Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is an epidemic and the number one health concern in our country. There are more abusers and their victims compared to past years. As a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship, domestic violence is used by one person to gain or maintain power and control over another one. It can be physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse and not look the same in every relationship because every relationship is different. This kind of abuse affects people of all ages and sexes, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, education and employment levels. Abuse towards children and the elderly can be violent or aggressive behavior. Thus, there are many types of abuse that one can suffer; awareness of the signs of domestic violence is especially important before getting into any kind of intimate relationship.

Signs of abuse include, but are not limited to, controlling nature, resistant to chance, dismissive, and manipulative behavior. Melinda Smith and Jeanne Segal state that the most telling sign of abuse in the relationship is fearing the other partner (Smith and Segal, 2006). If a woman is afraid of her partner then she may be in an abusive relationship. Men that are abusing women will tear her down and make her feel like she is worth nothing and that she does not deserve any better than an abusive man. An abuser will take away control from her and make her feel worthless. Segal and Smith also state that “abusive behavior and violence is a deliberate choice made by the abuser in order to control you” (Smith and Segal, 2006). An abuser wants to make their victim afraid and they will do certain things to make sure that the victim does not leave. It is also noted that just because there are not any physical signs of abuse, such

Module one focused on domestic violence and understanding the basics, which include the dynamics and common tactics that characterize domestic violence, impact on both the individual and society, and solutions to domestic violence. The website was easily accessible, and the information provided about the topic of domestic violence was both useful and interesting. Several statistics were given throughout the module that helped get across the seriousness of domestic violence. For example, one in four women are victims of domestic abuse within their lifetime. That statistic alone expresses how common domestic violence is within society.

This began to change in the 1980s, as women’s groups were organized locally and internationally to demand attention to the physical, psychological, and economic abuse of women (p.369-370). Domestic violence is a serious social issue that happens to many women in our world today. This type of abuse is not declining but continually rising on a daily basis. There have been issues in the past with the way these cases were being handled. Today, there has been some improvement concerning the laws that have been enforced in order to protect women from this type of abuse. There has been extensive research done on this issue in the past concerning domestic violence. Over the last ten years there have been a number of surveys on domestic violence that have been published from around the world.

The Purpose of this paper is to understand what Domestic violence is and it will also describe the justice system and how it fails to help the victims of domestic violence.

“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

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).

Domestic violence is an epidemic in our society with dramatic, negative effects on individuals, families and communities. Domestic violence is a crime that knows no economic, racial, ethnic, religious, age or gender limits. Women who are victims of domestic violence most likely are also victims of sexual assault and, stalking. A domestic violence victim may experience systematic rape in addition to physical and psychological abuse. According to Backman, (p.54) nearly one in every four women are beaten or raped by a partner during adulthood. Three women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in America, on average women are at an increased risk of harm shortly after separation from an abusive partner.

Females are the most highly affected by domestic abuse according to studies done around the world. Typically aggressive behavior at home is frequently more than simply physical misuse. It involves sexual, enthusiastic, monetary and mental savagery. At first, recognizing the indications of an injurious relationship can be troublesome, particularly if the abuser utilizes inconspicuous strategies to pick up force and control. It is normal for survivors to perceive the start of the misuse as the first run through when the abusers hit them, yet truly the cycle of violence may have begun at an opportune time in the relationship. Culprits have a tendency to fascinate and be exceptionally persuading when applying power and control strategies. People

Currently in the United States, every one-in-three women and one-in-four men are abused physically by their chosen partner in their lifetime. It is estimated that twenty people per minute are physically affected by their partner; therefore, there are around ten million people every year battered by their partners (“Statistics” National Coalition Against Domestic Violence). The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as:

Each domestic abuse relationship is unique, and has a pattern that holds certain signs, clues, and characteristics that could have helped decide if one were in an unhealthy or abusive relationship. There are significant indicators that are common to all virtual cases of domestic abuse, mainly because people have heard much about domestic abuse, but did not think it applied to their situation. What is domestic abuse, how is it defined for someone to recognize and seek help; coming from someone that has a

Healthy relationships are what everyone asks for. Weather it’s a romantic relationship, a friendship, or even a family relationship. Unfortunately, unhealthy relationships are more common than they should be, and so is domestic violence. We hear about domestic violence all the time, but we only hear about physical violence, when there is much more than that. Domestic Violence is divided in three sections: physical abuse, mental abuse, and sexual abuse. All three sections can affect the victim mentally, even if it wasn’t direct mental abuse.

Domestic violence is a prevalent issue that has enormous consequences for both the victimized individuals and their families. There are many injuries, deaths, rapes, and separation of families, and other fatalities which can all be interconnected to domestic violence. Which raises the question who are the perpetrators? why are they violent? Were they also abused? The answers to these questions may shed some insight on what goes on inside the mind of an abusive and violent individual.

Why didn’t she leave? Why did she marry him? She must have done something to provoke him. She chose to have kids with him and to stay with him. These are the resounding questions and statements that one hears when discussing domestic violence. When video broke of NFL player Ray Rice, hitting and knocking out his then girlfriend Janay, those were the types of questions that erupted on social media. Instead the question should have been, “Why did he hit her?”, “Why didn’t he show any emotion or remorse?” “What is wrong with him?” This is known as victim blaming, and it is unfortunately all too prevalent in our society today. Domestic violence is a dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about, but until we do, this epidemic of victim

Domestic violence refers to abusive behavior in any relationship that is inflicted on a partner to gain or maintain power and control over another partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological. Domestic violence includes behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. Domestic violence can happen to anyone, regardless of their race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender; and it also occurs in both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships; domestic violence also affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels (Justice, The United States Department of, 2017). This topic has attracted a lot of discussion and research because of its dominance and complexity. This essay, therefore seeks to look at the causes and effects of domestic violence.