitative extent to which women are victims along the whole duration of the lifecourse • Particularly Ø The quantitative extent of IPV; its severity Ø The role played by ex-partner(s); the severity of health and social consequences in that case Ø The « classic » social criteria are irrelevant: IPV as a social transverse phenomenon • Accumulation of… Ø … forms of violence Ø … situations of victimization at different periods in life DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

A strong consistency with other statistical sources since then (adding comparisons with men)… • Confirmation of the NVAWS results through the comparisons between men and women Ø Types of violence, types of perpetrators Ø Severity measured by injuries, immediate consequences on health Ø IPV versus violence perpetrated « outside » and/or by strangers • Among the new sources Ø Some are interested in health: EVS (2005 -2006, French ministry of Health and Social A ffairs) Ø Some others go back to the « traditional » victimization approach and renew it: CVS (annually since 2007, French Home Office) Ø Which means a preoccupation for Health, Human Rights DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012 and Security (larger and different from a gender perspective)

From a public problem to a public policy? • A very rare case of a real impact of figures on the definition of IPV as a public problem Ø Women’s Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs Ø Several prevention campaigns since the mid 2000 s Ø Parliamentary works to follow up the statistical results Ø Definition of three National Action Plans (2005 -2007, 2008 -2010, 2011 -2013) Ø A decisive evolution of law: § § Law n° 2006 -399 (4 th April, 2006) Decree n° 2010 -355 (1 st April, 2010) Law n° 2010 -769 (9 th July, 2010) … A continuation of a former and on-going evolution: the criminalization of « private » behaviours (e. g. legislative changes on rape 1980 ; IPV defined as specific offences in the new French Penal Code, 1992, 1994) DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

=> Are all the elements assembled to make IPV a public problem i. e. (in a full meaning) a real public policy problem? … DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

II – The limits of IPV as a public problem: figures are not sufficient ! DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

IPV: an unquestionable… and then common public problem? • Paradoxical situation: in spite of (denounciation of a « victimizing feminism » )… some opposition • Large consensus about IPV as a « public problem » . Intimate partner violence IS a public problem • … BUT were the results of the NVAWS « too » efficient? Ø « 10% of women… » : round figures, simplification of the results Ø Trivialization of the problem? Ø From the denial of domestic violence to the acceptance of its « obviousness » ? Ø Forgetting the diversity of the forms of IPV (not only « battered women » ) DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012 • Parallel with the success and deadlock of the gender

IPV as trivial « interpersonal violence » ? Victimization surveys and public security policy • The new French victimization produce light… and confusion surveys Ø Giant strides in the factual description of physical and sexual violence committed between co-resident individuals, partners or ex-partners Ø But: § What is IPV without knowing elements of CONTEXT about family life, relations within the couple, organization of daily life, etc. ? § The public policy on delinquency is in fact « located » elsewhere and aims at other targets • And additionally: the new laws are difficult to implement (very few « protective orders » ) DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

IPV as a public health problem: other negative side effects? • The perception of IPV (and all forms of violence) as a public health problem might also create confusions Ø First of all (and except for direct injuries): the correlations between violence and health cannot be easily interpreted as causal relationships § Contexts where other types of adverse events also occurred in the lifecourse Ø Definition of a « public health policy » on violence = addressing mainly the consequences of violence? § IPV: what about gender relations? § Moreover, risk of naturalizing women’s health § Trivialization of health, as much as of violence? DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012 Ø What happened to the « Violence and Health Plan » ?

Last but not least: public policy and « true life » … An enlightening personal experience about the implementation of the 3 rd National Action Plan => How to understand the « Grande cause nationale 2010 » announced by the Prime Minister François Fillon on 25 th November, 2009? DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

Conclusion : statistical measures as a historical means to build IPV as a public problem • Social problems don’t exist by themselves and in a timeless form Ø Such is violence, such is IPV • Statistical measures have been helping to build IPV as a public policy matter since the mid 1990 s Ø The content of those measures partly expresses the way we consider IPV and violence (historically) Ø A powerful tool to bring some hidden social facts into light DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

IPV, statistically defined and measured, competes and possibly clashes with other public problems • Security, delinquency / health : also public problems, with their historical specificities • Possible contradictions or practical difficulties Ø Interferences and competition with a gender-based approach of IPV Ø … bearing in mind the difficulties that usually characterize the implementation of public policies =>France in the midstream: Þ Diagnoses: OK (figures and policy) Þ Objectives: many uncertainties Þ Instruments: many uncertainties too… DAPHNE – Florence – 12 th November, 2012

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