Domestic Violence : Policing Coercive Control

Domestic abuse is a startling issue in today’s society, and there are many different forms of it. Domestic abuse is defined as “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” [1]. There are numerous forms of domestic abuse, including both physical and emotional violence. Many people who are trapped in these toxic relationships often feel helpless and worthless, and may think they have no way to escape their situation. However, with the right guidance and support, they can free themselves and emerge as a stronger person.

In the face of abuse and assaults, knowing that she is a single mother with six children often confronts two kinds of difficult decisions. First, how will she protect herself and her children from the physical dangers posed by her partner? Second, how will she provide for her children? This second set of social and economic risks are central in each battered woman’s calculation of her children’s safety. If, for example, a woman decides to leave her partner to protect herself and her children, where will she find housing and money to feed her family? Who will

Working with victims of domestic violence can be an extremely rewarding and fulfilling endeavor. One of the most crucial aspects for a paralegal working with victim of domestic violence is adequately engaging in the task of educating oneself to understand the commonalities of such victims and the ordeals that they have been through. Such clients are drastically different from other individuals who have suffered other physical and violent crimes. Understanding the background of someone who has lived through domestic violence is absolutely central to being able to provide adequate and sensitive legal care. Most victims of domestic violence are women (95%) though domestic violence can have an impact on ever age, class, race, ethnic, cultural or religious group (purplerainfoundation, 2012). "In the United States, nearly one in three adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood (American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family 1996 Report)" (purplerainfoundation, 2012). These women are often terrified of their partner's temper, apologize when they are abused and often in the most extremely controlling and isolated environment where the abusive partner will control who the partner sees and where the partner goes outside of the home, jealous of outside relationships (purplerainfoundation, 2012). In these abusive relationships the women are hit,

Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is a common problem. As a result, the criminal justice adapted to demands, especially from feminists, who bemoaned the poor response of police, and in turn, the justice system by instituting mandatory arrests. However, mandatory arrests have proven that just like protection or restraining orders, they are not effective in deterring domestic violence (Davis, 2008). Similarly, the arrests do not have a substantial effect on recidivism and create undue procedural complications for the criminal system (Zelcer, 2014). On the contrary, proponents of the approach, argue that it has a deterrent effect on the perpetrators and that it can even protect offer immediate protection for the victims (Clark, 2010). Nonetheless, using statistical evidence and arguments from scholarly sources, this position paper will expose the inefficiencies and constitutional inconsistencies that make mandatory arrests harmful for the batterer, victim, and the criminal justice system.

For centuries domestic violence has been perceived as a private matter private of which the government has not been concerned about nor was it considered the government’s business to intervene on behalf of a battered spouse. The unlawful nature of this failure for state or federal government intervention against this crime contributed to the systematic abuse of women in the family. The traditions, customs, and common law found in both British and American societies continued right up until the last decade of the 20th century and left the battered wives and very frequently, her children, at the mercy of the husband. It wasn’t until the 1990’s when the government began to do something to protect mothers, wives, and lovers from intimate

At the societal level, the established laws and policies in relations to domestic violence may in fact fail to protect the victim and consequently re-victimize her. For example, domestic violence victims are increasingly being charged for “failure to protect” even when the partner is abusing the child and the mother (Beeman, Hagemeister, & Edelson, 1999). In addition, some states have considered legislation that makes a child’s witnessing of domestic violence a form of criminal abuse

“Only approximately one-quarter of all physical assaults, one-fifth of all rapes, and one-half of all stalkings perpetuated against females by intimate partners are reported to the police” (Tjaden). How does this happen? Anyone who sees this statistic is firstly appalled, and secondly unable to comprehend how such blatant abuse occurs without reprimand. And furthermore, someone who has studied sexuality would look at this statistic and wonder about how many men or transgender people are affected by physical assaults, rapes, and stalkings. But regardless of your response to this statistic, there is one thing that we all can agree on: domestic violence must stop now. And for us to move

Today, the police are much better at responding to domestic violence calls; however, there are still dispatchers and police who do not treat domestic violence calls as priorities or a priority crime. Research has shown that just a few decades ago domestic violence cases were screened out by either police dispatchers or the officers themselves for the reason that they believed that there were more important crimes to attend to. Another reason they did not treat these calls as a priority is because the perception that the victims would not follow through with the prosecution (Buerger, 2003; Dutton, 1995; Buzawa & Buzawa, 1996a). The idea of the victims not following through is still very prevalent today. By the police handling domestic violence in such a manner, implies that domestic violence should be treated less seriously than any other crime.

Academically, 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. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and emotional or psychological abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence varies dramatically.” However, in Washington State Domestic Violence includes a more limited definition. In Washington State Domestic Violence is defined as (a) Physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury or assault, between family or household members; (b) sexual assault of one family or household member by another; or (c) stalking as defined in RCW 9A.46.110 of one family or household member by another family or household member. This statutory definition is similar to that of many states in that it omits the “systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against the other” otherwise known as “coercive control.” The omission of this provision in the statutory language creates difficulty in obtaining domestic violence protection orders, when the victim cannot describe instances of physical violence, stalking, or sexual assault, yet lives in very real fear of their partner. In this literature review, I will analyze the phenomenon that is now known as

Domestic violence used to be considered a private family matter and was not considered a societal problem until feminists in the 70's started pushing the matter. Beginning in the 1970’s, social policy toward female victims of domestic assaults focused on improving legal response and

All forms of domestic abuse have one purpose: to gain and maintain control over the victim. The actual act of domestic abuse comes in many forms; aggravated assault, kidnapping, sexual abuse, forcible touching, stalking, kidnapping, sexual misconduct, and attempted murder are just to name a few. According to Amy Lehrner and Nicole Allen, domestic violence is battery as an intentional pattern of abusive behaviors by one partner against the other which results in establishing and maintaining the abuser’s power and control over the other. (Lehrner & Allen, 2008) Victims tend to stay in abusive relationships for many different reasons. Some see their abusers as powerful and believe they cannot escape, they also fear retaliation, and are often beaten or intimidating into

Therefore, a new foundation should empower, educate, and create new easily accessible resources for every woman, as well as assist her with essential needs and protect her human rights. In the hypothesis of “Women’s health and the effects of coercive and physical abuse of domestic violence” (Milana, 2016), Milana postulates that the outcome effects of domestic violence should address the need for increasing funding for resources that are not readily available. Therefore, it is necessary to create new programs and establish a necessary broader assistance for domestic violence victims/survivors. Moreover, the current services that are in place are not readily available to all women who have/are experiencing forms of abuse including coercive control abuse. Therefore, new foundations of legal framework are essential to assist and protect a woman’s freedom from all aspects and types of abuse, as well as an inclusion of coercive abuse to prevent harmful effects of domestic violence. In fact, to safeguard a woman’s right is to broaden her “space for action” (Westmarland & Kelly 1101) within her personal environments, in turn, may positively affect her physically, mentally, and

Many children are forced to live with domestic violence because one of their parents refuses to leave the relationship. In cases of women being victims of domestic violence and failing to leave the male offender, the women are also identified as offenders and are charged with failing to protect their children from avoidable harm, regardless of the limited choices they have (Friend et al., 2008). Although domestic violence occurred in 35% of the 1,248 substantiated incidents of child maltreatment, only 31 couples were investigated for exposing a child to domestic violence or not protecting their children from the violence (Coohey, 2007). In Minnesota the parent is said to endanger the child’s mental or physical health when the child is exposed to domestic violence. When police are contacted about a domestic violence incident the investigators need to consider all types of failure to protect the child, as well as the likelihood of a domestic violence incident occurring again (Coohey, 2007). In order to determine if the children will be exposed to domestic violence in the future, the investigator needs to consider many variables. Such variables include a history of domestic violence and other types of child maltreatment, a willingness by the perpetrator to change his or her behavior, and if the perpetrator has the ability to change. Domestic

Domestic violence is a crime that occurs regularly within the United States. It claims millions of victims each year. There is not a specific cause to establish why domestic violence occurs. However, it has been documented that domestic violence is a product of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, and any other forms of torture or torment that the particular abuser wishes to employ to gain control or power over their victims (Gosselin, 2005). Due to the complexity of this crime, many criminologists and socialologists have studied its causes and the effects in order to determine social policies and additional theories to better understand the causation of domestic violence. The social policies and theories that are developed from

Domestic violence is about power and control. Domestic violence is prevalent because it does not discriminate, it comes in all races of people. Domestic violence involves emotional, verbal, sexual and physical abuse. One way to combat domestic violence is through intervention. If someone is a victim of domestic violence or stalking they should contact the nearest local police department and put out a restraining order. I feel it's imperative to let somebody know you're a victim of domestic violence, whether it be your parents or somebody that's closest to you. If the problem persists, i feel you should contact authorities and put out a restraining order on the attacker. If the problem has become physical, i think it's in the best interest of