1 week Ago By Michele Jarvie
Punitive approaches to addressing violence against women may seem satisfying in the moment, but do they really work? Front-runner parties are adopting tough-on-crime stances in the lead-up to the 2025 federal election. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has announced plans for stricter criminal sentences for those accused of intimate partner violence. Meanwhile, the Liberals under Leader Mark Carney are promising to automatically revoke gun licences for people convicted of violent offences, especially those related to intimate partner violence.
These announcements signal that leaders across the political spectrum are beginning to take Canada’s gender-based violence crisis seriously — and that matters. This is a public safety emergency: on average, one woman is killed every six days in Canada by an intimate partner, and violence rates in Alberta are higher than the national average . With a record number of Albertans turned away from domestic violence shelters last year because of capacity constraints, it’s clear something needs to change.
But we must also challenge the assumption that tougher laws alone will keep women safe. After more than 30 years working in this field, I can say with certainty that punishment after violence has taken place will not end the problem. If we’re serious about change, we need to listen to research and the lived experience of survivors.
And we need to invest in prevention. Here are three reasons punitive approaches fall short, and what a more balanced strategy looks like. First, we must acknowledge a critical truth: most violence against women is never reported to police.
Survivors often choose not to engage with police or the courts, and for good reason. Many fear being retraumatized, facing retaliation, experiencing stigma or simply don’t trust the legal system. Only about six per cent of sexual assaults are reported to police in Canada.
Of those, only one in three leads to charges and an even smaller fraction results in a guilty verdict. That means most perpetrators are never arrested, sentenced or held accountable for their behaviours in the systems our politicians want to strengthen. If we rely on the criminal legal system alone to protect women, we’re ignoring the vast majority of violence.
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