Economic Determinants to Accessing Justice by Spouse Abuse Victims in Nairobi City County, Kenya.

Abstract

Spouse abuse (SA) is acknowledged globally as a major social problem. Most victims are women while majority of the perpetrators are men. There is a high attrition level as cases reported to the police drop out of the ‘justice chain’. Limited studies in Kenya make it difficult to design an effective intervention strategy. This study’s objective was to investigate the economic determinants in accessing justice from the Criminal Justice System (CJS), by SA victims in Nairobi County, Kenya. TheSocial conflict theory of the family feminist was used. Data was collected from 134 SA victims (male and female) who reported to the police, FIDA and Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC) during the period 2012-2013. There were 31 key respondents purposively sampled due to their roles in handling SA in the CJS. Secondary data was collected through records review. Both quantitative and qualitative data was analysed using SPSS and inferences respectively. The study found that majority of victims were unable to access justice from the CJS due their social status, employment status, lack of psychosocial support and legal services as well as financial dependence of the VSA on the perpetrator. The study concludes that these factors hinder the VSA’s access to the CJS. The study recommends thatthe Social Protection Department of the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Services should develop and implement economic empowerment programs for VSA.