KEY POINTS:
The number of court orders given to protect victims of domestic violence has continued to fall, according to a major report on family violence.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs-commissioned research on women's experience of protection orders confirms a trend for victims of domestic violence to shy away from obtaining court orders.
The 600-page report, to be released today, notes there has been a steady decline in applications and orders made from at least the late 1990s.
In 1998 about 600 orders were made per month, but in 2005 that was down to around 400 per month, report co-author and University of Waikato senior psychology lecturer Neville Robertson said.
"The reasons for that are somewhat disputed, although we have some theories about it," Dr Robertson said.
"To understand protection orders you do have to look pretty broadly, and we have done that. We have looked, for example, at what are the barriers to women getting protection orders."
Dr Robertson would not comment on the report's findings until its release. However, he said it was clear domestic violence was a widespread problem, and said police estimates that only 10 per cent of domestic violence cases were reported could be accurate.
"I think it's pretty clear that domestic violence is endemic in our communities," Dr Robertson said. "That [10 per cent] is a hard figure to verify, but that would be in accordance with other researchers' attempts to estimate how often an assault is reported. I think it might be on the high side."
Women's Refuge would not comment until the report was released.
Their own 2004 study of protection orders said the Domestic Violence Act had not failed women, but that there were concerns about the way the Act was implemented. In particular, Refuge felt police in different parts of New Zealand took different attitudes in responding to reports of breaches of protection orders.
Inspector Rob Veale, head of the police Violence Reduction Unit, said in the wake of several high-profile cases involving breaches of protection orders, police now placed greater emphasis on preventing and policing family violence.
In the past three years extra head office staff have been assigned to family violence work, nine of 12 police districts have their own family violence co-ordinators, and a number of police areas have such co-ordinators.
"We have come a long way in the past three years. In that way it's useful to reflect back on where have we come from when you start thinking we're going too slowly," he said.
Mr Veale acknowledged there were still some challenges police needed to address, and was sure they would be canvassed in the report. "I would encourage people not to lose faith in the criminal justice system or the Family Court-related system.
"I would encourage people to take out protection orders, because there are services that are attached to them," Mr Veale said.
"They allow access to services and advice and counselling and education. They allow the police to put in some enforcement capability when there are breaches."
Protection orders
* A court order is aimed at preventing physical, psychological or sexual abuse.
* A temporary "without notice" order can be obtained within 24 hours and comes into force without the abuser being told. They then have 30 days to file a defence. Orders can also be sought "on notice" and are made after a hearing before a judge.
* Police will generally arrest anyone who breaches a protection order, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
