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Domestic Violence

Holly Lockamy

PSY 325 Statistics for the Behavioral & Social Sciences

Tara LaCasta-Revell

1-9-2011
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Domestic Violence

Domestic violence kills thousands of woman and children every year.  Somewhere in

America as well as many other places on this Earth, at this very moment, a woman or child is

being abused.  They will be left with bruises, cuts, broken bones, and scars.  The scars that

last forever are not physical; however, they are ones of mental anguish.  Their abuser

is not a stranger, rather her husband or boyfriend or father.  In this country, domestic

violence is almost as common as giving birth.  There is, however, hope for these

women and children; help is available. I choose this subject because it is a strong passion of

mine. I believe that it is my calling and purpose for my life to help abuse and neglected

woman and children. There are men that are also abused. No one deserves to be abused.

Most of the time, the abuser has been abused themselves as a child; it is all they know. This

is no excuse and being abused does not give anyone the right to abuse someone else; the

cycle must be broken. The abuser and the ones that are being abused need a lot of counseling

and help. There are places that help people in these situations but there is not nearly enough

and the information is not out there to inform people that they can get help. The criminal

justice system is not doing what it needs to do in order to protect the women and children

from their abuser. If something is not done the abuse is going to continue to get worse and

the cycle will never be broken. Domestic violence is wrong and if nothing is done people

will continue to die.

Society is not aware of the amount or severity of violent domestic and sexual abuse

crimes that are taking place and more importantly how much of it is going un-reported or

being dismissed. Because of this, nothing is going to be done about the abuse. The criminal
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justice system and the embarrassment and shame abused victims feel, are the reason these

crimes are not being reported. This paper will focus on abused females and children, and

discuss why it is still happening everyday as well as what is being done to decrease these

violent crimes. Throughout this paper, it will become apparent that the use of discretion

within the criminal justice system plays a huge role as to why female and child abuse is

taking place. If the criminal justice system does not change the way they handle these

violent crimes the rate of domestic violence will continue to rise and more and more women

and children will die.

According to http://wesleyshelter.org, domestic violence is an “escalating pattern of

abuse where one partner in an intimate relationship controls the other through force,

intimidation, or the threat of violence” (2011). This website explains that there are many

types of abuse including physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, psychological, spiritual,

financial, homophobic, immigration, and destructive acts. Physical abuse includes punching,

kicking, shoving, pushing or any act that hurts or harms the body. Sexual abuse includes

calling the victim vulgar names, criticizing the victim’s body parts or sensuality, forced or

pressures acts and rape. Emotional abuse is when the abuser assaults their victim’s self

esteem. Verbal abuse is name calling, threats, and put downs. Psychological abuse is when

the abuser causes his victim to feel as if she is losing her mind or going crazy. Spiritual

abuse is when the abuser attacks their victim’s spiritual or religious beliefs. Financial abuse

is controlling and manipulating the victim’s money by threatening their economic status and

basic needs. Homophobic abuse is when the abuser threatens to tell others about their

victim’s sexual orientation. Immigration abuse is when the abuser uses the victim’s

immigration status and fear of deportation to control them. Finally, destructive acts are when
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the abuser uses actual assault or threatens to assault the victim’s property or pets in order to

scare them (2011). According to the website www.ncadv.org “one in every four women will

experience domestic violence in their lifetime” (2010). “An estimated 1.3 million women are

victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year, and 85% of domestic violence

victims are women” (2010). This website also mentions that children who witness violence

between their parents or caretakers are at high risk of growing up to abuse others themselves

(2010). “Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners

and children when they become adults (2010). As mentioned before, the cycle is hard to

break. Homicide is also a very big problem when it comes to domestic violence. According

to this website “almost one third of female homicide victims that are reported in police

records are killed by their intimate partner” (2010). In most of these cases the man

physically abused the woman before the murder took place. 18.5 million Mental health care

visits each year are from victims of domestic violence. A lot of these violent crimes are not

reported to the police and domestic violence is one of the most unreported crimes there is.

1.5 million people experience domestic violence each year and of those people only 20% of

them get a civil protection order against their partner. One half of those civil protection

orders were and are violated by their abuser and more than two thirds of the restraining

orders for rape or stalked victims were violated by their abuser. Something has got to be

done to better protect these victims of domestic violence, rape, and any and every other type

of abuse.

The Montreal Massacre is another example of how dangerous domestic violence is

and the damage it causes is tremendous. According to the CBC National Broadcast program

a man entered the School of Engineering at Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal on

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Dec 6, 1989. He went through the school separating the women from the men. He told the

women that they did not had no right to be there. He murdered 14 young women that day.

He wrote a suicide letter saying “I have decided to send the feminist, who have always ruined

my life, to their maker” (2007). He was a very sick and twisted man but he is defiantly not

the only one out there. “In Canada more than one half of the women have been sexually

assaulted. 97% of sex offenders are men. Violence against women happens when men feel

they have the right to hurt and think they can get away with it” (2007). If something is not

done about this problem the numbers of victims will keep growing each year and women will

continue to feel that there is no hope and there is no way out. A stronger punishment must be

enforced in the criminal justice system to scare and punish these men and hold them

responsible for their actions.n

In the book, Domestic Violence, it states that the number of domestic violence against

women and children is growing everyday but less than one out of every two hundred seventy

incidents is ever reported to the police. Women don’t report their abuse to the police for

many reasons. They are afraid that the abuser may kill them if they do repot it, they may be

in denial of the situation, shame, protection of the abuser, fear that the abuse will get worse

and loss of support. “According to FBI statistics a woman is beaten by her husband every

eighteen seconds; this is the most frequently occurring crime in the nation” (Bender,1996).

The Women Abuse Prevention organization states that child abuse has many different

categories. There is “physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, ritual abuse, and witnessing

women’s abuse” (Peter Jaffe et al, 1986). It is really hard sometimes to detect when a child

is being abused. This puts these poor innocent children at a major disadvantage. Children
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can’t protect themselves against their abusers and are often times too afraid to tell anyone.

Statistics in 2004 showed that children accounted for 61% of sexual abuse and 20% of

physical abuse. Girls represented 79% of family related sexual assaults reported to the

police. The target age for sexual assault was 13 years old. The statistics also showed that

these sexual crimes were becoming more violent. 30% of children between the ages of 4 to 7

have witnessed domestic violence in their home (Peter, 1986). Too many children are getting

hurt everyday and they do not deserve it. How many children have to die before something

is done to stop these violent crimes?

“Violent cases involving spouses generally result in prison less frequently (19%) than

those involving non-spouses (29%). This difference is largely driven by the higher

proportion of convicted strangers (35%) and friends and acquaintances (30%) that receive

prison time” (Statistics, 209). These statistics show that most of these crimes are going

unpunished and it makes it seem like these crimes are not so severe. The criminal justice

system is using too much discretion instead of looking at the crime itself. They really need to

focus on how bad these crimes are and how it is affecting the victims. The criminal justice

system needs to reevaluate how they handle arresting, prosecuting the abuser, and protecting

the innocent women and children.

The Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994. This act defines such terms

as “bodily harm” and sets certain punishments for certain crimes. It has been revised since

then but only minor changes were made. Even though this act was passed, the criminal

justice department and law enforcement still act as if they are not on the women’s side. The

abusers are normally given minimal prison time if they receive any kind of punishment at all.
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After the abusers are set free from their barely there punishment, they are free to go home

and beat their wives and children again and again and this time the abuser might just kill

them because he is angry for being punished.

As mentioned before, child abuse is a huge problem all over the world and

unfortunately it is hard to detect when a child is being abused which puts an innocent child at

a disadvantage.   A child is rarely capable of protecting themselves in such situations. Many

people find it hard to justify any sort of child abuse. Children that are abused have their

innocents ripped away from them as well as their trust. These poor children can’t escape the

abuse and a lot of times are afraid to tell someone because they have been warned by the

abuser not to tell or they will kill them or their family. Some children start being abused so

young that they don’t know any better and they think that it’s normal to be beaten and or

raped. This is a terrible cycle that is hard to break without the abused and abuser receiving

counseling. A lot of times the abuser was abused as a child themselves and they think this

type of behavior is normal. Some siblings beat their younger brothers and sisters or even

classmates because they are being beat at home. Children die every day from being beaten to

death and something has got to be done to stop this.

When it comes to punishing the child abuser, it becomes somewhat difficult mainly

because most children are not going to be capable of reporting the crime to the police, and

most fear telling the other parent or guardian.   If or when the crime is reported and has been

brought to court, this does not necessarily mean he or she will be accused and sentenced.

Crimes of family abuse that go un-punished are more likely to repeat, as well as making it

seem like the crime is not a severe one. The Criminal Justice System in these cases use too
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much discretion, rather than looking at the crime itself, it is evaluated based on other factors

such as the family member’s history and testimonies. Without the help of law enforcement

women and children will continue to try to protect themselves as best they can for as long as

they can.

It is almost impossible to get rid of violence and crime, but we can try. Even though

the Violence Against Women Act was passed, law enforcement agencies are not completely

on the women’s side. Women and children deserve justice. The criminal justice system has

to pay more attention and re-evaluate the issues related to women’s abuse. Too many women

and children have suffered and died. Women and children should feel like they have

someone on their side and that justice will be served. A lot of countries still practice harsh

punishment for certain crimes, such as cutting of someone’s hand for stealing. America, as

well as the rest of the world, should have a harsher punishment for abusers such as castration

of the penis as well as life in prison. This type of punishment would reduce the amount of

abuse that is going on in this world. Until something is done by the law enforcement

agencies and until they take a strong stand against domestic violence and give the maximum

punishment to abusers, the laws will continue to be ineffective.

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References

Bender, David. (1996). Domestic Violence. San Diego: Green haven Press.

Jaffe, Peter PhD., David Wolfe PhD., Susan Wilson MA.,Lydia Zak BA. (1986). Similarities

in Behavioral and Social Maladjustment Among Child Victims and Witnesses to

Family Violence. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 56 (1), 142.

Statistics Canada Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. (2004). Family Violence in

Canada. Retrieved Dec, 15, 2010 from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca

Shelter, Wesley. (2011). Ending Violence-Saving Lives. Retrieved Jan. 6, 2011from

http://www.wesleyshelter.org

Smith, Rita. (2011). Domestic Violence. Retrieved Jan 3, 2011 from http://www.ncadv.org

Gunman Massacres 14 Women. (Dec 6, 2007) The CBC Digital Archives Website. Canadian

Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved Dec 20, 2010 from http://archives.cbc.ca