Why Domestic Violence Victims Don 't Leave By Leslie Morgan Steiner Essay

William, Rachel’s three year old son is crying standing over her as she is slowly regaining consciousness. Her boyfriend, Daniel, was gone; their bedroom door was left cracked open and Rachel was on the couch in their room. Pained around her neck from where he choked her, she tries to wrap her head around how she got to this point. Why does Daniel hate her? What did she do this time? Can she, should she, just leave with William? Rachel realizes she has to get out of the house before Daniel gets back. When she arrives at her mother’s house, her mom is alarmed. Rachel has bruises around her neck and marks around her hairline. Rachel’s mother tells her “You come here every week and you go back to that monster every week. I see these bruises but you must not feel they are a problem since you keep going back to him.” Rachel’s mom walks out of the room frustrated.

Many women and men seek intimate relationships in order to fill their emotional needs of security, safety and love. Their journey starts off with their loved ones spoiling them with flattering gifts and emotional words. The love they feel is so wonderful and deep that they believe that nothing can come between them. They are so happy and convinced that they will live happily ever after with the one they love. Unfortunately, the fairytale they have dreamt about was only temporary and soon comes to an end. The love story they have ones longed for turns into a horrible nightmare. The emotional words they were once spoiled with turn into howling screams and name-calling. The flattering gifts turn into physical abuse. This relationship is referred to as domestic violence or intimate partner violence. This happens when a partner or significant other declares power, authority and control over the other partner. To maintain this authority and control, the abusive partner uses emotional, physical or sexual abuse over his victim (Alters 27). Victims will desperately look for an exit out of this relationship, but only to be blocked by numerous walls of the despair, fear and misery. Many people are convinced that victims have the option of leaving, but they are too weak and they choose not to. What many people don 't know is, victims of domestic violence have many reasons preventing them from leaving their abusers. In most cases the outcomes of leaving are

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.

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

Working thesis: Many victims of abuse continue a relationship with their abuser because they do not recognize the signs of abuse.

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).

Many Americans fail to realize how important and serious domestic violence crimes are. Domestic violence abuse has accumulated tremendously affecting not only adults but children also. Victims of domestic violence abuse are affected physically and psychologically. If their lucky about 57% make it to emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, or foster care. In today's society domestic violence continues to be a local problem. This paper explains how domestic violence affect adults and children socially, psychologically, politically, economically, and educationally.

Domestic Violence, also known as DV, is a life-threatening crime that focuses on manipulative and abusive behaviors that are used to establish and maintain power and control over a loved one. Anyone can become a victim regardless of age, economic status, nationality, race, religion, or education. Unfortunately as severe as this crime is, it is one of the most frequently underreported crimes.

Every choice that an abused woman considers to do with regards in seeking help or ending the relationship involves a variety of risks. Time and time again, the common question arises, “why doesn’t she just leave?” Most often abused women, at great and potentially fatal risk, do leave their abusive relationships. However, there is a multitude of barriers, including increasing abuse and the potential for re-victimization by the system that does not respond accordingly, and most often force many women to return to their abusers. A woman may become vulnerable as she goes through the stages of leaving her abuser. There are many reasons why a woman becomes vulnerable; guilt, denial, and fear may be among a few reasons, though no matter what the

There are many different types of domestic violence. Physical abuse is the most obvious form, but this is not to say that outsiders always recognize it. Generally, physical violence causes bodily harm, using a variety of methods. Slapping, pushing, throwing, hitting, punching, and strangling are only a few methods. An object or weapon may or may not be used. There is not always physical evidence of physical abuse such as bruising, bleeding, scratches, bumps, etc., therefore, absence of physical marks does not necessarily mean physical abuse had not occurred. Physical abuse sometimes escalates to murder (Morris and Biehl 7, Haley 14-17).

Domestic violence is a serious and complex plague of society that affects all, but women make up the largest number of victims in most case studies. In the United States alone, "1.5 million women are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year. More than 500,000 women victims require medical treatment, and 324,000 victims are pregnant at the time of assault" (Berlinger, "Taking" 42). Numbers like these show how intense the situation of domestic violence truly is. "Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner and domestic violence accounts for 22% of all recorded violent crimes" (Jamil 70). Domestic violence takes such a large number in percentages regarding violent crimes, yet often is

Domestic Violence occurs more often than humans think.“More than 1 in 3 women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime”. In the past it was aloud in many counties. Now, it is handled by the law; the abuser will be punished. People never think they could be a victim. Most people look passed the signs. It is about so much more than getting angry at someone. Our partners are more common to hurt them and they are to scared to fight for themselves most of the time. Sadly, it can be about race, religion, age, sexualalty, and some much more. The abuser may want a challenge or want someone easier to hurt. When victims are abused, they are damaged by domestic violence, and they need to seek help. There is safety plans and people that will help the victims. Domestic violence is a massive problem, and it has vast effects.

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.

“Every year in the United States there are over 3 million incidents of domestic violence. That means that every nine seconds a women is beaten by her domestic partner” (Findeley). There are many women that stay silent when being abuse by their partners. The consequences of staying quiet when obtaining abuse can be dangerous and can also lead to death. Many women do not recognize the importance of the fact that there is in speaking out if they are being abuse by their partner. No woman should take domestic abuse by their partners. Every woman deserves a healthy relationship; A healthy relationship involves trust, respect, and consideration for the other person. Domestic abuse has gotten worse during the past years and is still rising up. One can see that domestic abuse can occur everywhere. Domestic abuse is considered a crime and woman should not keep silent when being abuse.