Domestic Violence, A Federal Crime Essay

Domestic violence against women happens around the world every day, but the main focus of location discussed in this paper is Washington State. Females are most likely to suffer domestic violence abuse from someone that they know. In such cases, it has been a spouse that is the attacker. Women escape these violent crimes and reach out for help, but not every time. Based off of the data collected, I strongly believe that females are more often victims of domestic violence than males.

Domestic violence, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice 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.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on

When it comes to describing domestic violence all that comes to mind is a woman or man being physically abused or being mistreated and humiliated by another person. You may think that since domestic violence is a serious concern the criminal justice system has taken actions to stop or prevent it. In reality the system is failing these women and some are getting seriously hurt or even killed. Domestic violence was not that popular before the Tracy Thurman case. Ever since the case was shown to the public domestic violence awareness increased. It captured the attention of the public through the media.

“Every year, in the United States there are over 3 million incidents of reported domestic violence. Every year, 4,000 victims of domestic violence are killed.” (Domestic Violence: Disturbing Facts about Domestic Violence). Domestic violence is a crime that is not just committed in the United States, but worldwide. This crime is committed every day, every hour, every minute, and every second. Anybody can be a victim or the abuser. This can happen to any child, man or woman. This is a horrific crime. Women are more likely to be the victim in domestic violence than men. “Forty-five percent of all violent attacks against female victims 12 years old and older by multiple

It has been recorded that approximately “2,000,000 injuries, and 1,300 deaths are caused each year as a result of domestic violence” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This harm to and loss of life is due to the negligence of all Americans, in regards to the monitoring and managing of domestic violence in the United States. In order to combat the blatant disregard for domestic violence victims, Americans must support, aid, and assist those who fall victim to this crime, as well as educate those who are oblivious to the matter at hand. These actions will be essential in the eradication of domestic violence, as well as the preservation of the health and overall safety of all American people.

Violence against women is a substantial public health problem in the United States. According to data from the criminal justice system, hospital, and medical records, mental health records, social services, and surveys, thousands of women are injured or killed each year as a result of violence, many by someone they are involved with or were involved with intimately. Nearly one-third of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2001). Throughout this, many will read about intimate partner violence also called

Domestic violence is a single act or a pattern of cruel acts in any relationship that a partner uses to get or keep power and control over another partner. The violence can be sexual, physical, economic, emotional, or psychological actions or threats of actions that impacts another person. Any actions that manipulate, intimidate, isolate, humiliate, terrorize, frighten, threaten, coerce, hurt, blame, wound, or injure someone can be domestic violence (The United States Department of Justice).

According to (Breiding, Smith, Basile, et al. (2014) , a national Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, conducted in the U. S. in 2011 revealed, The lifetime prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner was an estimated 31.5% among women. An estimated 22 .3% of women experienced at least one act of severe physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime. The lifetime prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner was an estimated 27.5% for men. An estimated 14 of men experienced at least one act of severe physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes. Where the victim/offender relationship was known, female murder victims were almost 6

Knowledge of domestic violence is becoming prevalent in the United States and around the world. Family violence, teen dating violence and intimate partner violence are being talked about openly more; they are also becoming known as abuse and not something that is just “ok” or “just how a person is”. Beliefs and laws are changing toward nonviolence as discussed in this report.

The five sections of domestic violence as stated above are physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological. The physical aspect of domestic disputes includes hitting, biting, pinching, biting, and shoving. Physical abuse can also include depriving the victim of health treatments and forcing them to do deviant activities. Sexual abuse includes marital rape and treating the victim in a sexually patronizing way. Emotional abuse is anything involving diminishing the other person’s self-esteem or

Domestic violence affects a large amount of relationships in the United States each year. As the times have changed, abuse has become less accepted as a normal occurrence, and society has begun working together to provide awareness towards violence in intimate partner relationships. “Problems of family violence are potentially the most destructive in our society” (Kurland 23). Domestic violence is a problem that begins in the home, and spreads to affect the world around it. Violence is present in relationships of all demographics, be it race, sexual orientation, or social class. No one is entirely safe from experiencing abuse, but if society is taught to recognize the signs it can save a life or even prevent abuse from happening.

Abuse can come in many forms, including those that we cannot physically see. Intimate partner violence can occur physically, sexually, and psychologically and emotionally. Physical violence includes the use of physical force, such as slapping, hitting, kicking, grabbing, throwing, use of a weapon, and the like, with the intention to cause harm, injure, or kill (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Sexual violence describes violence that uses force to compel a person to engage in sexual activity against their will or ability to decline. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). And lastly, psychological and emotional violence involves harming the victim through the use of threats or coercive tactics such as, but not limited to, humiliating, controlling, isolating, or stalking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Similarly, there are two major forms of intimate partner abuse: intimate terrorism and situational couple violence (Leone, Lape, and Xu). Intimate terrorism describes a pattern of abuse in which one partner exercises a cycle of continuous power and control over their significant other by means of physical or coercive actions that trap their victim in the relationship while, in contrast, situational couple violence refers to violence that it provoked by a specific conflict (Leone, Lape, and Xu). Overall, it is clear that intimate partner abuse occurs in a variety of ways and to varying degrees of

Every minute, twenty people are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. According to the Natural Coalition of Domestic Violence, after one year more than ten million men and women become a victim of domestic violence. Every year someone new becomes a victim. Every year someone gets physically harmed or even death. Every year someone finds freedom from domestic violence.

Domestic Violence (DV) is a critical social issue that negatively impacts not only our own culture in America but as well as all other cultures around the world. Domestic Violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinctions (Kaur & Garg 2008). Domestic Violence is a serious problem that can be seen around every society from families of both developed and underdeveloped countries and of different backgrounds. Although there are various cases of domestic violence against men, children and the elderly; women account for the majority percentage of victims of Domestic Violence. This violence can take the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, financial abuse or sexual assault (Kaur & Garg 2008). Domestic Violence is a trend that is on the rise and will continue to plague our society if nothing is done on time to address this social issue.

According to statistics found by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Every nine seconds a woman is abused by her husband or intimate partner. At least 1 in every 4 women and 1 in every 9 men have been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Most often the abuser is one of their own family. Domestic violence is a problem that somehow affects every one of us in this room at some time and is actually the leading cause of injury to women -- more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined.