Criminological Theory Of Domestic Violence

Intimate partner violence has been a significant issue for centuries in all countries. "Since 1974, nearly 2,600 spousal homicides have been recorded in Canada" (Bunge, 2002). Of these homicides, more than three-quarters have been against women. Although through feminism and the women's liberation movement, there has been a slight improvement in the incidences of violence against women, there has also been a drastic change in the perception of the issue by society. After reviewing the most recent literature on violence against women and victimization through intimate partners, it has become prevalent that there are now two crucial stances that are taken. The first position is that of the women being victimized as the

The sociological problem that’s depicted in the video and that is discussed is the issue on domestic violence. Domestic violence is where one partner in an intimate relationship seeks power and control over their partner by being violently abusive and aggressive. These negative aspects can be either shown verbally or physically and can sometimes even lead to death. Also, the video surrounds itself on the idea of domestic violence with whom it can affect. Anyone can be associated with domestic violence at any point in their life; including the male/female, children or even the animal within the household.

Throughout the 1800’s in the United States, state laws and cultural practices continued to support a husband's “right” to discipline his wife. It wasn't until 1895 that women were given the right to divorce their husbands no matter the conditions (Dryden-Edwards MD, 2012). Another stride in unveiling the taboo and private nature of domestic violence was made through the Battered Women's Movement, which was a by-product of the Women’s Liberation Movement from the 1960’s. Greatly supported by the Feminist theory, this movement was frequently credited for unmasking the extent of intimate partner violence and agitating for social change (Meyer-Emerick, 2002).

Domestic violence against women is prevalent in almost all the societies in the world. It is an issue which was not even recognised as a crime 40 years ago and is still not recognized as a crime by many societies. Women suffer from violence, including physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological violence by strangers and their partners all over the world (Kaya, 2010). Even though it is a worldwide occurrence, there are some women who face more intense and frequent violence depending on their culture, country, religion,

Domestic violence is also a result of gender inequality (Furze et al, 2008). Gender acts as a stratification system that creates inequalities between men and women by ranking men above women within the same race and class (Lorber, 2003, as cited by Knoblock, 2008). Because men had a higher rank, they had more power and more prestige than women. This paved way for male domination of women in society (Knoblock, 2008). Gender inequality also reinforced stereotypes about masculinity and femininity i.e. men were tough, authoritative, powerful whilst women were passive, weak and dependent (Knoblock, 2008). These ideas permeated society, and hence provided reasons for men to think that they have a right to assault a woman (Knoblock, 2008). The link between domestic violence and gender inequality is

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, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on

The article constructs domestic violence as an issue of gender, race and socioeconomic status. Women are identified as the “majority” of victims (Taylor 2014). Consequently, the article conceptually represents domestic violence as events of intimate terrorism where one partner violently terrorizes the other partner to gain complete control over the relationship, which is entirely perpetrated by men (Johnson 2012). With that said, Johnson (2012) points out that majority of domestic violence is situational couple violence, where both the man and the

As stated by Jones (2013) Violence within the home has become commonly known as domestic violence in Britain. However feminists argue that this suggests that the private traits of this type of violence holds more importance than its gendered nature, because of this domestic violence can also be referred to as ‘intimate

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.

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

Historically, domestic violence on females has evolved drastically. It used to be a norm for women to be objects of their fathers or husbands and lacked civil rights. In many cultures, domestic violence was not preceded as a crime. According to Marcia Chaiken’s article “Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice,” she explains the history of violence against women and how it has evolved through the centuries. Chaiken states how women experience physical and sexual violence by their intimate partners which leave harmful effects on mental and physical health, and their ability to live healthy and productive lives. In the past, men had the right to use physical force against their wives and forcing sex was considered a private relational problem. Forcing sex was sought as romance back in the day, not rape. Religions generally discouraged the act of physical abuse within relationships, but women had to obey the men because they lived under his roof. A common perception of the past was that a man’s home was inviolate and authorities cannot interfere with relationships. Around the 1960s, women

The New Right believe that domestic violence very often takes place in dysfunctional families, because of the instability of families caused by factors such as increased cohabitation and also divorce. This point of view suggests that feminists exaggerate the male violence and underestimate violent females, there are other reasons for the occurrence of domestic violence, not just men’s power over women.

Domestic Violence is a human tragedy, and has been a part of life for many individuals. It is not subjective to a particular group, race, or culture. Historically, the feminist movement preserved the theory that domestic violence is a growing matter because of the continuous power differential between the male gender and the female gender. Remarkably, this approach on domestic disputes unveiled the inner workings of barriers men, women, and children would face when in a domestic violence situation. The feminist theory emphasizes on studying “the gendered nature of all relationships…which aims at understanding how gender is related to social inequalities and oppression” (Marsigila & Kulis, 2015, p. 148). Disastrously, an ignorant notion that once dominated our culture was the belief that emotional agony was less painful than physical brutality. However,

“In England the statistics on violent crimes and sexual offences show a positive picture of steady long-term decline in violent crimes over the past twenty years (Eisenstat 1999)”. In England the number of violent crimes has fallen from 3.8 million in 1995 to about 1.3 million in 2013. Even though there has been a drop in domestic violence, it still remains a problem in the world today. Women are more commonly known for being victims of domestic violence. “There is a percentage of twenty two percent that are abused by non-sexual partners, twenty one percent of stalking, and twenty percent experience sexual abuse (Eisenstat 1999)” Men also experience stalking at ten percent and non-sexual partner’s abuse at nine percent. In the United States