Background Information On Domestic Abuse

Prior to the 1800’s, the majority of legal systems regarded ‘wife beating’ as a way in which a husband could assert his dominance and authority over his wife. Within the 1970’s, attention to domestic violence began with the woman’s movement, principally through the introduction of feminism and women’s rights. In recent years however, the way domestic violence is viewed has changed. Previously, domestic violence only occurred within marriage, predominantly against wives and therefore formalised through the use of a marriage contract. Within modern society, domestic violence can now refer to

Domestic can be defined in many ways but the simplest meaning is ‘involving the home or family’ whereas violence means an ‘act of aggression as one against a person who resist’. In addition, violence does not relate to relationship problem or issue but is social context of reflection of a man overruling woman. It happens to all walks of people in life despite of age, sex, race, assets and cartography. Notwithstanding, scoop by both male and female endure hurts during intimate relationship, domestic violence is greatly impact by both gender.

Domestic violence: a taboo issue in our society, where the discussion is shut down by fear of instability or vulnerability. A crime, hidden from plain view, behind closed doors, that harms up to half a million innocent individuals every year. Someone is experiencing some form of domestic violence as we speak as for every 15 seconds there is a woman beaten around the world, and for every hour as many as 115 children are abused. Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is a violation of human rights. It involves violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour carried out by an adult against a partner or former partner to control and dominate that person.  Violence of any form should not be accepted in our modern society it nurtures fear and hatred, and it should not be locked away as an allowable social norm. We should be better than that.

The Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 is the act of Parliament that deals with domestic violence. The key aims of the legislation are to provide immediate and short to middle term protection for aggrieved people. Under Division 2 number 8, domestic violence can be defined as “behaviour by a person (the first person) towards another person (the second person) with whom the first person is in a relevant relationship that— (a) is physically or sexually abusive; or (b) is emotionally or psychologically abusive (c) is economically abusive; or (d) is threatening; or (e) is coercive; or (f) in any other way controls or dominates the second person and causes the second person to fear for the second person’s safety or wellbeing or that of someone else as shown in Appendix A”. Violence occurs between intimate partners, husband and wife, ex - partners, step- parents, parents and their teenage or adult children as well as disabled people and their carer. (Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012).

Walter (1969) gave a comprehensive definition of violence as “destructive harm including not only physical assaults that damage the body, but also techniques of inflicting harm by mental or emotional means” (p. 24). However, in the context of intimate relationships, the definition of violence requires more aspects to be determined. The basic questions to be asked when defining domestic violence proposed by Hegarty, Sheehan, and Schonfeld (1999) in their article A Multidimensional Definition of Partner Abuse are 1) which relationships should be included as domestic? And 2) how should violence in domestic life be defined? To answer these questions, Hegarty et al. said that it is important to choose the appropriate definition that is most relevant to the purpose of the studies. Dutton (2006) defined domestic violence in his book Rethinking Domestic Violence as “any violence occurring between intimate partners (same sex or other sex, married or unmarried) and against children” (p. 3), but further said that he will only focus on intimate

As stated by Jones (2013) Violence within the home has become commonly known as domestic violence in Britain. However feminists argue that this suggests that the private traits of this type of violence holds more importance than its gendered nature, because of this domestic violence can also be referred to as ‘intimate

The reasoning behind focussing on domestic sexual violence is that despite the media’s portrayal of sexual violence being most commonly committed outside of the home, for example, campaigns depicting ‘stranger danger’ to children (Newiss, 2014). However, statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that an intimate partner committed 46% of serious sexual assault against females aged 16-59 (Home Office, 2014), whilst research by Smallbone and Wortley (2001) found that 69% of child sexual abuse occurred within the home.

The term domestic abuse has a range of definitions; for example, the official government definition is “any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse [psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional] between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality” (Home Office, 2012). This was later updated to include anybody over 16 years of age and coercive and controlling behaviour (Home Office and Browne, 2012; Home Office and May, 2014).

Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior or coercive control in any relationship that is used by one person to gain or maintain power and control over another. (Violence). Most of society’s think domestic violence is when one of the spouses is abusing the other spouse. Domestic violence can occur between anyone who has lived together at one point of time; couples who have never lived together, but have a child together and family member who has live together in the same household. Domestic violence can happen to anyone, regardless of their class, religion, ethnic background, education, age, gender, disability status, sexual orientation, gender presentation, or immigration status. The domestic violence can place in different categories, such as; emotional abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and financial abuse. Researcher had discovered tactics that the abusers use to control their victims such as; dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation, denial and shifting blame. (Helpguide.org).

There's a growing trend of domestic abuse in the United States, and large cities like New York can see more than their fair share of abuse cases. There are people who desperately need to leave their current abusive situations, but unfortunately, many cases are being brought before the courts that are not real abuse cases.

If you are involved in a domestic abuse case or another violent crime, you are likely facing a great deal of confusion and upset. Assault and abuse cases are complicated and emotionally draining. During this sensitive time, you need a criminal defense lawyer that has only your best interest in mind. Stewart MacNichols Harmell Inc PS in Kent, Washington provides honest advice and represents clients professionally and conscientiously. Above all, their goal is justice for you.

Domestic violence is the presence of violence within a relationship and takes place privately in domestic areas (Aic.gov.au, 2015). Domestic violence includes psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse (Aic.gov.au, 2015). In the survey conducted among the general public in Australia an anonymous respondent defined domestic violence as “Violent or aggressive behaviour, typically involving the abuse of a partner” (Kuol A. 2015).

“Domestic violence is a type of abuse by one or both partners in marriage, friends, family, dating or cohabitation” (Aziz & Mahmoud, 2010). There are many forms of abuse from verbal and emotional to physical that often escalates over time in intensity for the victim. Data from the criminal justice system, hospital patient medical records and mental health records, police reports, surveys and social services reports of thousands of women revealed that many are injured and killed as a result of violence from someone close to them. “The US Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender” (Robertson & Murachver, 2009). Researchers and the criminal justice system have not been able to agree on a clear definition to domestic violence which can range from physical injury, stalking, verbal abuse and humiliation, denial of shelter and access to money, and intimidation through aggressive behaviors. The definition of domestic violence may vary but the results from physical injury, mental and emotional trauma, and sometimes even death can last a life time.

“Domestic violence and abuse includes physical abuse, threats, emotional abuse, sexual assault or stalking.”(Nursing standard, 2014) Domestic violence can happen to anyone. “According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), each year at least 1.2 million women and 784,000 men experience domestic violence and abuse in England and Wales, with one in three women and nearly one in five men experiencing it at some point in their lives.”(Nursing standard,2014) Domestic violence can happen to anyone in any relationship whether it be a same-sex relationship or a heterosexual relationship. Domestic violence can happen at any time during a relationship. Some victims have stated that they would avoid asking too

Domestic violence could be defined as being a pattern of behaviours involving, psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault and rape. Moreover, it is used as a form of, maintain control over another individual within an intimate relationship. Women are often the victims of domestic violence, however, it does also occur that men fall victim in