Domestic Violence : A Social And Legal Problem

Domestic violence (DV) has and continues to affect millions of, women, men, children and the elderly every day. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, defines Domestic violence as, “hurtful, repeated and intentional behavior that one person uses to maintain power and control over another in an intimate relationship.” (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, n.d.) Abuse impacts many individuals from various backgrounds. Abuse comes in many forms, verbal, emotional, physical, sexual and, covers a wide range of tactics to establish and maintain power and control. A predominant form of DV is Intimate Partner Violence is also known as (IPV,) which affects millions of people every year, primarily women

Domestic violence exists everywhere and affects all people regardless of socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, or religion. Most times physical violence is accompanied by emotional abuse and controlling behaviors. The result of domestic violence includes physical injury, psychological issues, and death. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) occurs in 1 of 4 women in the United States and can be correlated with a loss of emotional, social, physical and mental health. Intimate Partner Violence is an issue that does not receive a lot of recognition and is overlooked majority of the time. There is a lot of information on women in intimate partner violence relationships that explains how it affects women physically, mentally, and socially.

Domestic violence is a problem which spans across socioeconomic class, race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, age, and gender. This paper focuses on intimate partner violence, but that is not to downplay the seriousness, importance, and validity of other types of domestic violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) which falls into the category of domestic violence, is an epidemic among individuals in every community affecting twelve million men and women each year. IPV has no discrimination when it comes to characteristics of the victims. Although victims of IPV are predominately female, men are just as capable of becoming victims as well. The term intimate partner violence describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner (CDC, 2015). Such violence does not always require sexual intimacy and can occur among same-sex or heterosexual couples. Some risk factors for IPV victimization include: previous childhood victimization, low self-esteem, young age, low income, and heavy drug and alcohol use.

What is Intimate Partner Violence? If one has not lived through it, the meaning is unknown. When we hear the term, we tend to picture a woman covered in bruises. In reality, the damage is much worse. There is many long term effects that run deeper than the physical injuries (Giardino, 2010). Victims experience shame, isolation, detrimental physical and mental health consequences and financial stressor. This also causes dramatic effects on the families of the victims. This violence also affects the children who may be at an increased risk of physical abuse. Children who live through IPV suffer through the trauma of witnessing the violence and having feelings of fear, guilt, and shame.

Domestic Violence is one of the biggest issue in today’s society with all ages. Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, dating abuse, and intimate partner violence (IPV), is a pattern of behavior which involves the abuse by one partner against another in an intimate relationship such as marriage, cohabitation, dating or within the family. It is experienced by women and men in heterosexual and same-sex relationships. Domestic violence does not have to always be from a man, but a woman could be just as violent as a man. Domestic violence could also come from a past experience, or something that was witnessed as a child. A lot of men, who abuse their spouse or child, have experienced it through a dad or step dad and it was done to their mom or a woman figure in their family. I have never experienced domestic violence but I know a few people who are living witnesses of domestic violence. I would not wish this on anyone that I know. Noticing and acknowledging the sign of an abusive relationship is the first step to ending it. When you begin to notice the signs, it is best to bring this to someone.

What is domestic violence? According to research “Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another” (NCADV.ORG, 2015). In this essay there will be comparisons made with other countries and also be explained how they relate to America. Let’s start with America, which has four major parts of domestic violence. Physical violence is probably the most common offense in the United States. Most of the victims of serious physical violence usually don’t report it or participate in surveys out of fear for retaliation. Intimate partner violence covers all major parts of domestic

What is Intimate Partner Violence and who does it affect? According to Wilcoxon, Remley, and Gladding (2013), “Domestic violence or intimate partner violence (IPV) have emerged in the professional literature as descriptors of chronic as well as episodic patterns of abuse, ranging from harsh criticism to aggressive brutality, between adults in intimate relationships” (p.105). IPV does not discriminate, it refers to both married and unmarried individuals. This type of violence affects men, woman, and children.

According to Philip W. Cook, U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) in its survey for 1992-1993, which was signed to produce more accurate reporting of intimate crime than surveys of previous years, one million women and 143,000 men were intimate violence. In previous studies, women reported an annual average of 572,032 spousal abuse cases, whereas men reported an annual average of 48,983 cases. Between 2001 and 2005, the average annual number of intimate crime cases declined again-dramatically for women, but less for men: 511,000 women and 105,000 men, respectively. The total number of victimized women in this survey continues to show evidence of decline. Although there has also been somewhat of a decline in the number of victimized men, the relative percentage of male victims continues to increase over the years, for example, from 15 percent in 1993 to 17 percent in 2005(abused men). This is a direct example which shows the increase in male victims and decrease of female victims in few years. Philip cook sets an example how many men’s are victimized by female

According to our textbook major studies on dating violence found that women are both the victims and perpetrators of physical dating violence at similar rate or higher rate then men. However, whoever starts the violence the women are injured more often and severely when they are victimized by violence (Kindschi,2013).I found this surprising because of the readings, the research, and combined with some of the arrest data I have read for this class the overwhelming support and belief is that domestic violence incidents disproportionately involve male offenders who batter female victims. After all, men are the primary perpetrators of violent crime, and this should also reflect in physical dating violence.

Domestic violence is also a result of gender inequality (Furze et al, 2008). Gender acts as a stratification system that creates inequalities between men and women by ranking men above women within the same race and class (Lorber, 2003, as cited by Knoblock, 2008). Because men had a higher rank, they had more power and more prestige than women. This paved way for male domination of women in society (Knoblock, 2008). Gender inequality also reinforced stereotypes about masculinity and femininity i.e. men were tough, authoritative, powerful whilst women were passive, weak and dependent (Knoblock, 2008). These ideas permeated society, and hence provided reasons for men to think that they have a right to assault a woman (Knoblock, 2008). The link between domestic violence and gender inequality is

Meta-analysis of 82 mainly US studies found women were more likely than men to use acts of physical aggression (Archer, 2000). Such studies have attracted criticism for claiming gender symmetry in partner violence and for ignoring or obscuring the meaning, nature, context, and consequences of aggressive behaviour (Dobash et al, 1992, Hagemann-White, 2001, Dasgupta 2002, Saunders, 2002). Supporters of a gender symmetry hypothesis also fail to square it with men’s disproportionate use of violence and aggressive behaviour relative to women’s, in every other sphere of life (Kimmel, 2002).

Of course, we cannot deny that Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) affects more women negatively than men in the global scenario: archaic laws and customs prevent women from seeking justice in many countries. Also, while studies have shown that women can be violent in intimate relationships, men are more likely to injure their partners more grievously than women. Critics of men affected by IPV argue that this is an anti-feminist trend that seeks to undermine the positive strides the world has taken in acknowledging and attempting to combat domestic violence against women.

Data collected at the national level provide reports that show 1 in 5 women being victims of severe physical violence in their lifetime (NISVS, 2010).We must ask ourselves if enough is being done to prevent this. From a historical point, there has almost always been a distinction from men on woman violence. Based on the disparity of cases reported, male inflicted violence on females is much higher and prevalent. When the perpetrators of DV, and IPV are predominately males, we can no longer dismissed this issue as a cultural, or psychological lapse in judgment.

Hence, they would be charged fully for the attack, but not for domestic abuse in its fullest form. This is the most common form of physical violence that men experiences, with the knife as the weapon of choice for abusive women (Drijber et al., 174). Regardless of the results from numerous studies, it is still difficult to view women as perpetrators of domestic violence crimes due to the belief of female victimhood (Busch and Rosenberg, 49). This concept connects richly to gender-role stereotypes in America. The female against male domestic violence would be considered non-prototypical, or overlooked in simple terms. The sex of the individual(s) in a domestic violence incident tends to predict what responses should be expressed (Seelau and