Violence: The Role Of Domestic Violence In The United States

“Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is defined as a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners” (Peeks-Asa). When it comes to domestic violence many people don’t want to get involved, but if just one person took a stand maybe others would follow and potentially save a life, like the neighbors did in The Day It Happened by Rosario Morales. Domestic violence can happen to anyone at any time, there is no typical victim or perpetrator. The fact that there is no one specific group that domestic violence occurs in more than another, only makes it more difficult to get an accurate

Before reading the first two parts of "Til Death Do Us Part" I knew that domestic violence was a growing issue in the United states, but it was a surprise to find out that the state that we live in for more than fifteen has been place in the top ten nationally in the rate of women murder by men (Pardue, Smith, Hawes, & Hauff, 2014). The first part gave the statics on how many victims were turned away in 2012-2013 from shelters around South Carolina which was a total of 380. The reason why this was done because there was no rom they said (Pardue et al., 2014). Since this information was taken there should have a increase in the number of shelters in South Carolina, but there is only 18 domestic violence shelters. There is about 36,000 incidents of domestic abuse in our state. That number is shocking, many people wouldn 't have thought that there were that many incident. The national statistics on domestic violence given by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence states:

And the answer to this would be; anyone can become a victim of domestic violence. Although most would assume that only women could be affected by this heinous crime, this is not the case. Granted, in a 2001 U.S. study, “85 percent of the victims were female with a male batterer” (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics), but the other 15% did not fit into this category. This 15% represents the males with female batterers, as well as those victims in lesbian and gay relationships. It is not as common, but uncommon is not synonymous with nonexistent. Again, it can happen to anyone.

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).

Domestic violence can be described as an altercation that happens between a family and in their homes away from the public. In Wentendorf (2000) article she talks about how domestic violence is not mainly based on physical abuse and mentions that when a man talks about physical abuse then the women are more likely to suffer from assault or battery (p. 1). When there is domestic violence around there is love mixed with hope, fear, isolation and intimidation (Waentendorf, 2000, p.1) as a result of women that still feel for the man who they once fell in love with and they just don’t want to let go of the feeling she has when she is with him. The women love their husbands for what he does when he is not beating or abusing them that are a reason they don’t want to turn him in. Another reason why women do not want to give up the connection that they have with their husbands is because she might think that she made him do it and he will change if she changes. In Wentendorf’s (2000) research continues she talks about when domestic violence happens in between the homes of police officers they mainly try to keep it a secret and try to resolve the problem in the house between the family instead of involving law enforcement and the public. The biggest fear that police officers face is losing their jobs (Wentendorf, 2000, p.8) and does not want everything they worked for over the years to

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:

“For example, the relationship may be a current spouse, a former spouse, a family member, a child, parents of a child in common, unmarried persons of different genders living as spouses, intimate partners of the same gender, and dating relationships” (Findlaw). These definitions identify that victims may not be exclusively women, and domestic abuse may not just occur between heterosexual couples. The types of behavior frequently encountered in domestic violence are physical attacks, sexual attacks, psychological abuse, and the destruction 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 is the most overlooked, misunderstood offense. Anyone can go through it, but many can’t endure the pain it brings. According to (www.helpguide.org), people whose partners abuse them physically and sexually are at a higher risk of being seriously injured or killed. Most people wonder why doesn’t the victim leave the relationship, well it is not that easy. “The question, ‘Why does she stay?’ is code for some people for, it’s her fault for staying,’ as if domestic violence victims intentionally choose to fall in love with men intent upon destroying us” -Leslie Morgan Steiner (www.azquotes.com).

Although Domestic Violence is a well-known phenomenon, “Domestic Violence is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another person through fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence” (Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts 2015). From 2003 to 2012, 21% of all violent crimes were caused by domestic violence and 15% of domestic violence was committed by an intimate partner (Morgan, R E. & Truman, J L. 2014). Domestic violence is an important issues in the United States that is somethings over looked, or forgotten about. After researching domestic violence statistics for the United States, I was very surprised to learn that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime (Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts 2015). With a lack of knowledge about domestic violence, it becomes more difficult to find those who are willing to take a stand against the violence. If there were more people who knew

This is the tenth time that Lisa has been admitted to the hospital within the past two years. At least this time there aren’t any broken bones or concussions to worry about. Lisa only has two black eyes, a patch of her beautiful long hair forcibly yanked from her head, a nasty black and blue bruise on her neck and a few nails ripped directly from the newly manicured nail beds. Lisa swore to God and her best friend Brandy that this was the final straw. Actually, she made that exact same pledge under oath just three months ago, yet she is coincidently in the same position she vowed never to return to. This time was different though. She was making plans to move her things out of the small apartment that she shared with her

Every year in the United States, One in four women are victims of the domestic violence; however, this is only based on what has been reported to the department of justice (Stahly 2008). While men are also victims of domestic violence, women are more often the victims. Moreover, 90% of domestic violence is male initiated. In severe cases domestic violence ends with victims being murdered. More specifically, domestic violence resulted in 2,340 deaths in the United States in 2007, and 70% of those killed were females (CDC 2012). Many people think that victims have the option of leaving and many people blame victims for putting up with the abuse; what many people don 't know is, victims of domestic violence have many reasons preventing them from leaving their abusers, these reasons include, isolation, having children bounding them with the abuser and lack of financial support. "It 's never pretty when you leave an abusive and controlling relationship. The warden always protests when a prison gets shut down," says Dr. Steve Maraboli (qtd from web). Whether a victim stays or leaves their abuser, the outcomes of both situations are not always as easy as many people predict. In some situations, the outcomes of leaving may be very dangerous for both the victim and her children.

Domestic violence happens every day and it includes people of all races, ethnicities, color, religions, rich or poor, old or young, man or woman and physical and mental disabilities. Domestic violence happens to anyone regardless of where you live, work and how smart you are; these do not matter to the person committing the acts of violence against you. Today, domestic violence goes by Intimate partner violence defined as actual or threatened physical or sexual violence or psychological/emotional abuse by a spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend, or date (Meadows, 2014). There are other forms of domestic violence such as stalking and dating violence. Domestic violence just doesn’t occur to married couples,

Abusers find a wide range of excuses to justify abuse, including religion, karma, failure to follow sex roles, and jealousy. However, domestic violence does not always end when the victim escapes the abuser. That is when the threatening and stalking begins to take place. It is stated that, “Nearly 3 in 10 women and 1 in 10 men in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner.” It is obvious that women has the

In America most cases of Domestic Violence are never actually reported, many times these cases go unheard and the victims suffer in silence. The worn out cries of a battered woman as she lays on the ground clutching herself and begging her significant other to just stop. The bruises and cuts that remain unreported due to the victim claiming they accidentally fell yet again. The abusers tend to make the victim almost entirely dependable on them. An abuser will do this to gain control and to create a weaker victim, “behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other” (Par. 1, Definition). Control. The abuser seeks control over their victims. When their control is threatened they act out in ways harmful to others. Domestic