6.1 Inoue
INOUE Masako. (2016). The Notion of Contemporary Asymmetry and Access to Justice of a Vulnerable Group: Focusing on Domestic Violence Victims in Japan. International Journal of Law, Language & Discourse 6(1), 1-10.
Abstract: Domestic violence (DV) occurs across the world in various cultures. DV is dependent on customs, religion, culture, economic situations, and gender structure. Recently Recently, many countries attempt attempted to prevent or reduce DV through various strategies strategies, including legal measures. The aim of this paper is to reconsider DV case cases as a failure of communication between the victims and the legal profession, for example example, the judge, secretary and law clerks clerks, in other words words, as a problem of access to justice by a group of vulnerable people who are situated in an asymmetrical relationship due to gender structures. We will focus on this new type of asymmetrical relationship (contemporary asymmetry) that comprises the majority of DV cases cases. The contemporary asymmetric relationship is new and very rigid for the legal system, due to gender structure structures. It is important that there is a discrepancy or gap between assumptions about this relationship in the modern legal system and the relationship in actual DV case cases. There are several principles in a modern legal system involved in dispute-resolution procedures between equal parties; for example , the adversarial system. As we know, DV situations cause victims to suffer a temporary decline in the their ability to make judgments. Therefore, it is not suitable (and inadequate) that provisions based on the system of modern law apply to DV cases without considering the relationship of the parties and taking into account the condition of the victim victim,. Yet, since the contemporary asymmetric relationship is hidden and is hard to understand understand, in Japan we cannot take this point into account at all. As result, access to justice for DV victims as vulnerable persons is an infringement. This problem that has occurred due to contemporary asymmetry cannot be resolved through a traditional response to older types of asymmetric relationship (traditional asymmetry), such as in the field of labor law or consumer law , because contemporary asymmetry is different from traditional ones. It is necessary to incorporate functions with a new expertise expertise, such as social work in the legal system.
Keywords: domestic violence, gender, social work, vulnerability, access to justice
Category: Volume 6
