Domestic Violence

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Domestic Violence

Definitions

Types

Violence against children

Causes

The cycle of violence

Statistics

Gender differences

Response to domestic violence

Across cultures and religions

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate or harm the other. The term "intimate partner violence" (IPV) is often used synonymously, other terms have included "wife beating", "wife battering", "relationship violence", "domestic abuse", "spousal abuse", and "family violence" with some legal jurisdictions having specific definitions.

Recent attention to domestic violence began in the women's movement as concern about wives being beaten by their husbands, and has remained a major focus of modern feminism, particularly in terms of "violence against women".

Estimates are that only about a third of cases of domestic violence are actually reported in the US and UK. In other places where there has been less attention and less support, reported cases would be still lower.

Domestic violence occurs in all cultures, people of all races, ethnicities, and religions can be perpetrators of domestic violence. Domestic violence is perpetrated by, and on, both men and women, and occurs in same-sex and opposite-sex relationships.

Awareness and documentation of domestic violence differs from country to country. According to the Centers for Disease Control domestic violence is a serious, preventable public health problem affecting more than 32 million Americans, that is more than 10% of the U.S. population (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000).

Domestic violence has many forms, including physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, intimidation, economic deprivation or threats of violence. There are a number of dimensions:

  • mode - physical, psychological, sexual and/or social
  • frequency - one off, occasional, chronic
  • severity – in terms of both psychological or physical harm and the need for treatment – transitory or permanent injury – mild, moderate, severe up to homicide
Popular emphasis has tended to be on women as the victims of domestic violence although with the rise of the men's movement, and particularly men's rights, there is now some advocacy for men as victims, although the statistics concerning the number of male victims given by them are strongly contested by many groups active in research on or working in the field of domestic violence.

The means used to measure domestic violence strongly influence the results found, for example, studies of reported domestic violence and extrapolations of those studies show women preponderantly as victims and men to be more violent, whereas the survey based Conflict Tactics Scale, tends to show men and women equally violent.

The majority of studies investigated male on female domestic violence, thus information on female-on-male (or female-on-female) violence tends to be less available.

Contents

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Articles:

Collateral damage of domestic violence
They may not take the blow or be the target of the yelling and screaming, but research shows that children who grow up around domestic violence suffer from trauma that often results in social, emotional and behavioral problems.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:48:22 -0700

Domestic violence victims encouraged to seek help
In eight months, domestic violence has led to the deaths of five people in the Wilson area. Three deaths occurred last December when Arturyro Garcia Martinez shot his ex-girlfriend, Paola Aguilera Ay ...
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:55:17 -0700

Children take the collateral damage of domestic violence, but special preschool helps kids cope
Sonoma West Times & News is featuring a special series on domestic violence in Sonoma County. This is the sixth installment of our series leading up to Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:08:06 -0700

Latest deadly domestic violence dispute raises concern
For the second time this week, officers responded to a deadly domestic violence call. The latest happened early Friday morning at an apartment complex on Wendover Road in southeast Charlotte.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:40:28 -0700

Domestic Violence Resources
The recent death of a woman who filed domestic violence charges against her boyfriend has police reminding victims of the resources available to them.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:17:23 -0700

Deputies arrest man on felony domestic violence charge
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Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:14:58 -0700

Rapper Eminemâs song said to glamorize domestic violence
CHESTER ? At first, Jose liked Eminem?s latest song ?Love the Way You Lie? because of the beat and the music.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:35:20 -0700

Police fire on domestic violence suspect
A 43-year-old man is shot at least two times by a Cleveland police officer.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:34:36 -0700

MONTEREY POLICE LOG: Domestic violence
8/9/10 CORNETT, WILLIAM was arrested for domestic violence in the 2000 block of North Fremont. Richardson
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:01:53 -0700

Domestic violence leads to jail time
The North Platte Telegraph Gilbert Gaona was sentenced to 270 days in the Lincoln County Jail on a Class 1 misdemeanor third-degree domestic assault and a Class 1 misdemeanor attempted strangulation charge, which had previously been reduced from a Class 4 felony strangulation charge as part of a plea bargain.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:47:31 -0700

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